The first full trailer for Ali G: Who Iz I? has been released online, revealing some of the escapades and pranks – and their victims – that will appear in the second feature-length comedy starring the academically challenged west Staines rudeboy character created and played by Sacha Baron Cohen.
Sporting new dreadlocks but still wearing the clothing that was favoured by young white Britons copying US hip-hop and Black streetwear fashions in the 00s, Ali is back to contend with the issues of the day – as well as the pregnancy of his long-term girlfriend, Julie. In the 20 years since the character has been away, he says that “the world went to crap: there was Covid, wars and Ed Sheeran”.
The trailer gives glimpses of pranks played on retired US army general Stewart Rodeheaver, and someone who may be the Canadian DJ and producer Deadmau5 at a music festival.
Ali G first appeared on the UK comedy programme The 11 O’Clock Show in 1998, then in three series of Da Ali G Show in the early 00s, during which he interviewed unsuspecting politicians, academics, public figures and celebrities. He asked Buzz Aldrin if man will ever walk on the sun (perhaps during winter when it’s cold) and pitched a business idea for “ice-cream gloves” to Donald Trump. Da Ali G Show also featured the first appearances of Baron Cohen’s other best-known characters: the Kazakh TV reporter Borat Sagdiyev, and Brüno, an obtuse Austrian fashionista.
In 2002, Ali G starred in the feature-length Ali G Indahouse, a scripted story without any mockumentary elements or pranks that received a mixed critical reception but was a domestic success, earning more than £17m at the UK box office. The first Borat film, however, was an international hit in 2006, making more than $260m (£200m) globally.
Baron Cohen claimed to have retired both Ali G and Borat in 2007, citing the characters’ popularity and the concomitant difficulty of finding unaware new subjects to interview or prank. However, Borat returned in a 2020 sequel that included an interview with Rudy Giuliani, and now Who Iz I? becomes the fifth film featuring characters from Da Ali G Show. (At present there are no rumours of a sequel to 2009 film Brüno.)
Ali G: Who Iz I? is scheduled for release in cinemas on 23 October.
