# America's Got Talent 2015 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877 "2015-05-26T13:27:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/122 "2015-09-10T19:29:32Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I do feel that sometimes the judges do seem out of touch, lauding acts as unique that are not, like the motocross jumpers. Yes, they are a real danger act, but they aren’t unique. There was a big show that toured with monster truck rallies, I can’t find references or recall the name, but I thought it was something like “space junkie cowboys”. I coulda sworn it, but googling variations isn’t finding anything. Travis Pastrana has his Nitro Circus tv show along with a [live traveling nitro circus arena show](http://nitrocircus.com/tour/) that has motorcycle, bike, skateboard, etc. jumping. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/123 "2015-09-16T02:59:36Z")
The camera angle revealed a couple of things that it was not supposed to do during Piff’s act tonight. Did anybody catch them? If so how many and personality-based but I don’t think it’s going to hurt him, anymore than the fact it wasn’t his best night anyway. I like Drew Lynch but I wish he did material about more than his speech impediment. Though I did want to slap Howard Stern this week and last when he kept saying “quit laughing at your own jokes” and tell him what you’d think would be obvious: Dude! That’s _because_ of his speech impediment! It is a timing maneuver so that there won’t be dead air and actually a very good distraction on Lynch’s part except that you insist on drawing attention to it! ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/124 "2015-09-16T03:15:26Z")
For me, I hate when a joke drags on past the point I already got it, and with his handicap, that almost always happens with Drew’s jokes. ;( ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/125 "2015-09-16T03:21:31Z")
Derek Hughes’ act had me cringing the whole time, just embarrassed for him. Not only did he choose to do a lame rope trick that we’ve all seen at a child’s birthday party, but he also dragged it out forever and kept bragging that this is the really cool way he will open his Vegas act. Can he really be so clueless that he thought that was going to blow us away? Excruciating. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/126 "2015-09-16T03:22:49Z")
If Drew wins, I’m afraid he’ll soon be on the county fair circuit with The Olate Dogs. I don’t see him playing the big room in any casino. Piff will do well whether he wins or not during to the exposure. Somebody needs to clue him though that U.S. audiences are really iffy about any humor that implies cruelty to animals (even when it’s obviously not real). Embarrassing confession/question: He’s a tiny guy in a dragon suit, but does anybody else find him kind of sexy? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/127 "2015-09-16T03:39:31Z")
Shit, I think the Regurgitator is going to win. Crap! What a night of disappointments. Oz Pearlman: one of the best acts of the night. I honestly don’t know how he did it all. I’m still not certain I can fairly rate how America will view his act, but it was good to me. I do have a couple of guesses. I think he swaps the envelopes when walking back up on stage. That allows him to force the envelopes to the chairs. I’m not sure about the numbers, but they were so small they might not be numbered, I can’t tell. But I don’t know how he got the stuff on the prediction page. I was thinking he did a thing like one of the guys on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us”, but then he got the colors matched up. Very tricky. His was the best magic of the night. Uzeyer: I thought the hanging from the rope ladder and dropping one rung or two rungs at a time was pretty impressive, but I think they’re right, it’s not going to win. Though he got into the finals, so that surprised me. Benton Blount: Good song choice, a few flat spots, overall good, didn’t wow me. Gary Vider: He was amusing, but not hilarious. I chuckled, but not gut-busting laughter. A little let down, kinda flat on delivery. Piff the Magic Dragon: He had some goofs tonight. First, his handling of the money exchange was a bit muddled, not smooth. Second, I spotted right away he was going to do a swap and not fire Mr. Piffles out of the cannon. Mr. Piffles was smuggled off in the “lid” from the crate. However, what went wrong was the dummy falling to the stage still in sight, and the helper having to kick it off stage, then feign concern. The robotic dog was obvious but amusing. But then I caught a glimpse of the stagehand swapping out the dogs behind the sheet. BAD! So of course the ring is still there, he never did anything to make it go anywhere else. As for the trick with the nut selection, He