America's Got Talent [season 8 thread]

Cafe Society
81

That’s effectively true, but it’s an artifact of adding a fourth judge. What would they have done previous seasons with only 3 judges? What could they have done?

Either the judge retains the right to vote and the appearance of impropriety is allowed on the grounds “it’s just a stupid TV show”; the judge recuses him/herself and it still takes 3 yes votes, meaning the judge effectively voted No; or the judge recuses him/herself and they shift the pass criteria to 2 yeses, meaning the judge effectively voted Yes. Or bring in a “guest judge”, but who and how would you determine that? What’s the most fair approach? I like that they at least attempt to respect the ethics of the situation. I suppose you could give the audience 1 collective vote by applause or some silly thing, but then why do they get a vote on those auditions and not the rest of the auditions?

In the two examples we saw, Mel B recused herself because she had worked with the guy before, giving her an unfair level of audition for him with respect to other contestants. She probably would have voted Yes already, and thought he was even better. So a Yes or an abstained vote that was an effective yes.

Howard recused himself because of the personal relationship with the doctor. He would have voted Yes from personal motivations, as he loudly declared and berated the other judges after the fact. So either an unearned Yes or an abstain that was an effective Yes.

In the end it didn’t make a difference to the outcomes. And those weren’t the only cases of the old 3 judge rules, because of the Howie late incident. So it’s as fair as what they did when Howie was late.

82

Yeah, I thought they were kind of boring. Even the little kid wasn’t all that cute up there. I was surprised they went through, but I guess I shouldn’t have been.

Any time someone comes out gushing over any of the judges you know they’re not going through. Remember little Ozzy from last season? Wanted to meet Sharon, got to meet Sharon, wasn’t good enough to go through. Then there was that lady who wanted to meet Howard. Made up a fake rap, and then admitted that she had no skills and the whole thing was ruse to meet him.

83

Hey, if I had a raging mad crush on Heidi Klum or Mel B, I could think of a lot worse ways to ensure I got a chance to talk to them than fake that I had a talent and make a compete jackass of myself on national TV. Or maybe not. Well, at least this one wouldn’t end in being arrested and a restraining order. :wink:

84

So last night I payed attention to the set up more. While running through their prescreening didn’t actually reveal any details about specific acts, they did describe the process for this stage to let me know what was going on. The Vegas shows has everyone show up, then they divided the acts into three groups: 1) automatic go to Radio City live shows; 2) now that we’ve seen all the acts, automatic go homes; 3) the ones in the middle, that get to perform to be evaluated, about half of whom will be saved and half sent home.

Okay, that makes sense. Some acts were definitely good enough, unique enough to go on to the live shows. But there’s weeding down required to get the 50 acts for the live shows, from about 100 acts in Vegas. So some paring down has to occur.

Some of their choices were weird. I guess I can see why the eliminated the pink guitar girl - between musical acts of her or the piano playing House of the Rising Sun girl, I’d certainly take the second. But then they put through the fat-slapping musicians, and the one-hit-wonder act B double O T Y. Why? But the eliminated the black country singer.

It didn’t seem like they eliminated that many without looking at them again. And there were a few acts that showed up that we didn’t actually see in the auditions.

Out of the ones performing, they divided them into similar categories and then ran them through for side-by-side comparisons. Probably most sensible way to do it. A lot of acts last night with results given tonight.

What sticks in my memory? The carnival guy with the hat who did the pole handstand for the audition, this time poured fuel on his head, set his hat on fire, and then rode a unicycle on a slackline while juggling flaming torches. And kinda hat to pat his head out a couple times. And then he said his next act would make these forgettable.

The juggler kid who had the molotov cocktail balanced on a balloon on a stick in his mouth came back this time, had a ring of Tasers set on surrounding him, climbed on a giant unicycle, and then juggled three more Tasers. And he hadn’t actually peformed this set up before.

From a string of comedians, the first was an amateur who rushed his act because he didn’t have audience feedback, and then the top performer was the one guy who totally had the judges laughing their pants off.

The sword-swallowing breakdancer came back and did sword-swallowing pole tricks. He was slow but strong, but did have a scary finale. He has the sword in his mouth, hands by his legs upside down, then drops toward the floor, and stops about a foot up the pole before the ground. That was scary.

Timber Brown once again impressed with his pole tricks, jumping between two poles and generally kicking ass.

The ballroom dancing kids - one set (the yellow outfit girl) got sent home without trial, the brother/sister competing acts both got to perform. The older set did really well, though I recognized a couple of their moves from their previous round. The younger set was doing great but he boy’s foot slipped and they fell down. They did get up and complete their act, then the girl started crying and Mel B had to go give her a hug. If I start crying will Mel B come give me a hug? No?

