The problem is that Noam Chomsky is too smart. Most of the people Ali G interviews are dumb enough to fall for his little tricks, which is what makes it funny. He probably saw through the fake accent pretty quickly too.
So at the suggestion of my friend boriss I watched a few more of Ali G's clips, and I have to conclude that she's right in guessing that he stages the whole thing beforehand, with his guests' help. The FBI guy was way too forgiving, and all his guests tend to be the same way -- ignoring his idiotic deliberate misunderstandings and never so much as raising their voices with him. I didn't get the impression Chomsky was acting any differently than the rest in that respect.
I've watched nearly all of his episodes, and he's pretty much my favorite comedian. (Although Stephen Colbert's recent work has been starting to change my mind on that!) I would have to disagree with your friend's suspicions that he stages it. It's possible that in some of the later episodes they already know who he is and what he's going to act like, but I think most of them are "forgiving" because when you're in the middle of an interview under lights and camera, there's a lot of pressure to go along with whatever the host is doing. I think many of them also don't want to be seen as racist or xenophobes because he has such a bizarre accent and they figure much of his apparent stupidity could be due to cultural differences. Making a mistake in calling his bullshit on camera could cost them their career, whereas taking his dumb questions seriously is the safe route and costs little.
Donald Trump is the only one I remember that they've aired who walked out on the interview and said something like "I don't have time for this crap." I think it's likely he interviews a lot more people, but he doesn't usually show the ones where they got up and left early because they aren't as funny.
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Date: 2006-08-06 05:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-08-07 02:23 am (UTC)Donald Trump is the only one I remember that they've aired who walked out on the interview and said something like "I don't have time for this crap." I think it's likely he interviews a lot more people, but he doesn't usually show the ones where they got up and left early because they aren't as funny.