took the bill and stuffed it into the nut in his pocket while Mr. Piffles was being brought out, and prepped that into the bag. For Heidi’s guess, I’m going out on a limb to say that if Heidi had picked the small one, then Piff would have said “Great,m you keep the small one, that means I get the big one.” Multiple outs. He was silly and somewhat amusing, but there were some glitches and overall it just wasn’t huge to me. I don’t think it matched Oz. Paul Zerdin: I wanted him to be hilarious, I wanted him to kick ass, it didn’t. It started slow with the grandpa, got a bit funnier, went downhill with the baby, was really challenging with the multiple characters and voice juggling, but even with the robotic puppet, it still was missing something. I was hopeful he could win, but not with that act. The CraigLewis Band: Despite my previous dislike, they did excellent tonight. Better song choice, great singing. Exciting and great delivery. Big high notes. They’re in the running for top act. Derek Hughes: “What knot is this?” It’s a granny knot. Oops. I wanted him to do well, but like the judges said, it fell flat. Too silly, too distracting, the magic was lame. Okay, he swapped the rope trick from the standard 3 lengths of rope made to look like they transform to the same size to the reverse, and it was kinda Penn and Teller with his busting his rope move, then showing an actual small bit. But still kinda lame, and not helped by his hand placement on the first reveal. Howie had a bad angle? We all had a bad angle. His best move was the cut and restore at the end and then giving the rope to Howard. I’m not certain how he dumped the “dirty” piece. Camera cuts kept any sight of that move. What did he call the dancers? Oh, the “Derek Hughes dancers”. The Regurgitator: I’m not certain on the magnet, I think he cheeked the tacks, not doing the work in the stomach. However, the trick with the flame, lighter gas, and bubble was straight up. He swallowed, then belched up the gas, he made a bubble with the soap and his hand. He wasn’t holding it in his lungs, it was his stomach. Dammit, that was absolutely delivering what was promised. Unique performance, and it didn’t miss. He’s one of the top 2, and very likely the winner. Drew Lynch: Funny, but again not gut busting. Again, playing to his strengths. His first joke fell flat because we saw his girlfriend in the intro package. Amusing with the phone number. Boobachusettes wasn’t connected well. > [@Sampiro](#): > > Though I did want to slap Howard Stern this week and last when he kept saying “quit laughing at your own jokes” and tell him what you’d think would be obvious: Dude! That’s _because_ of his speech impediment! It is a timing maneuver so that there won’t be dead air and actually a very good distraction on Lynch’s part except that you insist on drawing attention to it! That is a good observation. He can laugh without stuttering. I think it’s going to come down to the Regurgitator, CraigLewis, and Oz Pearlman for the win. I have the Regurgitator leading, but the other two were solid. Everybody else was missing something. ---
**Author:** ![Dante\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@Dante\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_G)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/128 "2015-09-16T11:33:29Z")
I really hope the Regurgitator doesn’t win. I mean, it’s cool to see, but I just don’t think it’s anything more than a circus side show talent. As for my picks, I think Oz will win as well he probably should. Piff will get his own show anyway, I imagine. Gary Vidar and Drew Lynch - I like them both, but don’t think they are million dollar material … yet. Craig Lewis band can definately sing, but I just don’t really like that style. I’m not sold on Benton Blunt either. He’s cool, got a nice story and can sing, but I don’t think he’s worthy of the win. As much as I like Uzeyer, I know he will not win for the simple fact that his act is just not what Americans want to see win a big talent show. They want singers and magicians. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/129 "2015-09-16T14:11:19Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > The problem is there doesn’t appear to be any screening by the show to limit to amateurs or people who haven’t seen the limelight. A previous contestant was a country music singer who had previously had a record deal and worked in Nashville. He wasn’t some country guy living at home who happened to sing well, he was a professional that hadn’t been able to keep the quality going. Nothing new about this. Season 3 winner Neal Boyd was hardly an “undiscovered talent”; he had won some national collegiate-level opera singing competition. Season 8 winner Kenichi Ebina was reasonably well-known in Japan before appearing on AGT. Wendy