Ali G addresses 'da most cleverest students in America'
By Beth Potier
Harvard News Office
Sacha Baron Cohen, in the persona of bad boy rapper Ali G, amused Harvard's Class of 2004 - and no doubt bemused their parents and older relations - with more awe than advice at Class Day ceremonies Wednesday afternoon (June 9) in Tercentenary Theatre.
Opening his brief remarks with his signature "Booyakasha!", the star of HBO's "Da Ali G Show" proclaimed the graduating seniors "da most cleverest of students in America." The speaker, showcasing the misinformation and malapropisms that characterize his television interviews, lauded the proud heritage of Harvard alumni, including "President George Clinton" and Lyndon Baines Johnson, "or as he is known, JFK.... Or most importantly, that really fit hottie from 'Star Wars,'" he said, continuing to riff on his admiration - not necessarily scholarly - of Natalie Portman '03.
Admitting several times that bringing the grandparents might not have been wise, Ali G peppered his talk with references to sex, drugs, arrests, and scatological functioning. He snuck one profanity past the censors, warning the graduates "the world is totally F-blank-blank-blank-blank-blank-up."
He shared his dismay that Harvard would not pay for the pornography he watched in his hotel room; particularly surprising since one program - "Ivy League Cheerleaders" - served as research for his talk.
"But I digest," he said, speaking in a ghetto-thick English accent.
Harvard students are so bright, he said, that scholars of English "have memorized the entire alphabet, A to X." Harvard's history students are graduating with advanced knowledge of such facts like "what did Lincoln give America, apart from the Town Car?" he said. In fact, Baron Cohen, who is of Welsh and Israeli descent, studied history at Cambridge University.
Ali G praised Harvard's diversity and the advances of women in its ranks. "A lot of you is probably feminists, or as we call them in England, 'lezzies,'" he said. "You women should only have to do half the housework. It's only fair that your mum should do the other half."
Abandoning his trademark yellow tracksuit for a crimson one emblazoned "Professor of Erbology," Ali G compared himself to "the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther Vandross," and warned the audience that they might hear his words echoed at Commencement ceremonies. "Kofi Annan's speech is pretty much like this," he said of the United Nations secretary-general who will deliver the afternoon address. "He's going to have to come up with all new material."
That guy's the best. Didn't know he had a US show.
Funniest shit ever was when he asked Becks if he'd ever been caught off-side with victoria on UK TV...
outrageously funny...
LONDON (Reuters) - British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen escaped a near-riot at an American rodeo while filming his satirical "Da Ali G Show."
According to a report in the Roanoke (Virginia) Times, a man who was introduced as Boraq Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan -- in reality a Cohen character named Borat -- appeared at the rodeo over the weekend after organizers agreed to have him sing the national anthem.
After telling the crowd he supported America's war on terrorism, he said, "I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq (news - web sites), down to the lizards ... And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq." He then sang a garbled version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The Roanoke Times reported that the crowd turned "downright nasty." One observer said "If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him."
Cohen and his film crew were escorted out of the Salem Civic Center and told to leave the premises.
"Had we not gotten them out of there, there would have been a riot," rodeo producer Bobby Rowe told the paper. "They loaded up the van and they screeched out of there."
It is not the first time Cohen has wooed controversy with his show, which airs on Channel 4 in the UK and on HBO in the United States. In one episode last year, Borat sang an anti-Semitic song called "Throw the Jew Down the Well" at a U.S. country music bar, prompting protests from the U.S-based Anti-Defamation League.
Producers of the Ali G show, Talkback Thames, were unavailable for comment.
"may GW drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq."...BUT , he forgot to mention those lizards. The audience probably was demanding he add that too.
Ali G addresses 'da most cleverest students in America'
Ali G addresses 'da most cleverest students in America'
By Beth Potier
Harvard News Office
Sacha Baron Cohen, in the persona of bad boy rapper Ali G, amused Harvard's Class of 2004 - and no doubt bemused their parents and older relations - with more awe than advice at Class Day ceremonies Wednesday afternoon (June 9) in Tercentenary Theatre.
