America’s Got Talent Returns as Nick Cannon Hosts the Show

Nick Cannon was a guest on “Live With Regis & Kelly” earlier today to promote his new gig.Cannon is the host America’s Got Talent 2009.The new season of America’s Got Talent which is expected to draw a huge audience thanks to “Britain’s Got Talent,” mega star Susan Boyle, will premiere on NBC this evening.America's Got Talent typically features a smorgasbord of performers — human and otherwise — from Las Vegas-ready showcasers to circus sideshow rejects. That won't change this season.

"There's no denying that everyone wants to see if we have our own Susan Boyle," says executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz. "The worst thing we could do is find our own version. The more you try to engineer it, the less you achieve on the desired outcome."Still, Paul Telegdy, NBC's chief of reality programming, says the show expects the "draft" from Boyle's volcanic rise from obscurity to provide a ratings boost to AGT, which for the past two years has been TV's most watched original summer show.

Boyle's sudden fame will be "very effective in letting the public know that this is what America's Got Talent is about: a democracy for any act, age range or personal story," Frot-Coutaz says.Boyle already has influenced auditioning. AGT's talent search was being conducted as her March appearance on British TV was spreading virally, attracting millions to clips on YouTube and other video websites.