Bye-bye Borat. Adieu Ali G.

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has announced he will retire his two outrageous but wildly popular alter egos.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Cohen says he is no longer able to dupe unsuspecting interviewees because the two personas ? hip-hop interviewer Ali G and Kazahk reporter Borat ? have become too well-known.

“The problem with success, although it’s fantastic, is that every new person who sees the Borat movie is one less person I ‘get’ with Borat again, so it’s a kind of self-defeating form, really,” Cohen said.

“When I was being Ali G and Borat, I was in character sometimes 14 hours a day and I came to love them, so admitting I am never going to play them again is quite a sad thing.”

The Cambridge University-educated Cohen first found fame with his cult hit “Da Ali G Show,” which featured amusingly politically incorrect interviews with unsuspecting guests ranging from David Beckham and Donald Trump to the Bishop of Horsham.

But it was “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” that catapulted Cohen to international stardom in 2006. The hit film saw the uncouth Borat journeying through the United States, gleefully offending people left and right.

Those mourning the farewell of Ali G and Borat can still catch Cohen in a cameo apperance in “Sweeney Todd,” Tim Burton’s film adaptation of the stage musical. Another one of Cohen’s alter egos, gay fashion reporter Bruno, will appear in his own big-screen production in 2008.

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