This is too much:
US President George Bush is to host White House talks on British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
Cohen, 35, creator of Ali G, has infuriated the Kazakhstan government with his portrayal of Borat, a bumbling Kazakh TV presenter.
And now a movie of Borat’s adventures in the US has caused a diplomatic incident.
The opening scene, which shows Borat lustily kissing his sister goodbye and setting off for America in a car pulled by a horse, had audiences in stitches when it was first shown last week.
But the film, which has just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, has prompted a swift reaction from the Kazakhstan government, which is launching a PR blitz in the States.
Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev is to fly to the US to meet President Bush in the coming weeks and on the agenda will be his country’s image.
President Nazarbayev has confirmed his government will buy “educational” TV spots and print advertisements about the “real Kazakhstan” in a bid to save the country’s reputation before the film is released in the US in November.
In other news, Toronto protestors last year threatened to boycott Blockbuster if they carried the tenth anniversary edition of Canadian Bacon. Or maybe I just made that up.
Pb
Hey, at least it’s not Uzbekistan.
Maybe ABC can make a docudrama about the “real Kazakhstan” instead.
capelza
Canadian Bacon owns.
Ali G should have picked on Kyrgyzstan…but it will all be good. Like the Iraqi Kurds, a little national TV ad campaign by Kazakhstan will be better than than more ED commercials.
Funny, in a sad kind of way, story. My stepson is a very bright young man, but is the most geographically challenged kid I have ever met. He was on some online game, Everquest I think, and he came running out of his room and asked where “kazakh” was..and I told him where Kazakhstan was…he said, no, no it’s in Europe somewhere. So I followed him into his room and checked the IM he was referring to. The young man he was talking to was from the Czech Republic. Kazakh was my boy’s phonetic pronunciation.
The saddest part is that our surname is Czech.
John S.
One of the the funniest things about this whole dustup is Borat’s response to the Kazakhstan government officials taking issue with him:
Pb
capelza,
At least you had the presence of mind to factczech!
The Other Steve
Oh Thank God!
I thought President Bush was going to host Sacha Baron Cohen. I was picturing the interview of Bush by Ali G.
Ohhhhh… HAHAHAHA!!!! God, I’m so dense.
Back in 2004 when I was staying in England, I was in the town of Bracknell, which is just a bit east of Reading. Well for fun we’d go up to Windsor and Eton because there were better restaurants there. BTW, I would highly recommend the Tiger Garden in Eton if you ever make it there. I would also recommend Thai Square in Windsor. They’re quite close to one another, Thai Square is down the road a bit near the castle, and Tiger Garden is on the other side of the foot bridge to Eton.
Anyway, back to my story. The train that goes from Bracknell to Windsor isn’t direct. You have to change trains at the Staines station.
Well the kids there were kind of funny. They tended to try to emulate Ali G, and I was surprised the TV show was that popular.
Well, doing a wiki on Ali G it finally dawned on me as to why. He’s supposed to be from Staines!
HAHAHA AHAAHAHA!
DougJ
If they’re smart, Kazakhstan can use this to their advantage the way the Poles did with the anti-EU Polish plumber campaign in France.
KC
I guess I don’t understand this “Borat” stuff at all. I vaguely recall some kind of contoversy over it a few months ago. May I need to see some of this new movie.
Zifnab
If he can get half as many people in America to recognize Kazakhstan on a map as Iraq, he’ll have accomplished a god-damn miracle.
Andrew
This is going to be awesome.
DougJ
They’re smart to fight Borat over here so they don’t have to fight him over there.
Andrew
Borat: Secret Stingray Assassin?
RSA
That goddamned Borat. They should throw him down the well.
neil
Canadian Bacon, the only Michael Moore film that the wingnuts consider to be a real documentary.
Larry
Cohen and the Ali G Show are some of the funniest material that has ever been broadcast. Satire at its very, very best. Alone, worth the cost of HBO during its run.
The idea that anyone in this government is going to talk about it is proof that you can, in fact, fool some people all of the time. Our government being those people, of course.
KC
This Borat thing may indeed be too much, however, I think this may be even worse. Just read the link and ask yourself if this is what you bargained for, especially if like me, you once considered yourself a conservative. Talk about Big Government.
Keith
I wonder if W is aware that in Kazakhstan, “barbara” means “to eat” and “bush” means “hair from the pubic region”.
Tsulagi
Yeah, you really can’t make up this shit…
So that guy is coming here, to talk to Bush, seeking help about a country image problem? Blind leading the blind?
srv
We apparently need those secret bases, really, really, really bad.
Dave Ruddell
Man, you should have seen, it was really loud, I’d guess 10,000 at least. They marched down Yonge St, right past my window. Scared the crap out of the cat, they did.
Fledermaus
Explain to me again how “the grownups are in charge now”
Jebus fucking Christ.
Barrasso
capelza
Re your geographically challenged kid, just get him into WWII games instead of everquest then he’ll know his euro geography, that or get him into watching the NHL. Then he’ll learn all about euro rivalry. I remember ALI G interviewed Pat Buchanan comedy freakin gold, which is odd because the current state of british comedy is very lowbrow.
farmgirl
Can I just say, I love the movie Canadian Bacon. I’m a Canadian living in the US, and I first watched it with a bunch of American friends — I think I laughed louder than anyone. I don’t think anyone else knew enough about Canada to get most of the jokes.
Krista
I’ve actually never seen Canadian Bacon.
/hangs head in shame.
I have, however, seen the Ali G. show, and it’s hysterical.
Mary
I’ve seen bacon on a cat. But it’s an American cat and streaky bacon, so that doesn’t count.
canuckistani
I was part of that protest. I broke 4 windows, helped torch 2 cars and punched a cop on a horse. I’m not sure why we had the protest, because I was drunk, but I’d do it again if I dreamt that some American corporation was soiling the memory of Johnny LaRue.
BIRDZILLA
Somebody is about to get a fatwa issued on him
Jim Treacher
Borat has the only Myspace page worth visiting.