Jive Turkey from Turkey wants to hop on the Borat Express

But it has already left the station!!!!

Al Smith...

OK, I downloaded and watched about fifteen or twenty minutes of
Borat today. I couldn't watch it all because it was borating me to
tears. I have to say, I don't get it. I just don't find the
strained, obviously insincere antics of the Borat guy interesting
in any way. I didn't like this bug when he was doing the Ali G
character either. He's just not very funny.

PorchMonkey4Life...

I don't care whether you liked it or not. It's obvious from the receipts
that the film is a hit. With or without your box office support. Now what???

Al Smith...

Now people get tired of the character and forget about him.

you da man...

imitations.

Al Smith...

Borat is a five minute wonder -- and 4:59 seconds of it are
already up.

PorchMonkey4Life...

They'll get tired of the much less original, Will Ferrell first.

Savage Lizard...

At least it's something original, they could have just made the zillionth
remake of something else.

Savage Lizard

Al Smith...

Not all that original. Andy Kaufman started out the practice of an
actor assuming an off-beat character so completely, it was
difficult to distinguish it from the actor's own true character.
All the later attempts are imitations.

Invid Fan...

It seems to me that many comedians have done that. The Marx Brothers
come to mind, for example.

Highlandish...

before Taxi! he had his own show. to be honest he should have stayed
there or died or something, he ruined Taxi! it was a genuine comedy and
all he brought to it was a patronizing racist stereotype with a
catch-phrase.

Al Smith...

I really liked Kaufman in "Taxi" -- I thought he was the best
thing in the series.

Highlandish...

no way! Christopher Loyd's character was sidelined when Kaufman, Jud's
role was diminished as the centrall character and in my opinion the show
died after that, however stats proved me wrong as the show got more
popular. i geuss it was dumbed down for the lcd.

Al Smith...

Christopher Lloyd's character was good, but there was only so much
the writers could do with it. Plus, when Latka came along we got
Carol Kane as Simka Gravas, and she was perfect as Latka's love
interest. You really can't consider Latka without Simka.

Highlandish...

she only had one episode. besides, i never realy noticed any other
women, Marilu Henner stole the show.

Al Smith...

One episode? Did you watch the same "Taxi" that I watched? I seem
to remember her as a semi-regular.

Highlandish...

like i said, Marilu Henner made sure no other woman was noticed...

Al Smith...

Well, to be fair, Marilu Henner was a fox, and woman who look that
good don't need to adhere to the same code of ethical behavior as
normal people.

puzzlr...

He ruined the series for me as well. All that sickly sweet gibberish nearly
gave me diabetes. They should have given us more of Danny DeVito and less
Kaufman. I also didn't think Kaufmans stand-up was funny. Unless I count

Savage Lizard...

I guess he just ain't your cup of tea.

I think he's hilarious, and based on the uproarious laughter at the showing
I went to, it's a pretty common opinion.

Derek Janssen...

Still the "bikini" gag looks pretty darn suspicious...
No one could be THAT cheap independently.

Derek Janssen (
ejanss@comcast.net

Savage Lizard

the time he got his ass kicked by that wrestler. LOL

Highlandish...

more legends were born in Taxi! than in SNL, but Kaufman shouldnt have
been one of them.

Al Smith...

I agree, Kaufman's standup sucked. But his Latka was inspired.

Derek Janssen...

But first, a lot of suburban people go rush to see it the second week
because the news told them to, and they don't really get it either...
And then the 007 film comes out a week after that and we ALL forget
about him.

Derek Janssen (happened with "Hellboy")
ejanss@comcast.net

Al Smith...

That's how I see it. It amazes me that the public can fix on
something like this for a few weeks, treating it as though it were
of any importance or interest at all, and then they forget about
it as completely as if it had never existed.

Savage Lizard...

Man, you really sound bitter about this. Did Borat screw your wife or
something? It's a movie, a character, people like it. Relax.

Savage Lizard

Al Smith...

As I understand it, Borat is more interested in his own sister. I
think it's great this actor is getting a little money, but the
fuss that is made about it seems excessive to me. It will soon
burn itself out and be forgotten, and then it won't matter what
anyone thought of Borat, because nobody will remember him.

Highlandish...

Cohen is milking this character for as long as he can, previously he
milked his Ali-G as far as he could, getting a motion picture out of his
series, so I think he is doing very well, and I don't think his Borat
will ever be forgotten. in fact he introduced Borat to a new set of fans
who hadn't seen his Ali-G before.

Al Smith...

I'm happy for Cohen. He created this character and it really took
off. Good for him. But these things have their life cycle.

Tom Zielinski...

I seem to remember a similar character that Borat seems very much based
upon - Latka Gravas.

Invid Fan...

And Yakov Smirnoff.

Savage Lizard...

Yakov Smirnoff was never, ever funny.

Savage Lizard

Cohen owes more than a bit to Andy Kaufman.

(And I enjoyed BORAT.)

Al Smith...

So I pointed out in an earlier post. Borat is really just a
reshuffling of the Latka character.

Savage Lizard...

Except that Latka was never funny.

Savage Lizard

Remember how funny Steve Martin was in his white suit with his
banjo? He was hysterical, and totally different from anything else
on stage. Go back and look at his routine today, and you probably
won't even laugh. I didn't when I saw part of it a few months ago.
It seemed flat and stale. Same thing will be true of Borat in a
few months. Everyone will wonder what they were laughing about.

Invid Fan...

Many see movies as disposable entertainment. In many ways that's
probably a good thing :)