Borat is back to amuse -- and offend

[The Judge]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Borat, the fictional Kazakh reporter who caused a diplomatic stir with his movie adventures in the United States, is back -- with a guide book to "the glorious nation of Kazakhstan" and "minor nation of U.S. and A."

Borat Sagdiyev, a clueless and offensive journalist created by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, made television and movie audiences laugh and cringe but angered the government of Kazakhstan for portraying the former Soviet country as misogynistic, anti-Semitic and backward.

The character continued in the same vein in a question and answer interview with Reuters via e-mail as the book was released in the United States and Canada this week:

Q: Which country to do you prefer -- Kazakhstan or the USA?
A: "I very much preferring Kazakhstan - it nicest place in the world! Please, you must look on my guidings book and then come visit. Bring your whole family and stay at Astana Funworld Resort - it have beautiful beaches, almost totally free of landmines and the sea is guarantee to have no jellyfish, shark, or any other marine life."

Q: Which people are smarter?
A: "Kazakh peoples is definite has more powerful brains. Government scientist, Dr. Yamak have prove that our glorious leader, Premier Nazarbamshev have IQ of 412 and a brain that extend into most of his chest - it no surprise that he have never fail in complete any jigsaw puzzle. Since 93 percent of Kazakh people is direct relate to him within 3 generations, rest of population also shares this great intellects."

Q: What advice do you have for people traveling around the United States?
A: "My book contains many useful informations for Kazakh peoples traveling to US and A - for example, best places to photograph ladies without their knowledge, location of Grand Canyons if you need place to dispose of a wife and location of Kazakh Embassy and where to go if you want to shoot a Redindians."

Q: When can people expect to see you in Kazakhstan again?
A: "I already in Kazakhstan, living very happilys with my new wife. This morning, I was awoke by my clock-radio (electronic LED), after which I remove my wife from her cage and she make me delicious breakfast of western cereal 'Frosties', which I have with delicious fresh milk from her chests. I then attach her to her plough and send her into the fields before returning to my bed until she come back at luchtimes to feed me again. Life is very nice for us."

Q: Who do you favor for President in the United States?
A: "I cannot believe that it possible a woman can become Premier of US and A - in Kazakhstan, we say that to give a woman power, is like to give a monkey a gun - very dangerous. We do not give monkeys guns any more in Kazakhstan ever since the Astana Zoo massacre of 2003 when Torkin the orang-utan shoot 17 schoolchildrens. I personal would like the basketball player, Barak Obamas to be Premier."

[Chicago RED]

I did hear the movie was funny, I still have to see it.

[The Judge]

LOS ANGELES — Borat took a break from insulting entire ethnic groups to practice a little face-to-face oblivious rudeness with fans.

All in honor of his book: Touristic Guidings to Minor Nation of U.S. and A. and Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which came out Tuesday.

The cluelessly offensive Kazakh (the satiric creation of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen) made a rare public appearance in a bookstore Wednesday night to sign copies of the faux travel guide to America and his homeland.

His self-titled documentary-spoof became a box office phenomenon last year with its fearless sexual humor and mockery of intolerance through the character's ludicrous anti-Semitism (the actor himself is Jewish) and ignorant treatment of — everybody.

Among the hundreds who crowded the second floor of the Borders bookstore were dozens of kids accompanied by parents. Even Borat, whose comedy pushes the limits of R-rated, seemed to be caught off-guard by the young fans.

Baron Cohen didn't break character, but the mustachioed performer looked surprised as he scanned the crowd and said in lilting broken English: "Wahwahweewah! Very nice! There are many childrens here! … You are gypsies? I can buy you?"

When the movie made its debut last fall, Kazakhstan's real government expressed anger that the nation's reputation was being sullied by Baron Cohen's false descriptions of its people as ignoramuses and sexual deviants.

He even turned his new status as a published author against them. "It give me great pleasurings to announce that Kazahkstan, after many years of secret research, we are now able to produce our own book!" he declared to the crowd, opening the cover as all the pages fell out of the binding.

The book maintains the high level of R- (and sometimes X-) rated comedy with its ridicule of the Caspian Sea nation as a backward swamp of sickness and obscenity, and it sees the USA as very similar, only more technologically advanced.

Borat — whose daughter, Olive, with fiancée Isla Fisher, turned 3 weeks that day — didn't seem to hold back on any adult humor because of the young fans, at one point describing his visit to the gay neighborhood of West Hollywood. After a dirty punchline, the audience howled with laughter, and Borat said to the parents: "You are very glad you brought your childrens now!"

Some of Borat's most uncomfortable humor comes from his anti-Semitism, which is the performer's sardonic way of mocking hateful beliefs. Judging from the yarmulkes in the crowd, many religious Jews aren't offended. One group of young boys held up a sign written in Hebrew that translated: We Love Borat!

They said they knew his anti-Semitism was a spoof because his "Kazakh language" in the Borat movie was often a mix of Hebrew and gibberish.

Borat told the crowd about his fictional homeland's celebration of a major Hollywood star who made anti-Semitic remarks while being arrested for drunken driving last year.

"We now have built the great statue of Melvin Gibsons," he said. "It is over 700 feets tall, and childrens can climb up the staircase inside it and throw potatoes down on Jewtown from its anoos."

As he autographed scores of books, Baron Cohen endured many amateur exclamations of Borat's catchphrases while also getting in some digs of his own.

One man, in an attempt at cleverness, asked Borat if he knows Ali G., Baron Cohen's hip-hop character who does dimwitted interviews with politicians. "He is a wretched journalist," Borat spat. "I hear he has a chram like a lizard."

Another young man, wearing a Borat shirt that was very likely a copyright-infringing knockoff, was asked: "This is my T-shirt? This is not … ah, official government of Kazakhstan T-shirt."

"She is too old for you!" he declared to one boy and girl accompanied by grown-up autograph-seekers.

He asked a woman who had a hoop nose-ring: "It is for your husband to pull when
he need to attach you to plow?"

And he still had hundreds to go.