Hollywood star Jim Carrey says rapper Kanye West is one of the great characters of our zeitgeist.

Carrey opened up about his admiration for West in an episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher", reports people.com.

During the conversation, the 58-year-old star spoke about his semi-autobiographical new book, "Memoirs And Misinformation", which is about a character named Jim Carrey and includes other characters like Nicolas Cage, Charlie Kaufman and Gwyneth Paltrow.

One of the characters is West, who speaks to Carrey's character about an alien invasion.

"At the end, Kanye West says, ‘You need not be afraid. They speak to me in supernatural voices. I am one with their jam'. And I am not sure he didn't say that this week," Maher told Carrey.

The comedian laughed and said: "It's a very strange thing where parody becomes very parallel with reality. But we've got to make these things, you know. (Kanye West) is one of the great characters of our zeitgeist at this moment and I wanted him to have a place in it."

"No matter what he's doing. I can't figure it out," Carrey added.

Carrey's comments come a few weeks after West broke down in tears at his first presidential campaign rally. At the time, West also revealed he and wife Kim Kardashian West considered getting an abortion when she found out she was pregnant with their daughter North in 2012.

West later addressed his emotional reaction on Twitter, writing: "I cried at the thought of aborting my first born and everyone was so concerned about me."

"I'm concerned for the world that feels you shouldn't cry about this subject," he added.

Last week, West, who has bipolar disorder, apologised to Kim on Twitter for publicly sharing such private details about their family.

"I would like to apologise to my wife Kim for going public with something that was a private matter. I did not cover her like she has covered me. To Kim I want to say I know I hurt you. Please forgive me. Thank you for always being there for me," he wrote.