I’ve been going through TNT’s Ali G NBA spots that are available from TNT’s NBA Playoffs 2006 homepage and that I think have been playing all season (at least some of them). On the one hand, they’re a pretty good distillation for a mass audience of Ali G’s interviewer shtick, given that you can understand what he’s saying and no one is truly uncomfortable.
If you haven’t seen the Ali G show, whose website has a really dead feel unlike the show, you know that Ali G’s interviews of American politicians and business people before anybody knew who he was were incredibly funny. Part of the humor came from watching Ali G go with the moment while his interviewees struggled to figure out what the hell was going on.
A couple of the spots catch a little of that energy because they allow Ali G to get a tiny roll going but then it’s over. Mostly the spots fall a bit flat when watched on their own. The relentless deadpan response of the players and announcers seems rather lifeless and, obviously, devoid of the edgy energy of the early Ali G shows.
Nevertheless, I can see them working ok as spots during a game. Hey, there’s that crazy Ali G! What’ll he say to Shaq?
On the other hand, I haven’t been watching the season so I don’t know if they’ve been overexposed. Since the players’ and announcers’ reactions are pretty standard throughout, Ali G is the changing element and he mostly doesn’t have room to operate.
I could imagine a series of spots where he interviews fans about the upcoming season or the playoffs that could play off Ali G’s oddball flow and the fact that, even when they know they’re being put on, a lot of fans will go with the moment, especially if it’s about their home team regarding the playoffs.
Ali G’s humor works best when there’s room for a situation to develop that isn’t possible in short scripted spots. Creating situations and then taking edited slices might have been a better approach if the goal was to create funny, edgy spots.
Hey, wait a minute, could bringing in someone who parodies a hip hop fan be part of the process of cleansing the NBA of hip hop influences? Yes, I see it all now!
