Farewell, Borat

The release of the movie Borat marks a bittersweet moment in my life. I'm as excited as anyone can possibly be to see what Sacha Baron Cohen has thought up for the major motion picture installment of his lovably backwards psuedo-Kazakhstani. But, my giddy anticipation has been severely curbed by what I see looming ahead. I'll admit to having bouts of pessimism, but I can't help but cringe when I think of the incessant and increasingly unfunny impressions that will spread like wildfire as more and more people watch the movie and leave the theater believing that they have the best Borat impression ever.


We've all seen/heard it before. Just within the past couple years, Dave Chappelle went from edgy comedic genius to annoying catch phrase machine. And sadly, the fault was not Chappelle's that his sketches became the source of obnoxious public recreations. For the most part, it was my own generation's doing. Every unfunny and unoriginal young adult from high school to college have been the main reason that such great works of comedy die from overexhaustion almost immediately after they debut.


However, knowing of the impending doom of Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat leaves me more depressed because unlike every other instance of joke/character overexposure, Borat has been a source of hilarity that has relatively flown under the radar for quite some time. "I'm Rick James, bitch!" and every other similarly overused line have been "discovered" by everyone at about the same time.


I guess I could go on and on about how much I hate how people think that memorizing a funny line automatically makes them funny, but there's really no point to it and I'm feeling too apathetic to continue bitching about it. But, in closing, I just wish people could understand that comedy is not about being wacky, wild, loud and out of control. In fact, comedy is ALL about control and timing. The funniest people out there not only know what to say in the right moments, but also when to just shut the hell up. That is the key distinction to someone like Sacha Baron Cohen and that obnoxious guy I'll inevitably sit within earshot of during a lunch in the near future. And as I eat my sandwich, I will overhear him say "I like sex! It nice! Yes! Put the Jew in cage!" as if he had an annoyingly aggressive case of Tourettes.


Basically, please never quote Borat aloud in public ever. Ever ever ever. Because if I, or anyone who shares my point of view are nearby, you will be (deservedly) punched in the throat.


In light of my bidding adieu to one of my favorite sources of laughs of the past several years, I just realized how appropriate it would be for Borat to die at the end of the movie. It could be morbidly hysterical and incredibly fitting.