‘America’s Got Talent’ review: Sharon Irving, Craig Lewis Band, Myq Kaplan, and more acts
Tonight, the second live show for “America’s Got Talent” came on the air with big hopes. It has to look more impressive than the show last week in order to avoid feeling like a letdown. Luckily, there are a lot of really good acts on this show. We’re going to highlight all of the acts as they come out and perform, so refresh this page throughout the night for more of our own insight. At the very end, we’ll throw in a poll where you can vote for your favorite. For the record, Samantha Johnson and Siro-A actually tied last week.
DM Nation – We started to think a little bit about who we would compare this group to, and strange as it may seem, it is Benton Blount. Both are very good at what they do, but how many times can we see what is basically the same act we’ve seen for ten seasons? There was nothing other than their story and black lipstick that makes them stand out over any other than we’ve had a chance to see over the years.
Derek Hughes – At first, we thought he was nervous and the majority of his jokes weren’t landing. Somewhere along the way, though, this actually became a really good trick! We didn’t see exactly the ending coming, and he really had some good banter in here with Mel B. Her suggesting “snap” to him as her favorite card game may be the biggest proof ever that these tricks are not pre-planned.
3 Shades of Blue – Bands don’t have a good history in live shows. However, we actually really liked this! We think the move for a band on this show in the live rounds is to perform a twist on a popular song rather than a straight-up cover or an original, and they did that by doing “Chains” by Nick Jonas. No, we’re not going to give Howie Mandel credit for this even though he clearly wants it.
Animation Crew – It feels like the show really buried this group. They didn’t get a lengthy pre-performance package, Howard Stern buzzed them, and we don’t think there was nearly enough credit to how hard animation as a style is. Sure, they were far from the most innovative dance act we’ve ever seen, but we feel like they brought much more to the table than some other dance acts we’ve seen.
Arielle Baril – Very powerful, moving performance. We don’t think that the song choice necessarily was innovative, but Arielle has a little of that necessarily gift of being able to bring viewers in and listen to her perform. She’s likable, and she doesn’t just feel like some child prodigy who is forced into singing opera.
Uzeyer Novruzov – One of the craziest things that we’ve ever seen. This guy is a complete lunatic getting on the top of that ladder! It was remarkably terrifying, and for the most part compelling TV. We don’t even care that he seemed to mess up at the star.
Ira – We think that there was some sly adult humor in here, but we think part of the problem with the Ira act is just that it only has a couple of minutes a showing. There is potential in this character, but it needs its own ten-minute sketch series or something where you can flesh out the character. As of right now, it’s sort of just a singing Howard Wolowitz circa season 1 of “The Big Bang Theory.”
Damone Rippy – There is something a little strange about seeing a well-edited performance in the middle of a live show, and there’s something in general about Damone’s act that just feels off to us. Maybe it’s in part because this feels a little like something that’d be fun to do, but not as fun to watch. Unless this was choreographed with five or so other people, we’re not sure it’s worthy of a Las Vegas show.
Myq Kaplan – We feel for Myq a ton right now. We admit we’re biased (we’ve been a fan of his for ages), and it felt like he was cramming a ton of material probably into too short a span of time. At the same time, we think a few of the jokes were too meta for the show’s audience, and for whatever reason it was a tough Radio City crowd tonight. They warned up a little at the end, but they just weren’t laughing in the early going and we got a sense that even he realized that there was trouble ahead.
The show closed tonight with Sharon Irving, Freckled Sky, and the Craig Lewis Band, three acts that got a golden buzzer at one point or another for a reason. They all have something to be happy about now.
Want to see where we ranked the acts before tonight’s show? Then be sure to head over to this link now! Also, you can sign up here to get some more TV news on just about all we cover, sent right to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)