"America is known for its sense of humor ..."

-- Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitian), Borat's fictional program producer, in "Borat"

"Here in America, we try not to be funny with, or make fun of, things that people don't choose."

-- An American "humor adviser," speaking to Borat in "Borat"

On Friday, two years after comedian Sacha Baron Cohen caused an uproar during a rodeo at the Salem Civic Center, viewers were finally able to see the scene for themselves.

The mock documentary "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" contains a sequence in which Cohen, disguised as a hapless Kazakh TV journalist named Borat, took center stage at the Imperial Rodeo in 2005 and, in awkward, broken English, made ironic pronouncements about the war in Iraq, lobbed backhanded compliments at President Bush and mangled a variation on the national anthem.

About 60 people showed up for Friday's first showing of the film, at the Valley View Grande 16 -- the only Roanoke theater exhibiting the movie.

The audience was largely middle-age or older, and seemed consistently entertained, laughing throughout the film, even at the point, roughly 25 minutes into the movie, when the Salem Civic Center appeared onscreen and the focus of Cohen's satire hit closer to home.

During the five-minute rodeo sequence, Borat is shown talking to Bobby Rowe, a promoter for Imperial Rodeo, who lives in Dickson, Tenn.

Rowe, on camera, advises Borat to shave his mustache so he'll "look Italian" and less like a terrorist; he also discourages Borat from his habit of kissing men on the cheek, lest he be mistaken for a homosexual.

"I don't have any excuse," Rowe said Friday in a phone interview. "I just walked right into it."

Later in the scene, Borat tells the Salem crowd, "We support your war of terror," and later adds, "George W. Bush will drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq."

Though Borat's remarks get some applause, along with angry or confused looks, the clapping ends when he sings "O Kazakhstan," a fictional national anthem sung to the tune of the U.S. national anthem with lyrics that claim "all other countries are run by little girls."

One shot, in which a woman rolls her eyes as the man beside her half-heartedly applauds, sums up the tone of the crowd's response.

Cohen's other targets in the film -- New Yorkers on the streets and subways; representatives of the Veteran Feminists of America; conservative activist Alan Keyes; a group of male college students from South Carolina -- fare decidedly worse than Salem.

But Carey Harveycutter, Salem's director of civic facilities, said Friday he's started talking to rodeo promoters about getting the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington, D.C., involved in a "Salute to Kazakhstan." That could include burning Borat in effigy, he said, tongue-in-cheek.

"I want to try to turn a negative into a positive," Harveycutter said. "They [the people of Kazakhstan] were very offended at what he did, the same way we were offended."

Harveycutter said he hasn't seen the movie, and doesn't plan to see it until it comes out on DVD.

Salem Mayor Howard Packett said Friday that he didn't know if he would see the film.

"I don't like what he did to Salem," Packett said. "No one appreciates making fun of the national anthem or the president."

Robyn Laguzza of Roanoke was in the audience for Friday's screening. Though she admitted she didn't know much about Cohen and his humor, she said she enjoyed the film.

"I wasn't expecting to like it," Laguzza said, and remarked that she thought Salem came across "kind of how they are. It was accurate. They gave him a chance at first, but then they caught on."

Her friend, David Muhlfelder of New York, said his city was portrayed honestly, too -- in the film, most of the New Yorkers Borat approaches threaten him and curse at him.

"That was exactly what they'd do," Muhlfelder said.

"We're both Jewish," Laguzza added, alluding to the title character's casual anti-Semitism. "And we didn't find it offensive at all."

Meanwhile, Borat may be long gone, but Rowe said the Imperial Rodeo will be returning to Salem next year on Jan. 5-7.

"Hopefully none of them bring rotten tomatoes or eggs," Rowe added.

Staff writers Mike Allen and Amanda Codispoti contributed to this report.