Borat Voice My Wife

About

Borat Voice My Wife refers to a catchphrase by the Sacha Baron Cohen character Borat in the 2006 film Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. After being a popular reference to the film in the years following its release, it grew into an ironic signifier for a poor sense of humor, referenced in pop culture and parodied online, including a series of parodies on Twitter in which people would type the phrase "Borat voice my wife" and insert it into song lyrics.

Origin

The line is said in the 2006 film Borat. As the character Borat, Cohen introduces his wives and girlfriends with a notably drawn out delivery. The line was since impersonated in the years to come by fans of the film.

Spread

In the years following the film, impersonating the Cohen says "My Wife" as Borat became a common reference to the film. Years after the film, the line was populary derided in comedy television as a signifier of a poor sense of humor. For example,Bob's Burgers referenced the phenomenon in a scene in the May 6th, 2012 episode in which the character Bob has a nightmare of working a regular office job, culminating in him being overly amused by a character saying "My Wife" as Borat (shown below, left). It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia referenced the bit by having Mac impersonate Borat to a confused set of producers in a February 1st, 2017 episode (shown below, right).

It was also parodied online as a means of demonstrating a poor sense of humor. On July 5th, 2012, YouTuber TedDidlio parodied a nervous rookie comic who had worked very hard on an impression, only to do a poor Borat impression, gaining over 6,700 views (shown below, left). On February 2nd, 2013, YouTuber Brad McLeod uploaded an edit to a scene from Seinfeld that featured Jerry saying the line that gained 16,000 views (shown below, right).

ElectroLemon Vines

In 2014, popular Vine user electrolemon posted a series of Vines in which he parodied the phrase by performing it as different characters, such as Billy Joel or a hard-nosed detective. The Vines were compiled in an IGN^[1] thread posted October 6th, 2014 which suggested "My Wife" was the most influential line of the 2000s (examples shown below).

Twitter Song Parodies

In 2017, Twitter saw a spike in jokes built off inserting "Borat Voice My Wife" into song lyrics. Some popular examples include a post by @LeftAtLondon^[2] which used the lyrics to The Killers' "Mr. Brightside", gaining over 70 retweets and 360 likes (shown below, left). A tweet posted by @KeiferLirette on November 12th made the joke with Hozier's "Take Me To Church," gaining 13 retweets and 113 likes (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References