# Ah, now I get the "Borat" joke. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322 "2015-09-23T17:36:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/1 "2015-09-23T17:36:07Z")
I got tired of wall-to-wall Pope on TV this morning, so I turned on Comedy Central. Borat was on for the last 15 minutes of so. I’ve seen it before, and wasn’t really paying to much attention. I remember, however, the several references to his sister, “the second-best prostitute in Kazakhstan”. Ha ha, pretty funny. _Bing!_ Ah! Now I get it! I think I just got the _real_ joke: [spoiler]The obvious question is, "So, who is the _Best_ prostitute in Kazakhstan? His Mother! 😃 [/spoiler] Or am I reaching on this? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/2 "2015-09-23T17:41:44Z")
You’re reaching. Being second-best at anything is always funnier than being the best. This is comedy 101. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/3 "2015-09-23T17:42:36Z")
If I spent that much time thinking about Borat, I would worry about myself. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/4 "2015-09-23T17:46:46Z")
I think the joke is more like…if you say something is “the best” it’s just puffery. Wishful thinking. Boasting. Could be anything. If you say something is “second best” then there has been grading, testing, and polling. Of prostitutes! haha! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/5 "2015-09-23T17:47:47Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I got tired of wall-to-wall Pope on TV this morning, so I turned on Comedy Central. Borat was on for the last 15 minutes of so. I’ve seen it before, and wasn’t really paying to much attention. I remember, however, the several references to his sister, “the second-best prostitute in Kazakhstan”. Ha ha, pretty funny. > > _Bing!_ Ah! Now I get it! I think I just got the _real_ joke: > > [spoiler]The obvious question is, "So, who is the _Best_ prostitute in Kazakhstan? > > His Mother! 😃 [/spoiler] > > Or am I reaching on this? Yeah, the joke is that when it comes to sexually servicing men in their small, backward third-world country, she’s not even the best. [She’s been named second best.](http://www.sadtrombone.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/6 "2015-09-23T17:49:10Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > If I spent that much time thinking about Borat, I would worry about myself. Yeah, I hear ya! 😃 I do find it a little disturbing that I actually took the time to make a thread about this. But the actual thought just popped into my head while cooking bacon. Humm… Bacon… ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/7 "2015-09-23T17:50:26Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Yeah, I hear ya! 😃 I do find it a little disturbing that I actually took the time to make a thread about this. But the actual thought just popped into my head while cooking bacon. > > Humm… Bacon… Oh. Well, THAT makes PERFECT sense. I’ve often started discussions about weird things that pooped into my head at odd hours. And that last sentence has no typos. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/8 "2015-09-23T17:56:19Z")
Also, how would you quantify it or rank? Second-best begs the question how that’d be determined? Or is Kazakhstan the kind of place where that’s universally accepted by consensus? Would the best prostitute have a score of 100? Does skeezing have a Bell curve? Is it somehow metric? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/9 "2015-09-23T18:05:09Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Also, how would you quantify it or rank? Second-best begs the question how that’d be determined? Or is Kazakhstan the kind of place where that’s universally accepted by consensus? Yelp reviews? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/10 "2015-09-23T18:13:52Z")
She’s the “Number 4 prostitute in all of Kazakhstan”. And she’s got a [trophy to prove it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6hEvfLfTRc#t=42s), so there must have been some kind of competition. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/11 "2015-09-23T19:02:59Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > She’s the “Number 4 prostitute in all of Kazakhstan”. :smack: Jesus! I didn’t even get the joke right! Told you I wasn’t paying much attention. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/12 "2015-09-23T19:47:31Z")
Yup, you got the joke… … … NOT!!! ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/13 "2015-09-23T19:50:40Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > :smack: Jesus! I didn’t even get the joke right! Told you I wasn’t paying much attention. > > Oh well. I believe in one of the TV sketches he also described his sister as having won the “Best Sex in Mouth” award from the Almaty Chamber of Commerce. ---
**Author:** ![polar\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/14 "2015-09-23T20:03:52Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Also, how would you quantify it or rank? Second-best begs the question how that’d be determined? Or is Kazakhstan the kind of place where that’s universally accepted by consensus? > > Would the best prostitute have a score of 100? Does skeezing have a Bell curve? > > Is it somehow metric? Well, probably difficult to do it objectively… but when have we ever stopped that from determining the “best movie” or “best restaurant”. Just to say that this actually happens, I could name you the “best prostitutes in Germany” from the last few years… as a kind of “publics choice award” from a certain audience. It is played as a joke in the movies… who knew it is actually a fairly common thing;). ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/15 "2015-09-23T22:01:01Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You’re reaching. Being second-best at anything is always funnier than being the best. This is comedy 101. It’s kind of like the Sklar brothers joking that their the 2nd best Jewish identical twin comedy twin or that Flight of the Conchords are New Zealand’s forth most popular folk parody duo. You get the double joke of “this silly contest exists” and “we aren’t even the best at it.” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/16 "2015-09-24T01:25:06Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > It’s kind of like the Sklar brothers joking that their the 2nd best Jewish identical twin comedy twin or that Flight of the Conchords are New Zealand’s forth most popular folk parody duo. > > You get the double joke of “this silly contest exists” and “we aren’t even the best at it.” My personal favorite of the genre is when Mike Birbiglia recounts his story of having a dream where he got the bronze medal for dustbustering at the Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/17 "2015-09-24T01:27:05Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I think the joke is more like…if you say something is “the best” it’s just puffery. Wishful thinking. Boasting. Could be anything. > > If you say something is “second best” then there has been grading, testing, and polling. Of prostitutes! haha! She had a little trophy! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/18 "2015-09-24T03:28:45Z")
I feel the mother punchline is reaching. If Borat’s mother was the best prostitute in Kazakhstan, Borat would have bragged about that. The joke is that Borat is bragging when he has so little to brag about. The sister joke is an example of this. Borat is bragging about his sister being a prostitute, which is nothing to brag about. Saying she’s not even the best prostitute just emphasizes that point. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/19 "2015-09-24T03:29:01Z")
Comparably: Abe Simpson, talking about his wartime experiences: Back then, I was known as Sgt. Simpson, and I commanded the Flying Hellfish, the fightin’est squad in the fightin’est company in the third-fightin’est battalion in the army. The joke being, of course, that degrees of “fightin’ess” were tracked and ranked. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322/20 "2015-09-24T09:59:45Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > She had a little trophy! FYI, she’s a well-known porn star in Europe IRL. Don’t know about elsewhere… :o [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ah-now-i-get-the-borat-joke/732322.md?page=2)