"I love a comic who can deal with the unexpected and has the ability to run the room," said Gil Cates, the producer of this year's Academy Awards, airing March 5 on ABC. "The speed of mind and fearlessness of a comic really adds to the show."

The show generally ranks as the highest-rated U.S. entertainment telecast of the year. It averaged 42.1 million viewers in the United States last year and is seen by millions more around the globe.

The choice of Stewart also marks a continuing attempt by the Oscar-sponsoring Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to draw a greater number of young viewers to the show, which last year was hosted by comedian Chris Rock.

Sixty-five percent of Stewart's nightly audience on cable network Comedy Central consists of viewers aged 18 to 49, the group most prized by TV advertisers.

"I'm excited about it," says "Chronicles of Narnia" producer Mark Johnson, an academy member and former member of the organization's board of governors reports LATimes. "There's such a need for relevancy in the world at large, and not just the movie business. You want to make the Oscars as relevant and sexy as you can be, within the guidelines. I have [nothing against] bad taste and vulgarism in a lot of what I listen to and see, but in the Oscars there's no place for it."