Borat is back, and he has some things to say about Ali G. Sacha Baron Cohen has revived his Kazakh journalist for a new trailer introducing Ali G: Who Iz I?, bringing two of his most recognizable comedy characters together to promote Ali G’s return to the big screen.
The new trailer takes aim at criticism surrounding the character’s humor, with Borat stepping in to address claims that the upcoming movie is racist. Naturally, the man responsible for some of Cohen’s most outrageous comedy has his own interesting way of handling the controversy. Ali G isn’t about to let his old television co-star have the last word, either.
“Yo, dis prick Borat wiv an even bigger tache dan me Nan iz talkin smack bout me movie. Well check dis Borat, me only put u in me show back in de 20000s az a fool for people to laugh at in between me serious intraviews, so de joke iz on u innit.#AliGWhoIzI in theaters October 23, One Weekend Only.”
The promotional video offers another look at Cohen’s new film, which marks his feature directorial debut and arrives in theaters October 23 through Amazon MGM Studios. The release is currently scheduled for one weekend only.
Ali G Has a Baby on the Way
After spending 20 years “chillin’, tokin’ and bonin’,” Ali G discovers that his longtime girlfriend, Julie, is eight months pregnant. Suddenly faced with the prospect of supporting a child, the self-appointed voice of the streets decides it’s time to get off his batty and reclaim his former glory.
His plan takes him to America, where he soon finds himself facing adversaries who threaten both his existence and the future of his child.
Morgana Robinson plays Julie, returning to a role first seen in 2002’s Ali G Indahouse. The new movie brings Cohen back to the character’s familiar blend of misplaced confidence, spectacularly bad judgment and a complete inability to recognize how ridiculous he sounds to everyone around him.
The story also gives Ali G a problem he can’t solve simply by acting like the coolest guy in the room. Fatherhood is coming whether he’s ready for it or not, and his attempt to restore his reputation could put him in considerably more trouble than he bargained for.
From Da Ali G Show to the Big Screen
Ali G first appeared on British television in 1998 as part of The 11 O’Clock Show. Cohen played a wannabe gangster from Staines who presented himself as an authority on youth culture despite having a spectacularly confused understanding of the world around him.
The character became popular enough to headline Da Ali G Show, which began in the United Kingdom in 2000 before reaching American audiences through HBO in 2003. The series also introduced viewers to two other Cohen creations, Borat Sagdiyev and Brüno, each built around a fictional personality who approached real people with an extraordinary lack of self-awareness.
Ali G’s interviews were the show’s central attraction. Cohen would stay completely committed to his character while asking politicians, academics and other public figures absurd questions, often leaving his interviewees struggling to work out what was happening. The joke depended on the contrast between Ali G’s unwavering confidence and the increasingly bizarre conversations he managed to create.
Borat followed a similar approach, but his earnest, clueless foreign correspondent persona took Cohen’s confrontational comedy in a different direction. The character eventually became a major movie star in his own right, with Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan arriving in 2006.
Now Borat is helping introduce Ali G’s latest adventure, although his appearance in the promotional trailer should not be taken as confirmation that he’ll turn up in the actual movie.
Ali G’s First Movie Was a Different Kind of Comedy
The gap between the two Ali G movies is striking. Ali G Indahouse hit theaters in March 2002, meaning Ali G: Who Iz I?arrives more than 24 years after his first big-screen outing.
The original film took a different route from Cohen’s later mockumentaries. Rather than centering on a series of encounters with unsuspecting members of the public, Ali G Indahouse told a conventional fictional story about Ali becoming entangled in British politics. He ends up involved in a plot to undermine the government, eventually stumbling into a position of influence despite having almost no idea what he’s doing.
That structure gave the movie more in common with broad, old-school farces and screwball comedies than the documentary-style provocations that made Borat a worldwide phenomenon. Its political scheming, unlikely hero and fish-out-of-water setup placed Ali in an increasingly ridiculous situation, with the plot moving forward through misunderstandings and escalating absurdity.
The film still relied on Cohen’s trademark vulgarity and satire, but it was a scripted narrative comedy first. Ali G wasn’t simply interviewing people and waiting for an uncomfortable moment to develop. He was the lead in a full-blown comedy plot, surrounded by supporting characters and caught up in a story that kept getting more preposterous.
Ali G: Who Iz I? takes the character to America, with a new set of problems and the added complication of impending fatherhood. Whether the new film leans more heavily on the narrative approach of Indahouse or the real-world encounters associated with Da Ali G Show remains to be seen.
Cohen has spent decades moving between those styles, from Ali G’s television interviews to Borat’s international adventures. This time, he’s taking the director’s chair himself.
Ali G: Who Iz I? opens in theaters October 23, 2026, for one weekend through Amazon MGM Studios.
