Ali G first appeared on Channel 4's Eleven O'Clock show as the "voice of da youth". He interviewed various public figures in the United Kingdom, who, too scared to appear "uncool", were completely fooled by his idiosyncratic interview technique, based mostly on the simple stratagem of pretending to be stupid.

One particularly memorable interview was with a fashion designer. He suggested that the Wonderbra should be banned as it misleads men into thinking that a woman's breasts are larger than they are; he retold a story of having been disappointed when a girl he'd "pulled" proved to have been wearing a Wonderbra. He also asked his interviewee if he was pleased Gianni Versace was killed, because it meant less competition, and he suggested that he'd heard a rumour that Calvin Klein did it. (This was a clear satire on the feuding which followed the deaths of the rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.)

Other examples of his style of interviewing include coaxing a bishop into saying that he believed God created the Universe, and then asking "And since then, he's just chilled?". He also suggested that film censorship should be done by a younger person who understands the crude terms being used after asking James Ferman whether a succession of his made-up vulgarities would make a film an 18. One public figure who was not 'taken in' during a TV interview was the veteran socialist politician Tony Benn, who gave G short shrift and berated him for his apparent ignorance.

Ali G was featured in Madonna's music video for her song "Music" as the limousine driver, and subsequently recorded his own record with the reggae/pop performer Shaggy. In 2001 Ali G hosted MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2002, he was the central character in the feature film Ali G Indahouse, in which he became elected to the United Kingdom's Parliament and had to foil a plot to bulldoze a community centre in his home town of Staines. He is now the main character of HBO's Da Ali G Show, which also features two other characters: Borat Sagdiyev, a foreign correspondent from Kazakhstan; and Bruno, a fashion reporter for Austria's fictional Gay TV. Ali G was recently featured in a series of ads for the 05-06 NBA season, in which he uses his brand of off-kilter reporting to interview various NBA stars, the spots were directed by Spike Lee.