America's Got Talent (AGT) (2010) - August 10, 2010 (YouTube Special - Live #5)

(Guess I was wrong last week, thinking it would be the 12 and the ONE act from YouTube.)

Top YouTube act (voted by America), along with 11 others, selected by the judges. Only four (4) will make it through. They could be "X"ed off, but we can still vote for them.

Segment #1

Piers: Won't be lenient with the "X".
Sharon: They've agreed to audition to the whole of America. (A bit frightened for them.)
Howie: First time ever on stage for some. Howie was scared the first time, and that was a small stage, small club.

PLUtonic (College Acappella Group) Tacoma, WA
Bunch of geeky computer science guys that get together and sing.
Start off with slow harmonies, then go into Hip-Hop, back to harmonies.
Piers: If Bill Gates ever formed a band, this is what it would look like. I liked it.
Sharon: Very confident. A lot of fun. But I hate acappella groups.
Howie: Regardless of whether you like Acappella or not, you are talented. I think people would go see something like this.
(Pretty good, I thought.)

Segment #2

Dylan Plummber (Jump-Rope Acrobatics) Cinncinati, OH
Joined jump-rope team in 1st grade and loves it still.
Sharon: I think he did mighty fine. Very quick feet you've got. You should be proud of yourself. What you do is very technical.
Howie: I will agree. You had a couple of misses there (in the beginning). It's really good what you do. I believe you need time to perfect it. To be at this point in the competition and to move on is hard. You need a bit more time to correct it.
Piers: I'm surprised. 12yo, you've pretty talented. I was expecting to be bored, but I wasn't.
(He did a pretty damn good job. I don't know that it will be something that could be an act on a Vegas stage, but as a side-act...)

Segment #3

Pup - (A guy and his dog - Dog plays accordian while Ed plays guitar and sings)
Piers buzzed
The accordian didn't work and almost fell off. He tried, but it didn't work.
Howie: You don't see things like this.
Piers: (You "X"ed Pup. How dare you.) For 10 seconds it was brilliant, but when he broke from the strap...
Sharon: Before it started, the little horsy thing (where the accordian was) fell over. It should have been bolted down. He should perform again, because of technical glitches.
(Novelty act for sure, but would have been nice to see it work.)

Segment #4

Cam Hodges (Guitarist/Singer) Washington
Piers: Singing at home is one thing. Singing live to millions of Americans is something different.
Piers: There were parts of it that reminded me of James Blunt. I think you did yourself proud tonight.
Sharon: Do you write? (Yes) Very strong voice. You were very confident. I enjoyed it very much.
Howie: When I saw the video, I thought you sounded like John Mayer. But when you hit the high note, you made it something else. I think you have a shot at this.
(very Rob Thomas-y voice. He did a good job, no matter what Piers said.)

Segment #5

Ryan Rodriguez (Dancer) Santa Cruz, CA
Martial-Arts Dancing
Piers buzzed
Sharon: Have you ever been on a stage before (not to this caliber). You have a great talent when you're dancing. (Piers interrupted - It's not dancing, is it. Sharon shut him up.) What you need is a group of people with you. You need to get some other movers and shakers with you.
Howie: When I saw it on YouTube, it's all "cutty". And then you came and you're doing it. You're probably... You're good at it, but I don't know what it is.
Piers: It's hard to work out what we've just seen. Are you a tumbler? It seemed more stunt-type, but not dancing. For Vegas, it has to be dramatic. But to me, it was a bit boring.
("Chaotic", as Piers said in the intro) was right, but he was interesting to see what he'd do next.)

Segment #6

Austin Anderson (Comedian - Auto Mechanic) Omaha, NE
Been doing standup for years.
Sharon: He's a regular guy. So everyone can relate to him.
Likes making people laugh.
Piers buzzed.
Howie: This is hard, wasn't it? This is tough. The thing about it. I think you have stage-presence. When I saw you on YouTube, you were doing stuff about being married, so it was relatable. This time, you stuck to on subject: Facebook. I think you are a funny guy, but you made a mistake in the choice of material.
Piers: I just don't think you were funny. With respect, you pooped on your own party, tonight.
Sharon: I think Howie was right. It was your choice of material. You are a fine comic, but it was the wrong material.
(Was humorous, but not funny. He might be with other material. We'll see. I doubt it.)

