NEW YORK ― “ Piers Makes Enemy of Madonna . ” That ’ s the newspaper headline that ’ s pinned above Piers Morgan ’ s desk , as if it were an inspirational quote from the Dalai Lama . “ I ’ ve said that Madonna can only come on my show if she gets on bended knee in Times Square and makes a public apology to me for crimes against humanity , ” explains Morgan , grinning . Sitting in his office , which looks out over the Manhattan skyline , the silver - haired , sharply dressed Brit is here at CNN ’ s New York offices to discuss his new talk show “ Piers Morgan Tonight , ” which takes over Larry King ’ s old time slot on Monday . He will be the first British interviewer to host a prime - time talk show in the United States since David Frost ( 1969 - 72 ) , and he ’ s already lined up an all - star list of guests , including Oprah Winfrey , George Clooney , Howard Stern , Kim and Kourtney Kardashian , and Condoleezza Rice . But Morgan ’ s just as eager to talk about the first guest he ’ s banned from the show : The Queen of Pop . He first clashed with Madonna during the mid -’ 90 s , when he worked as the editor of the U . K . ’ s Daily Mirror , but he ’ s reignited the feud just in time for his press tour , telling reporters that Madonna is “ boring ” and “ too vegan for TV , ” calling her older and less talented than Lady Gaga . “ You have to be fairly shameless in this business , ” admits Morgan , who ’ s best known in the United States as the mean judge on “ America ’ s Got Talent . ” “ And you also have to be cheeky . That ’ s not a phrase you have in America , but it means having the ( guts ) to say something other people won ’ t . ” Having interviewed public figures for more than two decades in print and on television , Morgan knows the power of a salacious quote . British politician Nick Clegg once acknowledged to Morgan that he ’ d slept with “ no more than 30 ” women . Helen Mirren revealed to him that she ’ d been date raped . On the British talk show “ Piers Morgan ’ s Life Stores , ” Morgan pressed his good friend Simon Cowell about the death of his father until the brutish “ American Idol ” judge cried on television ― a coup that Morgan believes scored him the CNN gig . Now , Morgan will tell anyone who listens that he ’ s ready to “ fill Larry King ’ s suspenders . ” Donald Trump , a good friend of Morgan ’ s and King ’ s , agrees . “ Larry King was one of the great interviewers , so you need a great interviewer to replace him , and that ’ s Piers , ” says Trump , who crowned Morgan the winner of “ Celebrity Apprentice ” three years ago and will soon appear on “ Piers Morgan Tonight . ” “ He ’ s going to be more caustic than Larry . He ’ ll be able to get things out of people that few are able to do . ” It ’ s no wonder that , after pre - recording her episode of “ Piers Morgan Tonight , ” Oprah told a crowd at a Television Critics Association panel in Los Angeles that it was “ one of the toughest interviews I ’ ve had in 20 years . ” Morgan says he ’ s learned a lot about technique from Barbara Walters , whose book he still keeps in his office for reference . “ The best way of assessing someone ’ s character is to get them emotional , ” he says , citing one of Walters ’ tricks . “ Oprah went through the full range of emotion : anger , hurt , tears , laughter . ” He got Winfrey to talk about how she deals with depression and how many times she ’ d been in love . “ Oprah said to me , ‘ When I ask someone a question and they don ’ t really want to answer it , I let it go , but you just ask it three different ways . ’ I ’ ll keep returning to the same question in an ever more devious and outrageous way until the person would rather answer the original question . ” Anderson Cooper , he isn ’ t . Morgan may be a little more tabloid - friendly than CNN viewers are used to . In an upcoming interview with Colin Firth , he asks “ The King ’ s Speech ” star what it ’ s like for Firth ’ s wife to watch his sex scenes with “ Girl With a Pearl Earring ” co - star Scarlett Johansson . He once delved so far into the private life of British journalist Jeremy Clarkson that Clarkson punched him in the face ― three times . Back in September , when CNN announced that it had chosen Morgan to take over for King , some critics suggested that the network was championing entertainment over news as a ratings ploy : Last year , CNN lagged way behind Fox News , watched MSNBC trump its prime - time viewership for the first time , and according to a study by media analyst Brad Adgate , lost more viewers than any other cable channel . Does he worry that continuing to judge “ America ’ s Got Talent ” while hosting this new talk show will hurt his credibility ? “ No , I think it ’ s funny , ” he says , lightening up a little . “ One day I ’ ll be judging a piano - playing pig , the next I ’ ll be interviewing Nelson Mandela . ” One day , when that piano - playing pig can fly , he ’ ll be interviewing Madonna . By the way , Madge ’ s response to all of Morgan ’ s badgering ? According to a statement her rep Liz Rosenberg gave to Popeater . com , “ Madonna doesn ’ t know who Piers Morgan is . ” Of course , if you want Americans to remember your name , getting Madonna to denounce it is a good way to do it . And if you want to lure one of the world ’ s most famous women onto your show , there ’ s no better way than to tell her you ’ re not interested . Maybe Piers Morgan is cheekier than we think . By Melissa Maerz ( Los Angeles Times )