20 years after retiring Ali G, Sacha Baron Cohen has dusted off his tracksuit collection and reprised the character for “Ali G: Who Iz I?,” now open in theaters before coming to Amazon Prime Oct. 30. The comedian first brought Ali G to audiences at the turn of the century with “Da Ali G Show,” where he interviewed some of the world’s most powerful figures (and, more often than not, made fools of them in the process).
“As Ali G, I had the privilege of sitting with some of the smartest and most powerful people in the world, and all of them were punctual,” Baron Cohen told Josh Horowitz Wednesday night during a live taping of “Happy Sad Confused” at New York’s 92nd Street Y. After a lengthy pause, he turned his attention to the one exception: “Donald Trump kept us waiting for about 40 minutes.”
Baron Cohen recalled feeling “intimidated” upon entering Trump Tower with director James Bobin, where they waited in a room while Trump shouted a string of expletives “not for the likes of delicate Jewish ears” at Rudy Giuliani over the phone.
“Later on, I heard that he used to do that with other people,” Baron Cohen said. “It really was a power move.”
Trump appeared taken with Bobin, who Baron Cohen described as a “very handsome, blond, Oxford-educated” Englishman. But when he realized he’d be sitting down with Ali G instead, his demeanor “immediately” changed.
“I actually met a woman who was in the car with him after that interview, and he was apparently furious,” Baron Cohen said. “He actually went out publicly a couple of times to criticize me. And in the end, we used all those clips and used them to advertise another show that I did.”
Baron Cohen’s interview with Trump aired in 2003, back when the future president was best known as a New York real estate mogul, before going on to host NBC’s “The Apprentice.” Looking back at their encounter, Baron Cohen said he could understand how Trump won a second term in the White House, pointing to the president’s “elements of brilliance.”
“I mean, how has he survived a second term? People underestimated him,” Baron Cohen said. “We were too easy to dismiss him as a nincompoop. There are elements of brilliance to him, otherwise. And that explains his appeal with the fact that he’s there for a second term, the fact that he’s transforming this country. I won’t say positively or negatively.”
This was not the only time Baron Cohen reflected on Trump’s one-of-a-kind characteristics on his latest press tour. He told Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway on the Pivot podcast that the president is “amusing” and that there’s “a huge amount of comedy in the way he speaks.”
“He’s intentionally being funny,” Baron Cohen explained. “And if you have a look on the far right, they use comedy and sarcasm as an engaging way to dismiss criticisms.”
Baron Cohen suggests that Trump’s popularity, perhaps, reflects a broader theme explored through his own collection of provocative characters: “In the black and white, the world is a little bit complicated.”