Ali G, Season 2. And music.
I just finished watching Season 2 of "Da Ali G Show" and have quit my job to follow Sasha Baron Cohen around waving a palm branch.
Although not as consistently shockingly funny as the first season, there are heavier hitters (Pat Buchanan? Sam Donaldson? Noam Chomsky?) and plenty of the horrifying moments of un-selfaware revelations and nerve-wracking awkward moments that one has come to love from the show, despite the accompanying dyspeptic feeling.
One of the highlights: Borat, the Kazichstanian local TV personality, leads a sing-a-long of yokels in a country-and-western bar with an original tune the crowd seems unwilling to embrace until the celebratory repeated coda-chorus, "Throw the Jew down the well/you have to catch him by the horns/...then we'll all party." The glee and sincerity with which the cowboy-hatted peanut-crunchers sing out this bit of song--which was completely unfamiliar to them 30 seconds ago--was so amazing that it reminded me of that stupid Aquafina commercial--a parody, itself, of an Irish drinking song--where everyone's having a gay old time singing and swingling their drinks back-and-forth. The fact that Cohen-as-Borat is Jewish makes it all the more exhilaratingly perplexing to watch. You really can't believe what you're seeing.
Like when Borat--my favorite Cohen alterego, if you couldn't tell--gets an old southern hunter to admit--without prodding, I might add--that it would be no problem with him if they had Jews to hunt on the hunting grounds along with the elk and deer. Yeah. The really scary part is that these folks are not the twirling-moustache variety of evil people. They look just like normal bumpkins. The kind who'd loan you a chainsaw or wheelbarrow, perhaps, with a smile. That's what makes it all the more shocking when those things escape their lips without so much as an embarrassed, apologetic "oops" face.
Also amazing is how Cohen, as Ali G, gets these people on his show to begin with, let alone rapping Ali G-penned rhymes IN DIALECT at the end of the segments. Most of them have the extreme, purposeful patience of a new babysitter watching a retarded, inquisitive, 6-year-old (which, if one were to add sex-obsessed and high, would fairly accurately describe the Ali G persona). The one exception is Andy Rooney, the deathless crankshaft of "60 Minutes'" final commentary segment. Man, this guy is SUCH as asshole it's unbelievable. He barely gets interviewed because he spends the whole time nastily correcting Ali's grammar. I mean, why bother? And if you felt like it was your place to initiate a tutoring session in the midst of an interview, you could at least be polite about it. I never liked the elderly before, but Rooney sealed the deal for me. Take away their licenses and trip them whenever you see them.
I could go on, but I don't want to spoil the fun. Honestly, it's just about the best thing out there as far as televised comedy is concerned, and at the very least one of the smartest. And Cohen deserves way more attention and credit for his work on the show. He blows the likes of SNL performers AWAY.
Music wise.
The New Pornographers new disc, "Twin Cinema" is a safe bet if you like bright, smart, catchy, jangly uptempo guitar pop with a slight edge. The musical equivalent of a sweet-and-sour (insert candy name here), it's like a brit sounding Fountains of Wayne, early Weezer kind of thing.
The new Stones disc doesn't suck. That's all I'll say.
Frank Black's "Honeycomb" is quite strong and strikes me as a countrified Leonard Cohen record from the mid-'70s.
And there's a new band from NYC that I just found out about. They're called The Teenage Prayers and they sound like old Motown soul by way of David Bowie (think a little "Young Americans") with a decent guitar-driven traditional pop-rock anchor. They're new record "10 Songs" comes out soon. Check them out.
www.myspace.com/theteenageprayers
www.teenageprayers.com
Duncan out.
Although not as consistently shockingly funny as the first season, there are heavier hitters (Pat Buchanan? Sam Donaldson? Noam Chomsky?) and plenty of the horrifying moments of un-selfaware revelations and nerve-wracking awkward moments that one has come to love from the show, despite the accompanying dyspeptic feeling.
One of the highlights: Borat, the Kazichstanian local TV personality, leads a sing-a-long of yokels in a country-and-western bar with an original tune the crowd seems unwilling to embrace until the celebratory repeated coda-chorus, "Throw the Jew down the well/you have to catch him by the horns/...then we'll all party." The glee and sincerity with which the cowboy-hatted peanut-crunchers sing out this bit of song--which was completely unfamiliar to them 30 seconds ago--was so amazing that it reminded me of that stupid Aquafina commercial--a parody, itself, of an Irish drinking song--where everyone's having a gay old time singing and swingling their drinks back-and-forth. The fact that Cohen-as-Borat is Jewish makes it all the more exhilaratingly perplexing to watch. You really can't believe what you're seeing.
Like when Borat--my favorite Cohen alterego, if you couldn't tell--gets an old southern hunter to admit--without prodding, I might add--that it would be no problem with him if they had Jews to hunt on the hunting grounds along with the elk and deer. Yeah. The really scary part is that these folks are not the twirling-moustache variety of evil people. They look just like normal bumpkins. The kind who'd loan you a chainsaw or wheelbarrow, perhaps, with a smile. That's what makes it all the more shocking when those things escape their lips without so much as an embarrassed, apologetic "oops" face.
Also amazing is how Cohen, as Ali G, gets these people on his show to begin with, let alone rapping Ali G-penned rhymes IN DIALECT at the end of the segments. Most of them have the extreme, purposeful patience of a new babysitter watching a retarded, inquisitive, 6-year-old (which, if one were to add sex-obsessed and high, would fairly accurately describe the Ali G persona). The one exception is Andy Rooney, the deathless crankshaft of "60 Minutes'" final commentary segment. Man, this guy is SUCH as asshole it's unbelievable. He barely gets interviewed because he spends the whole time nastily correcting Ali's grammar. I mean, why bother? And if you felt like it was your place to initiate a tutoring session in the midst of an interview, you could at least be polite about it. I never liked the elderly before, but Rooney sealed the deal for me. Take away their licenses and trip them whenever you see them.
I could go on, but I don't want to spoil the fun. Honestly, it's just about the best thing out there as far as televised comedy is concerned, and at the very least one of the smartest. And Cohen deserves way more attention and credit for his work on the show. He blows the likes of SNL performers AWAY.
Music wise.
The New Pornographers new disc, "Twin Cinema" is a safe bet if you like bright, smart, catchy, jangly uptempo guitar pop with a slight edge. The musical equivalent of a sweet-and-sour (insert candy name here), it's like a brit sounding Fountains of Wayne, early Weezer kind of thing.
The new Stones disc doesn't suck. That's all I'll say.
Frank Black's "Honeycomb" is quite strong and strikes me as a countrified Leonard Cohen record from the mid-'70s.
And there's a new band from NYC that I just found out about. They're called The Teenage Prayers and they sound like old Motown soul by way of David Bowie (think a little "Young Americans") with a decent guitar-driven traditional pop-rock anchor. They're new record "10 Songs" comes out soon. Check them out.
www.myspace.com/theteenageprayers
www.teenageprayers.com
Duncan out.
posted by Man-At-Arms at 10:36 AM
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