Jon Stewart
Prepares for Oscar Moment

Satirist Jon Stewart is sitting in a cushy white chair in a small, windowless room in the Kodak Theatre known as Dressing Room 3. It is spare other than a laptop on a table and dozens of bottles of water atop a tiny fridge. Stewart is taking a brief break before going back to ''the refinery,'' which is how he describes crafting material for the Academy Awards show with the writing team from his Daily Show mock newscast.

He and seven others have been working furiously since the Writers Guild of America strike ended last week. Now they must create hours' worth of comedy in just one week for the Oscar telecast, the world's most-watched entertainment show.

''It's not so much drill-sergeanting or putting people on some sort of caffeinated treadmill,'' he says. ''You just have less time.''

The 45-year-old faux pundit hosted the Oscars two years ago, so he knows what to expect. Still, it is ''disorienting'' to work in Los Angeles rather than in his native New York. ''In New York I have windows,'' he says.

So why step out of the comfort zone of his Comedy Central hit, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, into Hollywood's fickle glare?

''This is an exercise in throwing yourself into the coldest water you think you can handle,'' he says. ''It's just having an incredibly different challenge.''

The Associated Press gave Stewart another challenge Wednesday: a game of free association. We offered bits from current events and the year's nominated films and asked the comedian for his quickest responses. Here are the results:

-- Javier Bardem's haircut in No Country for Old Men: ''You never expect a psychopath to have the Dorothy Hamill wedge.''

-- The Writers Guild of America: ''Nothing like the writers guild of Argentina.''

-- British period drama: ''British semicolon drama.''

-- Corrupt corporations: ''Somebody's got to sign the check.''

-- George Clooney: ''Dreamboat.''

-- The female Bob Dylan: ''The male Joan Baez.''

-- The nation's first black president: ''Is that including 24?''

-- The nation's 44th white-guy president: ''Anybody can grow up to be president, but not really.''

-- Joan Rivers is not on the Oscar red carpet this year: ''And yet she's made out of the same material.''

-- Nobody has seen this year's movies: ''I have screeners.''

-- The transformative power of the mustache: ''It's not just for '70s gay people anymore.''

-- Edith Piaf: ''She's no Yma Sumac.''

-- Three days until the Oscars: ''What?! Why am I talking to you?!'' (Sandy Cohen, AP)