The bands performed again. The brother/sister set had a good performance of a cover song. The Marine guys did an okay rock job. I mean it was solid but not spectacular.

The hip hop duo girls performed again. Their gimmick is that they’re kids. I don’t know that they’re good enough otherwise.

Then the singers came along. I don’t recall one of them being shown in the auditions. And the older lady had technical difficulties that messed up her first appearance on stage. I thought she did pretty good once she performed, but Howard wasn’t as impressed.

Oh, and then there were the Opera Trio that formed up on the internet. One of them dropped out, so they scrambled and found a new guy. And Howard thinks he outperformed the other two.

85

You forgot to mention that he poured gasoline all over his shirt, so if any of those flaming torches got to close to him…

Funny, as much potential danger as there was, I just wasn’t entertained. Oh look, he’s on a unicycle juggling stun guns in a circle of stun guns. Yawn.

Yeah, the first guy should not go through. And his excuse that his act is for a large crowd and not four people was complete B.S. I did like the other two that followed though.

Even without the slip-up, I really liked the older dancers better. I thought they were more smooth and elegant. I think the younger dancers are just too young and they kind of looked a little mechanical to me.

I liked the brother/sister band. The Marines did the song that one of the young girls did in the auditions. I liked the Marine band’s audition, but think they didn’t do as well this time.

I don’t listen to rap or hip-hop, but I have heard some songs and am a little familiar with it. Am I wrong, or did their song seem a little old-school?

I’m really surprised about the guy dropping out. Did he get cold feet? Family emergency? Falling out with the other two?

And I wonder how the other two convinced the one guy that they’re legit. If I was a good singer and I got an E-mail, or whatever, from two guys saying they’re on AGT and they want me to audition with them, my immediate thought would be, “Yeah, right.”

I also felt so bad for Red-Panda, the unicycle tea-cup flipping lady. It takes real talent to do what she does. Although, to be honest, if they take her back pain into account and pass her through, I hope she has other tricks up her sleeve, because if she’s just a one trick pony, I can’t see her having even a half hour act.

86

Yeah, he dumped it over his head and shirt. I’m not certain it was gasoline, though. I would think kerosene - it’s safer. But it’s his trick.

The judges noted that themselves.

It’s not BS, it’s inexperience. Some of his stuff was funny, but it was rushed and would have played better to a crowd. But he may not get through.

No telling. I mean, they’re an act pulled together on a whim by online interaction, so it could be anything from family emergency to deciding it was a lark and he doesn’t want to after all.

They found him the same way - searching youtube.

Yeah, that’s my impression. I mean, the bowl flipping was impressive the first time, but then it just becomes the same thing over again. It’s not a headlining act.

87

Ok it was driving me crazy. One of the comedians (i think he was the last one) really reminded me of a comic I had seen before - turns out its the same guy. John Wing is quite an established comedian. According to his Wikipedia pagehe’s been on Leno 6 times and played Just for Laughs (a very big comedy festival in Montreal) 9 frigging times. Less noticeable to Americans he actually had a show on cbc radio. He is no Seinfeld but I am pretty surprised he is doing this show.

88

There was a weird commercial break in the middle of an act, then it cut back in in the middle of another act. Did Amazing Head do anything?

89

Yeah, from time to time I notice people on here, or other shows like The Voice, that I think are too successful, but I guess it’s allowed.
Edit: This was a response to CarnalK

I’m surprised the little demon voiced headbanger girl auditioned again. I thought she got cut the first time.

On the station I watch the show on, right as Special Head was going to start a couple of ads cut in. Guess I’ll have to watch a clip of him on-line.

I felt so bad for the ventriloquist. I’m guessing she didn’t practice that much.

And wow, kicking off the dwarf Indians immediately. Howard really takes his job seriously.

90

I think it was just water. He had some flammable liquid floating on top the water in the gas can, poured that on his hat, and then poured the remaining water over his head. Any of the flammable liquid left would be diluted by the water. You can see that he poured the liquid all over his hat, but only a small portion was burning.

91

They discussed his story. He is making a comeback after being on drugs.

He performed in the “variety” category rather than with the magicians. Why? He did more backstage mumbo jumbo about meditation and chanting and making strange faces. He came out wearing pants with some hip-wrap but no shirt. Bent over backwards over some candles where he was bending at the knees and lying over flat. Then stood back up straight. Howie said his first act was better. Well, duh - there’s only one time you get that dramatic “WOW” he pulled off with the first levitation.

That actually makes sense. The water would help to protect him and if he pours it out of the same bucket it looks like he’s doused himself in gasoline. Furthermore, he used kerosene for the fuel on the hat. Looks a lot scarier, ends up safer. I like it.

