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It was the heavyweight bout of the year. Stephen Colbert versus Erna Solberg. The comedian and host of American TV�鶹APP�s The Late Show against the Prime Minister of Norway.

And the winner was �鶹APP� girls�鶹APP� education!

These unlikely opponents swapped blows in a light-hearted exchange this week. Here�鶹APP�s how the action unfolded.

Stephen is the host of the ��in New York�鶹APP�s Central Park on September 26.

On August 17, Stephen makes this video for the Global Citizen website. At the one minute 30 mark, he explains why it is important to support funding for the . He says��giving girls equal access to education worldwide is �鶹APP�the right thing to do�鶹APP�.

Around the world, 31 million girls don�鶹APP�t go to primary school and 62 million miss out on secondary school �鶹APP� because of factors such as child marriage, child labour and discrimination. Achieving gender equality and empowering girls and women are among to be agreed by the United Nations in September.��A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past the age of five and one additional year of schooling can increase a woman�鶹APP�s earnings by up to 20%.

In his video, Stephen tells people to �鶹APP�invade Norway�鶹APP� �鶹APP� by sending tweets to Erna. He ends the film by tucking into a plate of lutefisk while listening to Norwegian death metal.

And he backs up his call by making the same plea to his 8.7 million Twitter followers.

Ask to support girls�鶹APP� education! I can teach drama and pre-cal, but I�鶹APP�m only one man.

�鶹APP� Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome)

Why Norway? Because the Scandinavian country already is a world leader in funding global education. It hosted the Oslo Education Summit in July �鶹APP� at which affecting the campaign to get every child into school. Stephen reasons that where Norway goes, the rest of the world will follow.

So hundreds of thousands of tweets and emails flood in for the Norwegian PM. She says: �鶹APP�Thank you for your messages. You�鶹APP�ve managed to clog my Twitter feed.�鶹APP� And she makes this YouTube reply to Stephen.

She tells him: �鶹APP�But even the Vikings of Norway can�鶹APP�t do it alone, Stephen.��That�鶹APP�s why we encourage other countries, private companies and key partners to do more.�鶹APP�

The American TV star is delighted by her response. He tweets this message.

Norwegian PM is supporting girls�鶹APP� education and has replaced Thor as my favorite Norwegian!

�鶹APP� Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome)

��And then Global Citizen confirms this breaking news about the New York festival.

AMAZING! You sent 100K+ tweets, emails & voice messages to �鶹APP� today they all paid off!

�鶹APP� Global Citizen (@GlblCtzn)

��So the cause of girls�鶹APP� education gets a worldwide audience thanks to this bizarre exchange. You can . And if you don�鶹APP�t know what lutefisk is, here�鶹APP�s good old Wikipedia with the answer.��