Howard Stern ‘Very Confident’ As ‘America’s Got Talent’ Judge: ‘I Take Judging Seriously’

Howard Stern is transitioning into his latest role as a judge on NBC’s reality competition, “America’s Got Talent,” with ease.

“I got my feet wet in Los Angeles, we moved along, and as a judge, I feel very confident now,” the shock jock told Access Hollywood correspondent Jill Martin at “AGT” auditions in New York on Wednesday. “I seem to have become the judge that America agrees with.”

The SiruisXM radio host said he hopes to be a source of valuable career advice and legitimate constructive criticism for the reality series’ hopefuls.

“I was a fan of [‘AGT’] almost from the beginning and I take judging seriously. I’ve called out other judges on these shows for being frivolous, for holding back their opinions, you can’t do that,” he explained. “People are coming to be judged. You can’t be mean to be the mean judge. You can’t be funny to be the funny judge, you’ve gotta come from an honest place [and] offer people criticism that they can take home and use. And that’s what I do.”

Howard also shot down rumors of feuding between the judges, saying neither his fellow judges nor host Nick Cannon get on his “nerves.”

“I hate when you tune into these shows and you see these false rivalries,” he told Jill. “I never liked the rivalry between Piers [Morgan] and Howie [Mandel] – I thought it was kind of fakish.

“Howie’s been nothing but wonderful, and Sharon [Osbourne] too,” he added. “When I came in, I was the new guy and they were very accepting, they were gracious.”

“America’s Got Talent” premieres May 14 on NBC.