Opening his brief remarks with his signature "Booyakasha!", the star of HBO's "Da Ali G Show" proclaimed the graduating seniors "da most cleverest of students in America." The speaker, showcasing the misinformation and malapropisms that characterize his television interviews, lauded the proud heritage of Harvard alumni, including "President George Clinton" and Lyndon Baines Johnson, "or as he is known, JFK.... Or most importantly, that really fit hottie from 'Star Wars,'" he said, continuing to riff on his admiration - not necessarily scholarly - of Natalie Portman '03.
Admitting several times that bringing the grandparents might not have been wise, Ali G peppered his talk with references to sex, drugs, arrests, and scatological functioning. He snuck one profanity past the censors, warning the graduates "the world is totally F-blank-blank-blank-blank-blank-up."
He shared his dismay that Harvard would not pay for the pornography he watched in his hotel room; particularly surprising since one program - "Ivy League Cheerleaders" - served as research for his talk.
"But I digest," he said, speaking in a ghetto-thick English accent.
Harvard students are so bright, he said, that scholars of English "have memorized the entire alphabet, A to X." Harvard's history students are graduating with advanced knowledge of such facts like "what did Lincoln give America, apart from the Town Car?" he said. In fact, Baron Cohen, who is of Welsh and Israeli descent, studied history at Cambridge University.
Ali G praised Harvard's diversity and the advances of women in its ranks. "A lot of you is probably feminists, or as we call them in England, 'lezzies,'" he said. "You women should only have to do half the housework. It's only fair that your mum should do the other half."
Abandoning his trademark yellow tracksuit for a crimson one emblazoned "Professor of Erbology," Ali G compared himself to "the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther Vandross," and warned the audience that they might hear his words echoed at Commencement ceremonies. "Kofi Annan's speech is pretty much like this," he said of the United Nations secretary-general who will deliver the afternoon address. "He's going to have to come up with all new material."
re-spect...
That guy's the best. Didn't know he had a US show.
Funniest shit ever was when he asked Becks if he'd ever been caught off-side with victoria on UK TV...
outrageously funny...
'Ali G' Comedian Risks Riot at U.S. Rodeo
LONDON (Reuters) - British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen escaped a near-riot at an American rodeo while filming his satirical "Da Ali G Show."
According to a report in the Roanoke (Virginia) Times, a man who was introduced as Boraq Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan -- in reality a Cohen character named Borat -- appeared at the rodeo over the weekend after organizers agreed to have him sing the national anthem.
After telling the crowd he supported America's war on terrorism, he said, "I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq (news - web sites), down to the lizards ... And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq." He then sang a garbled version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The Roanoke Times reported that the crowd turned "downright nasty." One observer said "If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him."
Cohen and his film crew were escorted out of the Salem Civic Center and told to leave the premises.
"Had we not gotten them out of there, there would have been a riot," rodeo producer Bobby Rowe told the paper. "They loaded up the van and they screeched out of there."
It is not the first time Cohen has wooed controversy with his show, which airs on Channel 4 in the UK and on HBO in the United States. In one episode last year, Borat sang an anti-Semitic song called "Throw the Jew Down the Well" at a U.S. country music bar, prompting protests from the U.S-based Anti-Defamation League.
Producers of the Ali G show, Talkback Thames, were unavailable for comment.
"may GW drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq."...BUT , he forgot to mention those lizards. The audience probably was demanding he add that too.
virginia has rodeos?
salem... yep... like salem cigarettes
i gotta see this video...
says here he sang "your home is the grave"
the original story at the Roanoke Times here
amazing message board at the roanoke
they should have booked him for the c2c jury while in roanoake - can you hear him talking crit with danny and bill - lol - he'd tear them up.
nuff res-peckt!
i like borat. geek with a national agenda for kazakhstan.
res pek
watch da whole speech. simply amazing.
check it
would you like to see a picture of my wiiiife?
in kazakhstan we say "horse is like a man"....
"would you like to see a picture of my sister?"... "in this picture we pretend we are husband and wife..."
my wife she is dead. that's ok i've got another one.
in spirit of MLK day ....
"black, white, brown, or pakistani we all come from the same placeâ€â€the punani"
and
"i has a dream ... of little black girls and little white girls ... playin' together ... lets make it happen"
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