NBC’s America’s Got Talent: Episode One
NBC’s America’s Got Talent not only brings talents you’ll recognize, but they’ll be bringing unique and strange talents to the stage. Some talents may be great, while others may not.
NBC’s America’s Got Talent begins with the auditions, and a panel of three judges will choose who goes on to win the one million dollar grand prize. The judges are Piers Morgan from the U.K., Brandy and David Hasselhoff. Morgan is a former editor of the “London Daily Mirror,” and he’s also a best-selling author. Brandy is a recording artist and singer. Finally, you may remember Hasselhoff from Knight Rider and “Bay Watch.”
After the auditions, Americia will vote for the person they believe has talent worth one million dollars. Yes, in many ways NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” is similar to “American Idol,” and one reason could be because Simon Cowell is the executive producer.
The first talent to take the stage is Bobby Badfingers from San Francisco, Calif. Bobby Badfingers claims to be a professional finger snapper, and I won’t disagree with that at all. I’ve got to tell ya, this man can snap his fingers, and he’s fast too. Yes, I find his talent to be very interesting and the judges agree, because we’ll be seeing more of Bobby Badfingers! Let’s just hope Bobby Badfingers doesn’t get a visit from “Uncle Arthur” before he visits us again.
Dave the Horn Guy from Colorado Springs, Colo. walks on stage sporting a bunch of horns. This audience seems to be entertained, and so does Brandy and Hasslehoff, but Morgan… well, he thought it was clever, but not clever enough to move on to the next round. However, Brandy and Hasslehoff want to see more of Dave the Horn Guy so their vote cancels out Morgan’s, and it looks like we’ll be hearing more from Dave the Horn Guy soon.
The judges immediately hit their buzzers on Blue Velvet, and needless to say, Blue Velvet is sent back to their home in San Diego, Calif.
Four men from Los Angeles, Calif. take the stage. These four men call themselves At Last, and they bring us harmony with no music (aka, a barbershop quartet). Now these dudes have rhythm and sound that is very peaceful. They made it through with no problem at all.
Sydney the Kid (aka, Syd the Kid) is an 8-year-old comedian from Los Angeles, Calif. After she performs, Hasstlehoff asks her where she gets her material, and she tells him that she writes her own material. I got to agree with the judges, Syd the Kid has talent. We’ll be laughing again later at Syd the Kid’s jokes.
Kenny Shelton from Alpine, Calif. starts his juggling act with three tennis rackets, but he fumbles and drops them. Then he reaches for basketballs which he also drops. Moving on he goes to pick up the baseball bats, but the judges immediately hit their buzzers to stop his act. None of the judges are impressed by Shelton’s juggling act, because by the looks of it he can’t successfully juggle the items.
Shelton tries for another chance by asking Morgan if he can do his final juggling act. Morgan agrees, but he tells Shelton if he drops any he must walk straight off the stage.
What do you think this dude has to juggle for his final act? If you guessed very sharp knives you’re right. When Shelton pulls out the knives Hasstlehoff gets a bit nervous, and he leaves his chair. I can’t say that I blame Hasstlehoff either; I would back away too after just watching him fumble with tennis rackets and basketballs.
Morgan gives Shelton one minute to prove his talent, and believe it or not, the guy doesn’t drop one knife. Not only does he succeed with his final act, but he does it while balancing on a skateboard. Because he proves himself, Hasstlehoff puts him through to the next round.
I’m not exactly sure how Shelton managed to juggle the knives while balancing on a skateboard when previously he failed to juggle the other items without balancing on anything. I can take a stab at it though, and my guess is maybe he was more careful with sharp objects. Wouldn’t you agree?
A lady with her miniature horse (The Shadow Dancers) tries to impress us with her shadow dancing. The judges are bored, the audience boos and frankly, I find her act boring too. Here’s one we won’t be seeing again – not on “America’s Got Talent” anyway.
Bernie Barker from Las Vegas, Nev. calls himself the world’s oldest male stripper at the age of 65. Morgan gives Barker a no, but Brandy and Hasselhoff vote Barker through to the next round.
I guess stripping could be called a “talent,” but I don’t think it’s worth a million dollars, especially when there’s much more interesting talent out there. I guess we’ll just have to see if America thinks Barker’s stripping is worth one million dollars.
14-year-old Alexis Jordan from Canyon Country, Calif. serenades us with Whitney Huston’s “I Have Nothing.” This young lady can sing, and the judges think so too. We’ll definitely be hearing her beautiful voice again, and I’m looking forward to it!
Eddie Haskell attempts to play us a song on his hand saw. Now this is a talent I find very interesting, unique and even entertaining, but the judges disagree with me. Morgan, Brandy and Hasselhoff buzz Haskell out about 10 seconds into his act; another talent that didn’t move on.
Kevin Johnson from Vista, Calif. comes onto the stage with his two buddies, Clyde and Mateldia. With his friends, Johnson does an impression of the old Godzilla movies – the ones where Johnson says the words don’t match their mouths.
I have never seen a ventriloquist who was as good as this guy – something new and unique. Yes, Johnson impresses the judges, and he even receives a standing ovation from the audience. We’ll be seeing more of Johnson and his cute little friends. I can hardly wait to see what he does next.
Kathy Kavanaugh plays her harp and sings – two talents in one. I don’t think the audience or the judges like opera though, because within a few minutes the audience boos, and the judges say no to Kavanaugh.
