Sacha Baron Cohen Says Ali G Film Is His Last Guerrilla-Style Comedy

Sacha Baron Cohen says his new film, Ali G: Who Iz I?, will be the last guerrilla-style comedy he makes. There will be no more Borat, Bruno or Ali G after it, he told Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on October 21, 2026.

Guerrilla-style comedy is built on ordinary people who do not know they are part of a joke. It is the approach that made Baron Cohen's earlier characters famous, and it is the reason the new film has drawn so much attention.

The film runs 90 minutes and opens in cinemas on October 23. It is set to arrive on Amazon Prime Video soon after, according to Hollywood Reporter. Deadline reports that Amazon MGM Studios produces and distributes the film.

The release has also brought a backlash. Critics have accused the film of relying on an outdated caricature and of cultural appropriation, and a campaign to boycott it has followed. In the film, Ali G's progressive nemesis, also played by Baron Cohen, tries to cancel Ali G on those same grounds. In a cover essay for Time, Baron Cohen wrote that the fact Ali G is outdated and problematic is the very reason he brought the character back, Variety reported on October 20.

Baron Cohen told Hollywood Reporter that he made the film because he is terrified of where society is headed. He said he wanted to show extremism on both sides of the political spectrum, and what he called the danger of "virtuous violence." He also said he is tired of the death threats that periodically follow his guerrilla comedy projects.

Some people close to him have speculated that the backlash is a coordinated attack by pro-Palestinian groups who are critical of his past support for Israel. Hollywood Reporter also reports that in 2023 Baron Cohen told TikTok executives that what was happening on their platform was creating the biggest antisemitic movement since the Nazis.

Ali G began on the British television show The 11 O'Clock Show. Producer Anthony Ant Hines has worked with Baron Cohen since that show, and Dan Mazer, a friend since their school days in the U.K., co-created the Ali G work with him. Colton Dunn, an Emmy-winning writer, is one of three Black writers hired on the new film.

The trailer was revealed in August 2026, and the Guardian reported the return of the character on August 25. The cinema date is set for October 23, and the streaming arrival will follow in the weeks after.