‘AGT’ cranks up the weird
Before more eliminations, more kooky.
Impressive singers and dancers can be found on many TV talent shows, but “America’s Got Talent” is the only place to go for a singing dog, a sight-impaired trapeze artist and a creepy tablecloth striptease.
So many acts fit into the NBC talent competition’s kooky category that we had to break down Season 13’s wild and woolly offerings into separate helpings, one on the first three audition episodes and the second on the final trio, which ended last week. “Talent” moves on to a middle elimination round with guest judges starting Tuesday (8 EDT/PDT).
Here are five crazy acts that received enough judges’ votes to send them to the next round, and one pathetic offering that didn’t, although it will most likely reappear in viewers’ nightmares.
Let’s do the twist. Actually, let him do the twist.
Soft-spoken human-resources staffer Troy James charmed the judges: “He’s so shy and sweet,” Mel B said. Then he freaked them out with some double-jointed derring-do.
Twisting Troy, in black-tie T-shirt and shorts, flexed himself into torso-defying shapes, eventually leaving the stage and approaching the judges’ table in a creepy crab walk. Judge Simon Cowell tried to stave off the contortionist’s advance with a hand signal usually reserved for vampires.
Mind over magic
“Talent” judges didn’t take mentalist Lioz Shem Tov’s tricks seriously, but eventually enjoyed them literally.
In a brilliant concept act, Lioz took everyday occurrences and items — a box of tissues, a retractable tape measure and a pedal-operated trash can — and presented them as amazing proof of his telekinetic skills.
Lioz’s greatest sleight of brain was substituting a comedy routine for a magic act, and his best trick was getting Cowell to rescind his red “X” and provide the third “yes” vote needed to advance to the next round.
Inspectors Gadget
If God is in the details, as the saying goes, the three guys who call themselves Hamster Wheel offered up a religious experience with their Rube Goldberg-style machine. The intricate contraption of balls, balloons, hammers and chutes had the judges on the edges of their seats, especially when a spinning microphone took a tantalizingly long time to knock over a wine glass and continue the Byzantine process.
If the trio needed any extra help advancing past the auditions round, all those bells and whistles ultimately revealed the judges’ photos. And a final mallet hit a golden buzzer and released a shower of confetti. No, Hamster Wheel didn’t get a real golden buzzer, but the guys will be back for the next round.
Queasy Rider, Speed Bump Howie
Daredevil Kenny Thomas revved up the audience with his motorcycle skills, using judge Howie Mandel as a prop to show he could stop on a dime – but not on Howie. Many in the theater, Mandel included, appeared unsettled as Thomas bounced his bike inches from the prone judge, closing his act with a wheelie that came to a stop just millimeters from Mandel’s privates. To be honest, this act was a winner just for the look on Mandel’s face as he lay spreadeagle on the stage.
Other judges appeared to be worried, but Cowell seemed delighted, especially when Thomas agreed he would use Mandel as a potential victim – ah, assistant – in future performances.
A literal comeback
Rob Lake turned the illusionist game on its head with what turned out to be an appearing act. After gathering judge Heidi Klum, host Tyra Banks and a group of random audience members as witnesses onstage, Lake exited the theater, recording his departure on his cellphone. From outside, he instructed Klum and Banks to hold up a four-sided curtain, and then drop it. Suddenly, Lake was there, seemingly transported from outside the theater to center stage.
I, (Not) Robot
The science of robotics took a huge step backward with last week’s android entry – actually, a man stuffed into a too-tight silver bodysuit with long accordion arms that made him look like the love child of a Slinky and the “Lost in Space” robot.
Despite a funny bit in which the klutzy robot – “created in the one-bedroom apartment of a man by the name of Kevin Krieger” – bobbled a microphone with his hook hands, the audience booed and the judges quickly hit their red elimination buzzers. Klum delivered a killer verdict that would have made Cowell proud: “Honestly, I don’t think I could roll my eyes into my head far enough watching that.”
On the positive side, if they ever cast a show called “Worstworld,” we’ve got an excellent candidate.