"When I was being Ali G and Borat, I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day, and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing. It is like saying goodbye to a loved one. The problem with success, although it's fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I 'get' with Borat again, so it's a kind of self-defeating form, really."
That is the explanation from Sasha Baron Cohen on his decision to put his two most recognized characters on permanent moratorium. This ultimately means you're less likely to hear the asshole in the next cubicle at work calling out "It's sexy time!" ten times a day, so this decision will mean fewer office shooting sprees, and more lives saved.
However I feel Cohen still had ample opportunity to embarrass Americans through Ali G, since the character is pretty off the radar in the U.S. He could've easily integrated himself into our hip-hop wannabe culture . . . and still come across as one of the its less ridiculous denizens.
Coincidentally enough, I watched the Ali G Indahouse movie recently (never having seen his show) and found it to be balls-out funny. To those in the States (where the film when directly to DVD) I highly recommend checking this one. Even though some of the slang and humor may have been lost in translation there's still more than enough silliness here to keep you laughing your ass off.
Cohen is currently holding his own against the likes of Johnny Depp, Helen Bonham Carter and Alan "Hans Gruber" Rickman in
Sweeney Todd. He is now in preproduction on another
Borat-style comedy involving Bruno, a flamboyantly gay, Australian fashionista.
September 27, 2008, 12:37:08 AM
