This portrait of Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, was enhanced by artists Shepard Fairey and Andrew Serrano in December. It will be auctioned for charity on March 8.This portrait of Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, was enhanced by artists Shepard Fairey and Andrew Serrano in December. It will be auctioned for charity on March 8. (Comedy Central/Associated Press)

TV satirist Stephen Colbert is again hoping to pull in a prominent buyer with a portrait set to be auctioned for charity next month.

The Colbert Report host has been the subject of a series of comically pompous and aggrandizing portraits which he displays on his show.

Auction house Phillips de Pury & Company will auction Portrait 5, Stephen(s) on behalf of Colbert on March 8, as part of its "Under the Influence" sale in New York.

This work is particularly distinguished, according to Comedy Central and the auction house, because the original painting has been "re-contextualized" with additional elements by activist and street artist Shepard Fairey and controversial photo artist Andres Serrano.

In a December episode of The Colbert Report, Fairey and Serrano, along with minimalist painter and printmaker Frank Stella, offered their services to Colbert in his attempt to persuade art aficionado, actor and musician Steve Martin to buy the portrait.

Though appreciative of the artistic trio, Martin ultimately declined.

Proceeds of the Colbert painting's sale will go to online charity DonorsChoose.org, which allows people to make donations directly to specific educational projects at U.S. public schools.

Prop paintings created by staff are typically on prominent display on the set of his hit Comedy Central show. However, in 2008, one of these comic artworks was temporarily displayed at Washington's National Portrait Gallery after a public campaign by Colbert.

The host, seen in Canada on The Comedy Network, has also invited viewers to send in doctored versions of his portraits.

With files from The Associated Press