Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen will bring back his beloved 1990s Ali G character for an upcoming stand-up tour, and NOT a movie as previously reported.
According to Variety, Cohen will take the character out on tour again, timed with the 25th anniversary of the character’s first appearance in 1998 on “The 11 O’Clock Show”. The report initially made mention of a stand-up TV special, but that was quickly removed.
In addition, Cohen’s reps have “strenuously denied a new movie was in development” and make a point that the writer and actor is strictly abiding by strike rules: “As a SAG and WGA member, he is supporting the ongoing strike alongside his fellow writers and actors.”
Cohen broke out in the UK in the early 2000s with “Da Ali G Show” which ran for three seasons and featured his streetwise poseur Ali G along with Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev and gay Austrian fashion fan Brüno Gehard.
All three characters scored their own films in 2002, 2006 and 2009 respectively, with the “Borat” film in particular becoming a major pop culture phenomenon.
Cohen revived the character in 2021 at a secret gig at The Comedy Store in Sydney, Australia, saying at the time: “I just wanted to get on stage and muck around and see what Ali G would be like with a crowd. It was really good fun.”