Speaking of magic acts, I thought the kid with the mentalist trick was great. He picked a trick for the size of the audience he had, and he really engaged all judges. Each got to be involved, and he plugged Howie’s book which is a sure-fire flattery. He did the trick excellently. I did figure it out, but the one part I’m not sure is how he got the page in the empty folder. I know he prestaged it, but I’m not sure how he showed the empty envelope then had it in it. I suspect there are several possible methods that actual magicians know, I just don’t know them. It was well performed and definitely impressive if you don’t know the trick.

The other magic thing was the woman magician who did the “pass through the box and magician” act. Yeah, she just rolls sideways and the other girl squeezes around her. Then the girl got stuck. Ruins the illusion of passing right through when the girl gets hung up on the box. Sure, the woman’s torso was “right there” behind it, but it’s a fairly well known trick, so to pull it off one has to be superb.

Then Howard asked the one duo who they think should be eliminated. That’s harsh, pitting contestants against each other not just by their own performances, but evaluating each other. So what is she supposed to say? About the only thing she could say was one act had an error that affected the performance, so that should be taken into consideration. Sorry it angered the woman. Also, the performers backstage thought immediately of something she could have done to improve the illusion, just by rotating the frame. If they can think of such a simple way to do it better, that’s notable.

I’m not impressed the deathrock girl made it. Sure she’s got a different gimmick with her original songs and being a little girl singing that way, but her singing in the soft parts was pretty bad, about what you’d expect from a typical 6 year old.

The ventriloquist girl looks familiar to me, but I can’t place her. She struggled this time. She was moving her lips on the ventriloquism, and she seemed not to move her lips on some of the parts supposed to be coming from her. Sorry, she’s not ready for prime time.

I’m a little surprised the black opera guy didn’t get through. So what if women can sing those parts better, he’s a dude singing the women’s parts. But it’s opera, so what do I know or care? As someone described it on a TV show the other night, “caterwailing”.

The marine band made it through. Not impressed.

It was fun to watch the reactions of the people celebrating their victories. The one guy saying “I’m alone over here” and then the magician couple ran over and hugged him, too. The two male singers on stage giving each other a huge hug. Timber Brown and the two acrobat guys, and the one guy holding the two others up.

For the two Indian hip-hoppers, did their act need to be choreographed? I guess it looks better if they do the same dance. But clearly not being prepared is important, coming out like that and wasting the judges time, I can see why Howard wanted to make that point strongly. They got a lot of people and many are going home, don’t waste the judges time if you’re not willing to make your act good.

Sad moments, but that’s to be expected. The downside of a competition show like this, only 1 act can win, everybody else gets disappointed somewhere along the way. The judges tried hard to couch their rejections as nicely as possible.

92

Was he German? There was a black German guy on the German version of one of these shows a few years ago who did exactly the same thing.

93

What did the black guy in drag do? I don’t remember his audition or performing in Vegas, yet they showed him watching some of the other acts.

94

I’m still trying to figure out how Collins Key did that trick.

Zev Steinhardt

95

Don’t know the names, was that the guy with the page torn out of the book?

96

Yep, that was him.

Zev Steinhardt

97

The page with the word on it was in the envelope all the time. The book was rigged. You can figure out how if you think about it.

98

The only thing I noticed is that he stopped flicking through the book a split second before Howie said stop. He basically manipulated Howie into picking the page.

99

If by “black guy in drag” you mean the overly made-up black woman in the animal print outfit, she danced. And by danced, I mean she jumped off the stage, hit the floor with her legs open and dropped to the splits. She then did a roll back onto the stage, and did some more splits-drops. There might have been some other dancing, but the huge leap into the air and drop from stage to floor into splits was the highlight.

I suppose she might have been a guy in drag. Did I mention the splits?

I’ll give a couple hints.
First clue - why did he use a playing card to select the page in the book?

Second clue - he only pulled back a corner of the page to read.

Third clue - are you familiar with the concept of a “forced choice”? It’s a standard magician’s technique, well, any number of techniques.

Fourth clue - what if you had a second copy of the same book?

Fifth clue - how many pages are in Howie’s book? ~150? Would it work as well on a book of ~500 or ~1000 pages?

Sixth clue - if you know the page number in advance, it is relatively easy to tear the page out, write the first word from the upper corner across the page, then stage the page in your envelope. Okay, I’m not certain how he did the last part. But if the page is in the envelope before he seals it, then he’s set.

100

It’s simpler than that. He doesn’t have to stop on a specific page. The force is in his technique for selecting the page and using a relatively thin book.