This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," September 18, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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BILL O'REILLY, FNC HOST: "Back of the Book" segment tonight. As we reported last night, Jon Stewart, your humble correspondent, will hold a live debate at George Washington University in D.C. on October 6th.

You can see it on the Internet for $4.95. And we will count the pennies. So, you just go to therumble2012.com, therumble2012 for details.

The question is, why has Stewart lowered himself to do this. And here he is to explain.

JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: I'm here. And the reason I'm doing this, Bill, is very similar to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, why he never abandoned him.

As he told, I believe, it was Yoda or Obi Wan Kenobi, "I sense there is still good in you."

O'REILLY: Is that right.

STEWART: I sense that you can be saved, that there is still good in you. And it is my job, for the good of this planet, to bring you back from the dark side.

O'REILLY: So, you're hanging with me --

STEWART: I don't like this movement though. This a very Darth Vader movement. You want to open up --

O'REILLY: Right. You're hanging with me just so to keep me from going all the way over.

STEWART: That's right. You know, there's been talk that you are now more machine than man. But, I believe, we can bring you back. And that's what this night is about. This night is about redemption.

Although, what is the protocol for two people about to debate. Is it like a wedding thing. Am I not supposed to see you now. Like, how does this work.

O'REILLY: No, no, none of that, no. We're just going to be like we really are in real life. Me, very successful and you, just hanging on.

And then, when we show up on October 6, it's going to be like a presidential debate. Me, the President. And, you, I have no idea.

STEWART: Challenger.

O'REILLY: Right, OK. But we're not rooting for either guy. And I want -- that gets me too --

STEWART: You're making a big mistake. Listen, when I'm done with you, you're going to walk out of that stage, you'll be 5'7, I'll be 6'4.

O'REILLY: Is that right, that's what's going to happen. Magic.

STEWART: By the end of it, people will go like, "Is that Dudley Moore. Who is that walking away." And I'll go, "That's O'Reilly."

O'REILLY: OK. You were down at the -- I didn't see you, though, were you in Tampa.

STEWART: Tampa for the conventions and Charlotte conventions.

O'REILLY: I didn't see you.

STEWART: We couldn't get on the floor. We couldn't get press passes like you, guys, could.

O'REILLY: Oh, they wouldn't let you in. Because you would mock them. You know that. You would mock them.

STEWART: I did not realize that was their objection to us.

O'REILLY: Yes. Oh, yes, yes, "Why should we let this guy in. He's going to mock us."

STEWART: I didn't realize that the political powers that be could be brought low by simple puns and satire.

O'REILLY: So, you are kind of like an outlier. You were out in the suburbs, broadcasting.

STEWART: That's not the reason. The DNC put us up, and this is true, in South Carolina.

O'REILLY: You took their money --

STEWART: They didn't allow us -- no. They wouldn't even put us up in a hotel in the state. We were set up in South Carolina.

And the North Carolina people, I'll tell you, I will say this, the nicest people, most hospitable you'll ever want to meet. There was a certain point, because you know us, coming from New York, where I felt almost like it was sarcastic --

O'REILLY: That they were mocking you by being too nice.

STEWART: Like there's a whole like, "Can I get you," you know, "Are you doing good. You're having a good thing, sweetie."

And I just go like, "You want a piece of this. Is that what you want, lady." I mean very uncomfortable.

(LAUGHTER)

O'REILLY: And so you went running, screaming into the night. Was there anything, anything at all, at the Democratic Convention that impressed you.