Comedy works better in episodes.

There’s rarely a moment I’d prefer a serial over a movie.

With one notable exception: Comedy. I just think it works better in episodes.

I realized that after watching two Sacha Baron Cohen movies.

Both Ali G Indahouse (2002) and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) are huge cinematic failures.

In the case of Ali G it's pretty obvious. They completely changed the formula to pure fiction.

Instead of real-life people getting annoyed at Ali G's out-there worldviews, here's some fictional politicians rolling their eyes. Wow, hilarious.

Without the real-life setting as a contrast the movie becomes as shallow, immature and plain stupid as its main character.

But the problem runs deeper. Because if you think about it: What could they have done?

The only other strategy would be the one they tried with Borat four years later.

That is, have SBC run around as Borat while real people react to him.

Then counstruct a pointless story around these detached episodes.

The single episodes might be funny or insightful, but the movie as a whole surely isn't.

It's sappy and doesn't fit SBC's satirical tone.

On the other hand, if you would stick to an episodic structure, why make a full-lenght movie at all?

There's a good reason Ali G and Borat started by doing short interviews.

Sometimes the obvious format is the best one.

And that's why, sometimes, you should stick to that format.

A full-lenght pure comedy movie that actually works is a rare thing indeed.

Maybe Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) is one of those rare masterpieces.

Holy Grail and The Meaning of Life are far inferior.

Because they, too, are trapped in episodic thinking that doesn't translate well to the big screen.