VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The new and improved Britney Spears apparently isn't a fan of cigarette smoke — or any other kind of smoke — while she's performing.

The 27-year-old pop star left the stage for about 30 minutes during a Vancouver concert Wednesday night, apparently because of smoke in the audience.

According to the Vancouver Sun, Spears' concert was halted about 15 minutes into her performance, and an announcer told concertgoers to put out their cigarettes. Some audience members grew impatient waiting for Spears and her troupe to return to the stage, the Sun reported.

After she completed the show, Spears — who has been to rehab — advised the crowd, "Don't smoke weed."

KANYE WEST READY TO GET OVER HIMSELF?

NEW YORK — "South Park" may have accomplished the impossible — getting Kanye West to check his ego.

The Comedy Central show skewered the famously self-important rapper on its show Wednesday night, painting him as a narcissistic figure so out of touch with reality he couldn't even take a (very politically incorrect) joke.

On his blog yesterday, West appeared chastened.

In typical all-caps mode, he wrote: "SOUTH PARK MURDERED ME LAST NIGHT AND IT'S PRETTY FUNNY. IT HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM SOUTH PARK! I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN WORKING ON MY EGO THOUGH. HAVING THE CRAZY EGO IS PLAYED OUT IN MY LIFE AND CAREER."

West said he started stroking his ego long ago to build up his self-esteem — but that he now realizes he needs to "GET PAST MYSELF."

NEESON TO START 'TITANS' FILMING IN U.K.

LOS ANGELES — Liam Neeson is set to begin work on his first film since the death of his wife, Natasha Richardson.

Neeson will play Zeus, king of the gods, in a remake of "Clash of the Titans" opposite longtime friend Ralph Fiennes as Hades. Production begins in the United Kingdom later this month, Warner Bros. said yesterday.

The original 1981 film starred Laurence Olivier as Zeus.

WARWICK, SINBAD MAKE TAX DEBT LIST

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's budget deficit would shrink by nearly $5 million if singer Dionne Warwick and comedian Sinbad Adkins pay their taxes.

They are among the state's biggest tax scofflaws, the Franchise Tax Board reported yesterday.

Sinbad owes $2.5 million in personal income tax and Warwick owes $2.2 million, putting them in the top 10 of the state's worst tax debtors.