Booker Forte (Hip-Hop Dancer) Virgina Beach, VA
Piers buzzed.
Piers: Nice job. It's the problem. You're very limited, quite safe.
Sharon: Very well executed. But I have seen all the moves before. You're great-looking, you have good attitude when you move.
Howie: The point of tonight is we want to find that one gem. You've gotta explode. You've been watching Usher... I saw some Haspop in there. I didn't see anything of your own... special in there, tonight.
(Looked a little slow and calculated, where other hip-hop dancers seems a bit more frenetic. Nice job, but, as they said, "safe".)


Segment #7

Pizza Patt (Pizza Tosser) Columbus, OH
Piers buzzed (Didn't think he should be here at all.)
Sharon: I think that this is a new form of juggling.
Howie: The truth is the fire makes it different, but we've seen it in every pizzaria...
Piers: I don't see the point of it. Had you come off and made me a marguarita... As it is, I saw a grown man, lying on the floor and chucking pizzas in the air. It's not an act.
(They hold the Pizza Tossing championships in Vegas, don't they, Piers? LOL. That said, I don't think he could sustain a regular act in Vegas.)

Segment #8

Kristina Young (Singer) South Dakota
Howie: You look beautiful and you really upped it from YouTube. It's hard to do a Carrie Underwood song. Whether it's good enough for America votes you through
Piers: You don't have a good enough voice to make it through. I watched you, and I didn't not enjoy it.
Sharon: I thought it was a very good performance. Your voice is very loud... a very strong voice. I don't know whether that song was right for you. You didn't have the luxery of everyone else on this show to grow with it, but good job.
(I thought she did a good job. She missed a couple of notes, but...)

Segment #9

Maestro Alexander Bui (16yo Piano Player) New Jersey
Sharon buzzed. (What?)
Sharon: I think he's a magnificent pianist. It was boring to me. I think if you'd have chosen some classical pop music, more relatable... But it was boring to me.
Howie: The ability is amazing, especially at your age.
Piers: Let us clarify. You don't think this is the right place for him to perform, but this is a talent show... Let's just clarify. We don't want everyone to come on and do pop music.
(The song was not recognizable, but he played it very well, I'm sure. Given the choice of others, he may make it in.)

Segment #10

Dan Sperry (Magician)
Dark side of magic. The neighborhood weirdo. Been doing magic since he was 5.
Will do something that will leave America speechless.
He ate a Lifesaver mint, close to Howie, then took dental floss, appeared to saw it into his neck (skin), and pop it out with a mint on it. As he left the area, he tossed the dental floss at Howie. Howie jumped up and was across the stage faster than we've ever seen him move. Sharon started laughing, as did Piers. Dan up on stage, just looked devilishly innocent (with blood coming from his eyes).
Howie: I thought you were great, then you came over here. I'm stuck in a Tim Burton Movie.
Piers: You are hereby charged with the attempted murder of Howie Mandell, with dental floss and a mint.
Sharon: Laughing too much to say anything.
(Ok... Gross, but how'd he do that? And the judges' reactions... LOL - Bet he'll make it.)

Segment #11

Jackie Evancho (10yo operatic singer)
All others were brought in by the judges based on the acts and videos.
Jackie won the most votes of all the YouTube performers.
Standing ovation by crowd and judges.
Howie: We were going to this show and we all thought it was scary. we were looking for that one star and one moment. YOU are that one moment and one star.
Piers: You are only 10 years old. That is one of the most extraordinary performances I've seen on AGT. I know what's going to happen here. We're going to wake up tomorrow, and America's going to be going crazy for the little 10yo girl with the voice of an angel.
Sharon: It's amazing. I've never seen anything like it.
For winning the YouTube vote, she and her family are going to Orlando.
One more time for Jackie Evancho - Another standing ovation.

My choices: Cam Hodges, Kristina Young, Dan Sperry, Jackie Evancho

Lin You Chung, Quick Change, and another, tomorrow. (The three top acts in Viral Videos.)

Cya then! ;-)