Stephen Colbert has launched “Operation Humble Kanye” — and it’s exactly what it sounds like.

The deadpan talk-show host wants to take Kanye West down a notch by knocking the rapper’s album “808s and Heartbreaks” from the No. 1 spot on iTunes and replacing it with his own, currently-at-No. 16 album, “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!”

“There’s only one way to stop Kanye’s arrogance,” said Colbert, “and that’s with my arrogance.”

Colbert is encouraging his fans to flock to iTunes at precisely 5 p.m. EST today (Wednesday) to purchase his album and one-up West, who he called a “sunglasses display mannequin.”

The host had more fighting words for the musician: “The man has no shame. Listen to this recent quote: ‘I will go down as the voice of this generation of this decade…’

“Sir, you are not the voice of this generation of this decade. In fact, with all the auto-tuning on your records, you’re barely the voice of your own albums!”

West has hit right back, updating his Twitter status on Tuesday to read: “Who the fuck is Stephen Colbert?”

It’s not the first time Colbert has picked a fight with a music act. Two years ago, the host declared war on The Decemberists for “stealing” his idea of a green-screen challenge.

The battle eventually culminated with Decemberists guitarist Chris Funk appearing on “The Colbert Report” to engage in an epic “guitar duel” with the host.

Could a televised Colbert-Kanye throwdown be far behind?






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