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America's Got Talent: "Episode 103" Review

The Midwest has the best talent of all!
By Staci Krause

America's Got Talent aired its last episode of auditions this week. This time the hopefuls came from all over the Midwest to try to impress the judges in Chicago. I'm not sure which, but either America's Got Talent is growing on me or my standards have just gotten lower in the last week, because I actually did enjoy last night's episode all the way through.

The acts seemed more entertaining to me than in prior shows. It started right off the bat with the most ludicrous group of overweight men I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Calling themselves the Chicago Matadors, this dance troupe hopped and bounced around in unison in something resembling dance. Many were wearing belly shirts, and when I say belly shirts, I mean their large bellies were hanging out of their shirts, jiggling for the world to see. Their finale involved ripping one of their member's shirt off, revealing a Chicago Bulls logo shaved into his hairy back. Slightly disgusting? Absolutely. Entertaining? Yes. Did they make it to the next round? Not a chance.

The amusingly odd acts continued with Sharon Kissane, a bird caller, and Flippy the Magnificent, a &#Array;. I'm not really sure. He had a male blow-up doll he was dancing around with, but I have no idea what his actual act was. It sure looked funny! Oh, and let's not forget the Laughing Yogi! Hahahahahaha. Hahahahaha. I didn't get it, and I don't think the judges did either.

To counter the amusement of the talentless (or bizarrely talented), we had some truly amazing acts on this show. I think these were some of the best America's Got Talent has shown so far. The Millers are a band that includes this young man who plays the harmonica like nobody's business. Mark "The Knife" Faje debuted with the most unusual act I've seen. Calling himself the "world's most dangerous comic", he stuck knives into a bowling ball, pointy end up, set the bowling ball afire, put a scorpion (poison sac intact) down his pants, and tossed the bowling ball from his foot to his head. Amazingly, he still lives. Taylor Ware, an 11-year-old yodeler, wowed the judges and the audience with her yodeling. The most amazing act of the night, by far, was the final group. Called the Quick-Change Artists, they proceeded to change outfits about 20 times in the course of 60 seconds. They did so in a variety of unusual ways that both astounded and confounded the audience (myself included). How did they do that?

The judging was fine this week. Brandy seemed to be consistent for a change. She didn't say anything impolite and let the men do all the dirty talk. Hasselhoff and Morgan, though, were anything but polite for the acts they didn't like. As expected, the one juggling act of the night - the Passing Zone - was rejected by Hasselhoff, but they still went through to the next round. He really doesn't like jugglers. When the bird caller finished her act, both Hasselhoff and Morgan berated her, with comments like 'are you on medication?' by Hasselhoff and Morgan's assertion that her bird calling was cuckoo. At this point, which one is trying to vie for the title of 'mean judge' is anyone's guess.

Next week, the second stage of the show begins. The audience will start deciding who moves on to the final rounds. It is still unclear how this will work, so we will have to wait until then for details. I suppose if it is a single elimination type of show, with the audience choosing who makes it to the final round among all the many varied acts, it might not be too bad. Hopefully that is the system they have chosen, and not something more akin to the other talent shows' vote-offs.

As for this week's episode? I enjoyed it tremendously. It was worth watching just for the world's most dangerous comic and the Quick-Change Artists. I like being entertained and I was this week.

America's Got Talent First Aired Jun. 2006