Piers Morgan thinks following Larry King will be impossible task

Piers Morgan admitted his new chatshow, which sees him take over from CNN legend Larry King, is like following "Sinatra at Vegas".

The former Daily Mirror editor said he wanted the show, which is due to start in the New Year, to be "provocative and challenging" and said he wanted US President Barack Obama to be one of his first guests.

Speaking to a specially invited audience at a star-studded event in London he described King as "an absolute institution", adding: "It's like following Sinatra at Vegas. No-one remembers that guy's name."

Among the guests at last night's event were Bruce Forsyth, Naomi Campbell and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Morgan said: "I was talking to Bruce and he said 'I've been trying to crack America for 63 years' and he said 'No offence Piers, you don't sing, you don't dance, you're fairly irritating. How have you managed to do this?"'

Morgan, whose show will be watched in more than 200 countries, admitted it was a "dream job" and said he would like to get Obama on the show.

He said: "We'd like the President. He is the most significant figure on the planet and we are trying to get him."

King, 76, announced earlier this summer that he was stepping down from his world-famous show, which he began hosting in 1985.

Morgan became the youngest editor ever at the News of the World before moving to the Daily Mirror as editor-in-chief in 1995.

Since his high-profile sacking from the tabloid daily, he has forged a lucrative career in television after striking up a friendship with Simon Cowell.

He compared Cowell to "Dr Frankenstein" in his speech, when he thanked the X Factor guru for taking him to the US in the first place, as a judge on America's Got Talent.