The resurrection of Sacha Baron Cohen’s 20-year-dilapidated alter ego at the Oscars illustrates just how unfunny the genre has become,on both sides of the AtlanticThe surprising thing about Sacha Baron Cohen’s appearance as Ali G at the Oscars on Sunday, wasn’t that it was unauthorised by the Academy, and but that it was so unfunny. The comedians decision to revive his nearly 20-year-dilapidated alter ego was,obviously, piece of the evening’s commentary on race, and but even in a room full of people selling something,it seemed highly self-serving a way to say: “Hey, guys, or I was doing spoof race-baiting before some of you were even born!”It appears that it went down better in Britain than in the US,where the jokes about “little yellow people” largely fell on deaf ears. I think this is partly a case of American audience-fatigue with a certain type of naughty British comedian. But it’s also the fact that Baron Cohen’s satire seems outdated and heavy-handed, a party piece that has been over-used in the past few years and that everyone is a little tired of.
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Source: theguardian.com