While many of his television brethren have been more wary of YouTube and the Web, Stephen Colbert is urging his fans to make him a viral-video star.

On Aug. 10, Colbert showcased his lightsaber skills in front of a green screen on his Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report." Soon, fans were filling in the background with video, placing the host in the realm of "Star Wars," and posting them online.

Earlier this week, Colbert announced that he would broadcast the best submissions, or as he called them: "bold depictions of my heroic fight."

Already, a number of entries have been rolling in on YouTube, and linked at www.codebot.org/colbert. The most popular include one in which Colbert battles a space monster and another in which he fights the legendary "Star Wars Kid" — the viral video star of yore.

"This is an exciting opportunity for our audience to participate in the central mission of this program — making me look heroic," Colbert said in a statement.

It's not the first time Colbert has used the Internet for his own bidding, either.

Spotting an online contest to name a new bridge in Hungary, Colbert urged his fans to vote to have it named after him. As of Thursday, over 81,000 votes had been cast for Colbert, putting him far ahead of his closest competition: Szent Korona, with 4,200 votes.

Colbert also earlier toyed with Wikipedia.com. Since the online encyclopedia runs on user submissions, it represented a unique place for Colbert to challenge facts with a heavy dose of truthiness (his particular brand of truth from the gut).

"All we need to do is convince a majority of people that some factoid is true — for instance, that Africa has more elephants today than it did 10 years ago," Colbert said on the program.

When fans flocked to Wikipedia to alter articles on elephants, administrators on the site had to protect elephant truth like an endangered species, prohibiting further changes.