Ali G Tries to Throw Noel Gallagher Out of the Cinema During ‘Ali G: Who Iz I?’ Showing

Sacha Baron Cohen has never played by the rules of film promotion. His characters tend to turn up where they shouldn’t, say what nobody expects and leave everyone else to work out whether it’s a joke. For the release of his latest movie, that formula is back in full force.

‘Ali G: Who Iz I?’ hit theaters on October 23 from Amazon MGM Studios, marking the return of Cohen’s hip-hop journalist character after more than 20 years. The film is a mockumentary shot in secret and has been surrounded by both curiosity and controversy since it was announced in July.

The latest piece of marketing is a short sketch built around a cinema encounter with Noel Gallagher. In the 55-second clip, Ali G is shown from behind in a puffy silver, green and pink jacket as he walks through a dark cinema, and the premise is that he tries to get the Oasis songwriter to leave. On-screen text in Ali G’s voice declares that not even Gallagher could get a seat to see his movie, a cheeky way of suggesting the film is selling out.

Ali G tries to kick Noel Gallagher out of the movie theatre. https://t.co/88qPjgdyQ5

— One Take 🎬 (@OneTakeNews) October 24, 2026

The joke works because it leans on the character’s defining trait: a misplaced confidence that’s completely at odds with reality. Ali G has always presented himself as a celebrity and cultural authority, and the sketch turns that bravado against one of Britain’s biggest rock stars. The misspelled name in the caption is exactly the kind of detail the character would never notice.

It also fits the way the campaign has been run from the start. Cohen revived the character with a short video in July, followed by a second clip announcing the film, and he appeared in character at the Wimbledon men’s singles final. Each moment was designed to look like a spontaneous event rather than a conventional ad.

The choice of Gallagher is a fun fit for the setting. His own film, ‘Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,’ directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September and opened in theaters on September 11. It charts the Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour and features the first joint interview with Noel and Liam in over 20 years.

That doesn’t mean the 2 projects are connected, but it does mean Gallagher has recently been a regular presence in cinemas. A gag in which Ali G tries to evict him from a screening plays on that visibility.

According to the official description, Ali G spends 20 years ‘chillin’, tokin’ and bonin” before discovering his long-term girlfriend, Julie, is 8 months pregnant. Faced with an extra mouth to feed, he heads to America to reclaim his former glory, only to meet adversaries who threaten his and his child’s existence. Comedian Morgana Robinson plays Julie, and Cohen makes his feature directorial debut.

The movie is rated R and runs about 1 hour and 29 minutes. Like ‘Borat,’ it was filmed in secret, and it reunites Cohen with Amazon MGM Studios after ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ in 2020. The character’s previous feature, ‘Ali G Indahouse,’ came out in 2002 and made $23.3 million worldwide.

The theatrical run is deliberately small. Reports describe the release as one weekend only in US cinemas, while another report says it’s playing in just 125 locations for one week. That conflict aside, it’s clear the studio is treating it as a short event rather than a wide release, which fits the scarcity joke in the sketch.

The film has also faced backlash. Some activists have called Ali G a racist caricature and urged theaters not to show the movie, and a UK campaign reportedly sent about 37,000 emails to cinemas. Defenders argue that the character is a parody of a white British man whose attempts at appropriation are the actual target of the humor, and that debate has followed the project since its first trailer.

Yo check out de trailer for me new movie, Ali G: Who Iz I? It got nuff sick tings, but u’ll have to watch de hole film to find out if me hactually died makin it. Only in dem cinemas October 23nd. https://t.co/kz0c3FBeET

— Ali G (@OfficialAli_G) August 25, 2026

Box office numbers haven’t been reported yet, and the film is competing this weekend with ‘Clayface,’ ‘You Can See Everything’ and ‘Wildwood.’ With such a limited footprint, even modest per-theater averages could make for a fun headline. Marketing moments like the Gallagher sketch are the studio’s best tool for turning curiosity into ticket sales.

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