Sacha Baron Cohen was going out for a drink with Hugh Laurie, the actor who plays House on the popular medical drama. The two were headed out together in NY after appearing on Saturday Night Live. Cohen got into his annoying Kazakh character Borat and starting accosting a man on the street. The New Yorker wasn’t having any of that and starting punching Cohen in the face repeatedly! Dr. House came to the rescue and pushed the guy away:

BORAT star Sacha Baron Cohen was beaten up by a passer-by after he tried to play a prank as his alter ego.

He approached the man and said: “I like your clothings. Are nice! Please may I buying? I want have sex with it.”

But the bystander didn’t see the joke. He took one look at Cohen and punched him in the face.

The funnyman — known for his Borat catchphrase “Jagshemash!” — yelled for help but was slugged again and again.

He was rescued by actor pal Hugh Laurie who had been on his way to a New York bar with Cohen.

Laurie rushed to help and pushed the man away as Cohen struggled to his feet. A pal of Cohen said: “Sacha couldn’t resist playing the fool as Borat, but picked on the wrong person.

“I guess this guy thought he was being attacked by someone unstable and lashed out. Sacha is very lucky he didn’t get a much worse beating.”

The incident took place after Laurie and Cohen appeared on the US TV show Saturday Night Live. The Brit comics were on their way to a late dinner when Laurie suggested they visit a bar in Manhattan.

Laurie, 47, told friends he feared Cohen was going to get badly beaten up. Luckily, 35-year-old Cohen did not receive any lasting scars.

While “Borat: Cultural Learnings” is still tops at the box office, not everyone is happy with the film. Frat boys are suing for their appearance in the film, saying that filmmakers plied them with alcohol and that they were told the film would only be shown overseas. The small impoverished Romanian village of Glod is also considering suing producers. Locals say they were barely paid for their part in the film, and were told it was a documentary. They are also angered by their portrayal as backwards yokels, and say that animals were dragged into their homes and silly props were used that do not reflect their way of life.