British satirist Sacha Baron Cohen stars in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" as a backward news reporter who journeys to America on a quest to research its cultural workings and marry Pamela Anderson.
The film is a mockumentary in which the title character travels around the country and interviews unsuspecting people on camera. Borat is a jovial yet adamantly racist and misogynistic character with penchants for bestiality, incest and anti-Semitism.
In essence, Borat plays pranks on people, instigating them to act ridiculous for public enjoyment. The character originated on Cohen's "Da Ali G Show," which HBO picked up from British television. A look at some of Borat's greatest hits:
Trip to Tucson
Borat visited Tucson in April 2004 to film a karaoke segment for his show's second season. He visited the Country West bar at 2660 W. Ruthrauff Road, which has since been sold by the owners and is now the Branding Iron North Bar and Grill.
People are also reading…
The cowboy-hat wearing audience at Country West embarrassed Tucson by clapping and singing along to Borat's rendition of his song "Throw the Jew Down the Well." The Anti-Defamation League sent Cohen a letter of reprimand after the show aired.
Longest moment of silence ever
Borat asked Oklahoma City officials to stand in silence for 10 minutes to commemorate a fictional Kazakh massacre. The stunned suits complied. Borat repeated the trick last year — in Tucson once again — at a Pima County Republican Club meeting.
Talk like that and you're definitely not headed to Congress
James Broadwater, at the time a Republican candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat in Mississippi, ill-advisedly sat down for an interview with Borat before the 2004 primary. Borat pressed Broadwater on his religious beliefs and got him to say he thought Jews were going to hell. Broadwater responded to the airing of the segment by posting an angry letter on his Web site and calling for the "liberal, anti-God media" to be pulled under stricter control by the Federal Communications Commission.
In January 2005, Borat addressed the crowd of a Virginia rodeo, stating: "I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards. And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq."
