TikToker Shabaz Ali uses his uber-dry wit to make the mega-rich look ridiculous in Shabaz Asks: Are Billionaires Bad?, a satirical pilot that parodies BBC Three documentaries. The show aired on BBC Three and is now on iPlayer.
A Spoof of the Genre
The documentary opens with Ali floating down a London street in a smart black turtleneck and grey suit jacket, with alarmist string music swelling. He begins: “In a world of ever-widening economic divides, the BBC have asked me, Shabaz Ali, to answer one burning question: are billionaires bad?” The camera then zooms out to reveal another camera pointed in his face, and the music stops: “Er, yeah,” he says. “They are!” He strides off as mock end credits play at triple speed. The show is a parody of the well-intentioned documentaries fronted by presenters like Stacey Dooley and Zara McDermott.
Ali's Dry Wit and Interviews
Much of the success is down to Ali, a former teacher turned TikToker and self-proclaimed “povvo king” from Blackburn. He rose to fame in lockdown by reacting to out-of-touch content with a straight face. Here, he disarms the mega-rich by appearing slightly gormless, promising to “do the Louis Theroux stare when I can’t think of a comeback”. At the winter home of Phones 4u founder John Caudwell in Colorado, Ali asks his unimpressed host whether he has “a Batcave, or one of those big boards where you have a world map [for] conquering stuff”. Economist Faiza Shaheen schools Ali in economics, but he has a more pressing question: “What’s billionaire shortbread?” At a get-rich seminar hosted by former Apprentice winner Joseph Valente, the camera pans to Ali doodling the letter S on his notepad.
Making Billionaires Look Silly
Ali’s approach makes the concept of a billionaire feel silly. Green party leader Zack Polanski has a particularly good comeback when Ali asks whether his party scapegoats billionaires. “I’m very happy to scapegoat billionaires,” Polanski counters, “because otherwise we’re scapegoating migrants, trans people, disabled people, people who can’t get a job …” The show also highlights the wealth gap. When Ali meets Emily Abraham, who sells luxury bags to celebrities and royals, he is incredulous. “I grew up working class, my dad was a taxi driver, my mum was a housewife,” he explains, “but they could afford 20 years ago to buy a house … hard-working people, teachers, could go on holidays. Now, it’s not the case. The gap is becoming so wide that an average person can’t do normal things.” At Abraham’s shop, a Hermès Faubourg Birkin costs £190,000. In Blackburn, Ali notes, that could buy an actual two-bedroom house. Abraham, who grew up in poverty, agrees to an extent, but says “the reality is that we do have people with money, and they do want to spend it”.
A Pilot with Potential
Are Billionaires Bad? is a pilot that could become a series, with Ali doing a part-Theroux, part-Cunk thing and doing it well. If it continues, its makers will need to decide whether it is a proper documentary, a comic endeavour, or the funniest, most cutting hybrid of the two. As Caudwell says, “I’m not a fan of billionaires either.”
