Sacha Baron Cohen says he's just doing silly voices.
asserted
he → say → voices
But the British comedian behind Ali G, Borat and Bruno has invented his own brand of undercover comedy in the hopes of making viewers both laugh and think.
asserted
viewers → invent → hopes
Over the decades, Baron Cohen has deployed his creations: the hip-hop idiot Ali G, the lovable but ignorant Kazakhstani reporter Borat and the fame-obsessed narcissist Bruno to get real people to reveal their thoughts and feelings.
asserted
people → deploy → thoughts
It's a far cry from being the lawyer his parents had initially hoped he'd be.
asserted
he → hop → ?
"It's just a bizarre journey that I ended up doing this," Baron Cohen said.
asserted
Cohen → end → this
"My dream was 'Could I make one classic comedy?'
uncertain
I → make → comedy
And I felt like with Borat, I was like, 'I did it.'
asserted
I → feel → it
You know, so anything else is really gravy.
asserted
anything → know → ?
And yeah, I feel very, very lucky."
asserted
I → feel → ?
Decades of Ali G
Baron Cohen's first iconic character was Ali G, a persona he experimented with for years.
asserted
he → experiment → years
An early version, known as MC Jocelyn Cheadle-Hume, was upper class but had many of the same catchphrases as Ali G.
asserted
version → know → catchphrases
He took the prototype for a test drive to the skateboarders of London with the intention of airing the sketch on a youth culture show he was hosting on cable.
asserted
he → take → cable
"And I start skateboarding terribly.
asserted
I → start → ?
And they go, 'You're, you're crap, man.
asserted
you → go → ?
After about 5 minutes, I said, I went back to my real voice, I said, 'Guys, I'm pretending.
asserted
I → say → voice
They were shocked."
asserted
They → shock → ?
Baron Cohen said his boss threatened to fire him over the sketch.
asserted
boss → say → sketch
"And then I knew I was onto something," he said.
asserted
he → know → something
MC Jocelyn Cheadle-Hume was honed into the character millions have come to know now as Ali G: a White imbecile and hip-hop journalist who wants to be a Black rapper.
asserted
who → hone → G
Ali G's 1998 debut on a satirical late-night show was the stepping stone to "Da Ali G Show," which spawned an HBO series and a feature film.
asserted
which → spawn → series
The core idea of Ali G was, I thought, 'Would it be funny to have the world expert in something with the biggest idiot in the world, you know?
asserted
you → think → world
Would that juxtaposition be really funny, if the world expert takes it seriously?'"
asserted
expert → take → it
As Ali G, Baron Cohen interacted with a range of public figures, politicians, and celebrities, including former United States Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.
asserted
Cohen → interact → Koop
"I kept on telling him these stupid questions, like you know, 'Ain't the heart a bit crap, you know?
asserted
you → keep → questions
Don't, shouldn't it have a different rhythm?
asserted
it → have → rhythm
Because at the moment, it's boom-boom, but what about a [beatbox rhythm,]" Baron Cohen said.
asserted
Cohen → say → rhythm
He also once pitched then-businessman Donald Trump on a business idea Ali G thought was brilliant: special gloves a person could wear to keep ice cream from getting your hands sticky.
uncertain
hands → pitch → cream
"I never fall for scams.
asserted
I → fall → scams
I am the only person who immediately walked out of my 'Ali G' interview," Mr. Trump later said in a social media post.
asserted
Trump → walk → post
In 2007, Baron Cohen said he was
because the persona was too well known to trick people.
asserted
persona → say → people
But years have passed and Baron Cohen is bringing the character back for his directorial debut, "Ali G: Who Iz I?"The
asserted
Cohen → pass → debut
actor plays three characters who interact with unsuspecting strangers.
asserted
who → play → strangers
The result, designed to expose extremism at both ends of the political spectrum, is as disturbing as it is funny.
asserted
it → design → spectrum
"Number one, I wanted the people to laugh really, really hard," he said.
asserted
he → want → ?
"And I wanted to also just examine this idea of conspiracies and lies, whether we, in a matter of hours, could turn intelligent people who believed in the theory of race replacement into murderers.
uncertain
who → want → murderers
The scale of the challenge to create the new movie, which is out later this week, was unlike anything Baron Cohen says he had undertaken before.
"
asserted
he → create → anything
We had to have, you know, prosthetic teams working on this for years.
asserted
you → have → years
We had animatronic teams.
asserted
We → have → teams
There are hundreds and hundreds of things that can go wrong, and each of them has to go right," he said.
asserted
he → be → them
At 55, Baron Cohen has been doing his undercover comedy for more than half his life.
asserted
Cohen → do → life
…and 37 more, not listed.
The Aporia
