Borat Sagdiyev ("born" July 30, 1979 in Kuzcek, Kazakhstan) is a fictional Kazakhstani journalist invented and portrayed by the British comedian provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen. Borat evolved from previous characters that Baron Cohen had developed: An unnamed Moldovan TV reporter (for LWT/Granada TV and the BBC's Comedy Nation) and later an Albanian TV reporter called Kristo (for the Paramount Comedy Channel, actually based on Cohen's personal friend James Kristenson).
Borat appeared regularly on Da Ali G Show, for Channel 4 and HBO, with sketches featuring him often relying on outrageous behaviour and actions, and the reactions of uninformed individuals around him. In early appearances his name was given as Borat Karabzhanov as well as Borat Dutbayev but from 2003 his name was changed to Sagdiyev. In some cases, Borat's guests embrace his anti-Semitism and misogyny by agreeing with him, while other guests attempt to explain Western values to him. Borat has also appeared on BBC1's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, and in 2006 in his own feature film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
