Loony sideshows invade ‘America’s Got Talent’
Here’s a look at five quirky performers who earned trips to the next round, plus a bonus reject.
Yes, “America’s Got Talent,” plenty of it. But the NBC reality competition also offers lots of lunacy, often inspired.
The top-rated summer series (Tuesdays, 8 EDT/PDT), halfway through its audition episodes, has featured memorable singers, dancers and escape artists. Three of them – Zurcaroh, Michael Ketterer and Courtney Hadwin – won the coveted Golden Buzzer and a free pass to the Season 13 finals.
Along with the sublime, there’s a compelling sideshow: acts whose crazy brilliance is their ability to defy categorization. You say you tune in for the beautiful singing, but come on, you really keep coming back for the compellingly crazy.
Many quirky performers show talent, too. Here’s a list of five that impressed the judges — Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Mel B and Howie Mandel — enough to earn a trip to the next round, and a bonus reject.
1 Spit takes, glorious spit takes: La Fontane Umane
The performance of “Titanic” tearjerker “My Heart Will Go On” by the four tuxedoed men, looking like refugees from a college a capella group, resulted in waterworks, just not the expected kind. They didn’t sing; they spouted impressive streams of clear (and then colored) water.
These Human Fountains, as their name translates, became an unusual streaming service, with synchronized spitting that earned three “yes” votes along with a cameo by host Tyra Banks.
2 Sinister sleight of hand: The Sacred Riana
Magic tricks are supposed to surprise, not scare the daylights out of you, right? Judge Mel B reeled in shock and horror at the scary photo trick pulled off by The Sacred Riana, a demurely dressed young woman whose stony silence put everyone on the edges of their seats.
In an earlier interview, Cowell called the young woman “one of the weirdest, scariest acts we’ve ever had.” He shook up the studio audience with a well-timed buzzer, but she won over the other judges.
3Belly laughs: Yumbo Dump
We may not have an “AGT” champ yet, but it will be hard to top Yumbo Dump as the best name for an act. The two men made the most of their girth
to imitate the sounds of a water droplet hitting water, a cork being pulled and a UFO.
They followed each sound effect with a joint cheer: “Feels so good!” It must have felt good, too, when three judges voted to move them along in the competition.
4A slice in the dark: Aaron Crow
The magician, no stranger to danger, wasn’t quite as spooky as The Sacred Riana, but he put the judges and audience on edge with his version of the silent treatment.
The imposing performer scared Mandel further when he brought the judge and two audience assistants on stage, hot-waxed his eyes shut, covered his head in layers and then swung his sword in various stunts, like slicing a pineapple perched on top of Mandel’s head. It brought Mandel to his knees, out of either acclaim or relief. Crow moved on with a unanimous vote.
5 For his next act, he’ll throw in the kitchen sink: Hans, International Superstar
Multi-skilled Hans was bold in fashion choice and self-description: “International superstar, sex symbol, accordionist, home-wrecker, Madonna fan.” He explained to Cowell: “You know, honey, I do it all. Simon, I give you a Beyonce-style show on a Demi Lovato budget.”
That said, Hans’ performance started with a “Cabaret”-inspired accordion solo that turned into a rip-roaring rendition of “Proud Mary” capped by an impressive — and cringe-inducing — leg split. He moved on with unanimous votes.
6 And one unforgettable act (believe us, we’ve tried): Sethward, the (human) ‘comedian caterpillar.’
“AGT” went downward with Sethward, a human caterpillar with a grating high-pitched voice who became the comedic version of a traffic accident: a horrific mess you can’t stop looking at — except when it appears this so-called butterfly flashed the judges. “You have a hole in your stockings,” Klum said.
All four gave Sethward the heave-ho. He was so bad … oh, heck, he’s just bad. But give the hapless performer vocabulary points for using the word “chrysalis.” No real caterpillars were harmed in this segment, but comedy clearly was a casualty.