Erick (aka, Harry Carrey) from Chatsworth, Calif. says he’s been doing impersonations since he was a kid, and I admit, his impersonations are good, but his lack in humor gets him a no from the judges.
Vladimir Malachikhin from Las Vegas, Nev. presents his hand balancing act. The man has three things: talent, flexibility and balance. His presentation was very relaxing, and he’ll be putting us in ah again soon.
Team AcroDunk from Houston, Texas entertains everyone with their unique talent. I’m not exactly sure what to call their talent, but it looks like a mixture of basketball and gymnastics in one. They could almost be the next Harlem Globetrotters!
This talented and very entertaining group of young men will be returning to America’s Got Talent.
Jay Myi from Long Beach Calif. begins serenading us by playing what he calls a nose flute. Not only was this gentleman NOT very entertaining, but we now know he doesn’t take rejection well, because when the judges say no Myi has a come back for each of them before leaving the stage…
“Obviously you’re suffering from jet lag – apparently,” Myi says to Morgan.
“And Brandy, what mega hit do you have out right now,” Myi continues.
“Of course he couldn’t leave without insulting Hasselhoff too, and Hasslehoff appears to be ready for Myi’s insult. He tells Hasslehoff, “Listen Hasslehoff, now, singers have been known to be tone deaf too.”
Immediately after Myi finishes his insult, Hasslehoff buzzes him again, and Myi’s final words to Hasslehoff are: “That’s the most intelligent thing you’ve said all night.”
76-year-old Betty Victor from Marina Del Rey, Calif. sings “God Bless America.” Morgan pushes his buzzer, and then he proceeds to push Brandy and Hasslehoff’s buzzer too. When Victor stops she asks for Morgan’s opinion, and he tells her, “Well, I once had an ear wig in my ear, and it caused me unbelievable pain and made this little whining noise, and I hadn’t had that pain in about 15 years, until about two minutes ago. So…”
“Maybe you should see an ear doctor,” Victor sweetly says after interrupting Morgan, and her come back causes Hasslehoff to burst out laughing.
The results of Victor’s act: The judges say no as far as this talent competition goes, but they do tell her to keep singing. Basically, the judges let her down easy, and she takes the rejection well.
The Boofont Sisters from Silverlake, Calif. begin singing and dancing. Their singing isn’t bad, but their dancing and outfits leave something to be desired; a no from all three judges.
Ivan Pecel from Henderson, Nev. entertains us with a wonderful juggling act that the audience and Brandy enjoy, however, Hasslehoff and Morgan say no. A bit of convincing from Brandy persuades Morgan to change his answer, and he gives Pecel one more chance.
In my opinion, I find Pecel’s juggling act more entertaining than the previous juggling act which they let go through. At least this guy didn’t drop his objects.
Nathan Burton from Las Vegas, Nev. amuses us with some magnificent magic. He grabs everyone’s attention at the beginning by writing the word “ball” on a sketch pad. Next, Burton closes the sketch pad – bends it a little – and out comes a bowling ball. At this point, he’s got my attention, and the attention of everyone else. In fact, I’d love to know how that trick was done.
Burton’s final trick, the microwave of death, turns out to be a pretty amazing and unique magic act – one I’ve never seen before. Burton will return.
Next up is Holy Cow from Danta Beach, Fla. A male dressed as a cow comes on stage and begins dancing to “Everybody Dance Now.” The cow even squirts milk from its utters. I can’t begin to describe the performance – it’s just one you have to see. Unfortunately though, Morgan says young children will love it, but he says it’s not for “America’s Got Talent.”
Brandy thinks the performance is a bit strange, and Hasslehoff says, “Utterly ridiculous.”
Michael Speaks from Los Angeles, C Calif. sings a gospel song that has the audience and Brandy standing up and clapping their hands. Speaks will be returning to sing more praises.
Viadik Miagkostoupay from Las Vegas, Nev. restores Morgan’s faith in jugglers with his act. I got to be honest, his juggling act was entertaining, and he’ll be juggling for us again.
Wild Life Wendy and her talking bird Wazoo comes to us from Hinkley, Ohio. The bird does make sounds, but like Hasslehoff said, something different, maybe more unique, from the bird would have gotten them through to the next round.
J.R. Johns and his Best Friends make an impression on the judges. Johns shows his talent with all the neat tricks he’s trained his dogs to do.
S Frank Stringham from Las Vegas, Nev. says he’s a singer, comedian and balloon artist all in one package. However, his act fails to impress the judges, and when Morgan tells Stringham he won’t be going through to the next round he asks to hear from Philbin. Philbin walks out onto the stage, and immediately Stringham shows Philbin his balloon art of him. I got to give the guy credit, even though his talent failed to keep my attention he did do a great job crafting Philbin out of balloons, however, it still fails to sway the judges’ decision.
Our final performance comes from Rappin Granny. Rappin Granny resides in Castaic, Calif. That’s right, she’s a rapper, and her rapping has the audience on their feet and clapping. Granny not only hits it off with the audience, but she hits it off with the judges too. Granny will be rapping for us again soon.
There is more talent, but NBC didn’t have time to show us all the talent, so we will be seeing and voting on talents we didn’t see tonight. Watch NBC next Wednesday at 8 p.m. (EST) for more good and bad talents.
