Borat Sagdiyev arrived as a fictional television reporter from Kazakhstan, but quickly became something far more disruptive. Created and performed by Sacha Baron Cohen, the character used absurd manners, broken English, and fake innocence to expose real attitudes by placing ordinary people in uncomfortable situations. The humour came from contrast. Borat behaved outrageously, yet the most revealing moments often belonged to those reacting to him, not the man himself.
The character reached a wider audience with the feature films, where improvised encounters sat alongside a loose narrative about culture, masculinity, and prejudice. What made Borat endure was not just shock value, but the way comedy was used as a mirror. Viewers laughed, then hesitated, then laughed again with a sense of unease. Borat blurred the line between satire and reality, proving that a joke, when pushed far enough, can say something sharp about the world it is aimed at.