Liebman had a reasonably successful career as a stand-up comic in the 1990s (she makes a number of appearances on _Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist_) before making it to the Season 9 semi-finals. QuickChange (the quick change artist couple from Season 1) had already won the grand prize on an episode of Fox’s _30 Seconds to Fame_ when they appeared on AGT. I also remember magicians Jonathan & Charlotte Pendragon, who had appeared on some of NBC’s _World’s Greatest Magic_ specials, auditioning, but I think that was more so Jonathan could show the world that he was “back in business” after a freak accident (he had a fall at home and one of the arrows he uses in his tricks punctured his liver), and I don’t think they intended to continue in the competition. Oh, and I apologize if I have mentioned this already, but could somebody please explain to Howie the difference between “tenth anniversary” and “tenth season”? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/130 "2015-09-16T16:23:41Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > The problem is there doesn’t appear to be any screening by the show to limit to amateurs or people who haven’t seen the limelight. A previous contestant was a country music singer who had previously had a record deal and worked in Nashville. He wasn’t some country guy living at home who happened to sing well, he was a professional that hadn’t been able to keep the quality going. Piff the Magic Dragon has, in addition to his fame from Penn & Teller’s Fool Us, had a successful tour of the UK and opened for Mumford and Sons on one of their tours. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/131 "2015-09-16T18:10:46Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Nothing new about this. Season 3 winner …[snip] I didn’t mean to imply it’s new. I guess the question is, I guess, what level of previous success should disqualify someone? Should Jay Leno or Conan O’Brien be able to come out and do stand up? How about the band Kansas? Could they enter the competition? > [@](#): > > I also remember magicians Jonathan & Charlotte Pendragon, who had appeared on some of NBC’s _World’s Greatest Magic_ specials, auditioning, but I think that was more so Jonathan could show the world that he was “back in business” after a freak accident (he had a fall at home and one of the arrows he uses in his tricks punctured his liver), and I don’t think they intended to continue in the competition. Before my time, I guess. Jonathan lately has been on the CW’s “Masters of Illusion” program. He’s performing without Charlotte. > [@](#): > > Oh, and I apologize if I have mentioned this already, but could somebody please explain to Howie the difference between “tenth anniversary” and “tenth season”? They started June 2006, so the 10th Anniversary will technically be when they kick off the 11th season. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/132 "2015-09-17T00:32:54Z")
I happened to catch the rerun of Piff’s act- they edited out “the man behind the curtain” by switching to a different camera. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/133 "2015-09-17T00:51:28Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I happened to catch the rerun of Piff’s act- they edited out “the man behind the curtain” by switching to a different camera. Ah, the magic of television. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/134 "2015-09-17T14:24:43Z")
Well, color me underwhelmed by the winner… and the 2nd place act. I really thoughtThe Regurgitator had a shot and was sad to see him go. Then at the final 3, I though for sure Oz had it locked. Once they got down to 2, I barely cared who won. ---
**Author:** ![Dante\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@Dante\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante_G)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/135 "2015-09-17T14:43:22Z")
I agree. Of the final 2 left, I was hoping Drew Lynch would win, mostly because I preferred him over Zerdin. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877/136 "2015-09-18T02:21:44Z")
When it came to eliminating the bottom 5, I called every one of the pairs, though I was a bit close on Paul Zerdin vs Piff. But when it came to the final 5, I was wrong every time. First they eliminated CraigLewis, and I thought they might win. What? Then they eliminated the Regurgitator, and I was sure he was going to win. But I celebrated. Then they eliminated Oz, and I was once again in disbelief. I thought of those three he was surely the best on that round. That left Paul and Drew, and I had no clue. As I gave in my summaries, both were funny but missing something that made them really exceptional. Oh well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-got-talent-2015/720877.md?page=6)