NICK Cannon, the MTV deejay and comic, is the surprise replacement for Jerry Springer as the host of “America’s Got Talent.”

The hiring of Cannon, 28, represents a serious shift for “Talent” – from the Vegas, middle-American feel of previous hosts Regis Philbin and Springer to a younger, city-based tone.

Cannon, who married singer Mariah Carey last April after a whirlwind romance, is best known as the former star of Nickelodeon’s “All That” and “The Nick Cannon Show.”

He also hosted “Nick Cannon Presents Wild ‘n Out” on MTV and was once engaged to model Selita Ebanks.

(NBC’s announcement trumpeting Cannon’s hiring made no mention of Carey.)

The multi-hyphenate Cannon (entertainer-producer-comedian!) – who’s recorded with Kanye West and Diddy – takes the helm of “Talent” when it returns this summer with judges Sharon Osbourne, Piers Morgan and David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff.

Springer, who hosted the second and third seasons of “Talent,” says he left the show to devote more time to his daytime talk show and a “summer theater production.”