FYW Blog Week 6: Response to Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Baron Cohen’s unique sense of humor and approach to comedy is probably what makes him so appealing to his fans. While Ali G is hilarious, my favorite work of Baron Cohen’s is Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Borat was the first work of Baron Cohen’s I had ever seen, and all these years later, it is still by far my favorite. If you haven’t seen it, Baron Cohen pretends to be a reporter named Borat from Kazakhstan, and he comes to America to film a documentary about America. The film follows him taking on American culture throughout the whole country, in many awkward and hilarious situations and interactions with unsuspecting Americans. I have heard Baron Cohen’s work referred to as a “mockumentary,” which I think is a great name for the concept.  I agree that overall Baron Cohen’s humor falls under both the incongruity theory and the superiority theory. Most of his characters are often ignorant amidst other people who are not, and the contrast there produces the humor. The stupid characters inevitably make the audience and the interviewees feel superior, often so superior it can become agitating. From a different perspective though, Baron Cohen’s humor fits well under the incongruity theory. I mean, who would think of a Kazakh reporter coming to America as a comedic concept? I definitely wouldn’t have, but it turned out to be a widely renowned comedy. I also agree that Baron Cohen’s comedic strategies have impacted comedy platforms such as Vine. There are numerous Vines where people say or ask something random to unsuspecting people, and that is the humor of the six second clips. Baron Cohen popularized this form of comedy, and we will see a lot of similar comedy in the future.