2. • Family context:
– Born in London in 1971
– Youngest of three sons
– Jewish Family (mother born in Israel)
• EducaCon:
– AEended Haberdasher’s Aske’s Boy’s
School (privileged private school)
– AEented Dulwich College
– AEended Christ’s College (University of
Cambridge), where he wrote his thesis on
Jewish Involvement in the American Civil
Rights movement Ali G, delivering the Class Day
speech to the Harvard class of
2004, in front of Memorial Church
in Harvard Yard

3. • Israel & Judaism:
– First acted in theatrical producCon featuring the
Socialist‐Zionist youth movement Habonim Dror
– Spent a year in Israel at Kibbutz Rosh HaNikra
and Kibbutz Beit HaEmek
– Refuses to answer the phone on Sabbat
“I wouldn’t say I am a
religious Jew, but I’m sCll
proud to be Jewish”
• Personal life:
‐ Engaged to Australian actress Isla Fisher
(converted to Judaism)
‐ Plan to wed in a tradiConal Jewish Ceremony
‐ Father of Olive (born in October 2007 in L.A.,
CA)

5.  ustrian Gay Reporter
A
 ppeared on the Paramount Comedy
A
Channel in 1998
 nterviews unsuspected guests about
I
topics such as fashion, entertainment,
celebriCes and homosexuality
 amous German accent (“vassup ?”)
F
 umor with poliCcal undertones
H
 nterviewees making outrageous
I
statements
 evealing an interviewee’s apparent
R
ignorance

6.  haracter first developed in 1996‐1997 but
C
remained dormant while Cohen concentrated
on Ali G
 ohen revisited his Borat character in Da Ali
C
G Show
 orat is a ficConal Kazakhstani journalist :
B
Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit
Glorious NaCon of Kazakhstan
 ilm released in 2006
F
 mockumentary which includes interviews
A
with various Amerian ciCzens that poke fun at
the hobgoblins of American culture, including
sexism, racism, homophobia, anC‐SemiCsm
and Baywatch ! => reflects uncomfortable
truths about his audience
 BC won the 2007 Golden Globe in the “Best
S
Actor – Musical or Comedy” category

7.  ppeared on Channel 4’s The Eleven O’Clock Show
A
as the “voice of da yoof” in 1998
 tereotype of a “wigger”
S
 oorish, uneducated, streetwise youth with a
B
deeply stereotypical view of the world
 mbarrasses his interviewee by displaying a
E
mixture of uninformed poliCcal incorrectness
 ets the interview “vicCm” to agree to some
G
inaccuracy or insult
Ex:
• Wonderbra should be banned, as it misleads men
into thinking that a girl’s breasts are larger than they
are
• He began an interview with the Chairman of he Arts
Council of England with the quesCon: “Why is that
everything you fund is so crap?”