Borat's long, dirty, gray coattails

So far, no one has tried to link yesterday’s electoral victory for the Democrats with the success of Borat, but give ‘em time. Everyone, it seems, is trying to ride the coattails of Sacha Baron Cohen’s faux foreigner. There’s CBS, which is digging out a long-buried reality/comedy pilot scripted by Borat and Ali G Show co-writer Ant Hines, called The Papdits (you can watch it online here), about the hilarious encounters between an Asian family and ordinary Americans during the clan’s cross-country roadtrip. (Sound familiar?). There’s Mahir "I Kiss You!!!!!" Cagri, the Speedo-clad Turk whose homemade website was a huge Internet phenomenon a few years ago, now claiming that he’s the inspiration for Borat, and that Baron Cohen owes him some money, or at least an apology. (PopWatch’s Scott Brown also noticed the similarity to Mahir, but Baron Cohen has said the inspiration for Borat was a Russian doctor.) Finally, there’s this balloon artist, who’s managed to find a G-rated way to capitalize on the Kazakh kraze. Meanwhile, I have an idea for a character named Snorat, who’s a businessman from Uzbekistan…