Sep222004
Comedian Secrets Revealed!
Filed Under Late Night
One of the charms of Da Ali G Show is wondering how the hell they tricked luminaries like Boutros Boutros-Ghali into agreeing to an interview in the first place. If you like to treat your comedians like magicians, you probably shouldn’t read the piece Slate published detailing exactly that. Included in the report is a sample letter sent to one of the victims and links to two of the fake websites they use to make it all look legit. The article concludes with the observation that Ali G, the character, probably won’t be getting away with this for much longer. The producer see a lot more longevity in fashion-obsessed Bruno and Kazakhstani journalist Borat, which is no surprise, considering the targets of both are “real” people, who lack the encumbrances of handlers and press agents.
In some ways I hope the producers of Ali G would spend an episode detailing their machinations themselves. But, one of the best things about the Ali G show is that it doesn’t break that Ali G, Borat or Bruno are characters. Each character lives in its own reality… for Borat the graphics are done in Kazakhstanian and then English is overlayed on top of them. So they’re real not only to their targets, but also for the viewers. It’s a tone that I think is infinitely stronger for humor, but not so good once everyone gets in on the joke.
Share:
comedy.com |
Digg
|
del.icio.us
|
Stumble It!
