America’s Got Talent 2024 Premiere Recap and Live Blog
America’s Got Talent returns to NBC tonight for season 19 with Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara on the judges panel. Terry Crews hosts. See the new acts vying for the 1 million dollar prize.
America’s Got Talent 2023 Premiere Spoilers – Meet the Acts (Photos)
Season 19 will feature more Golden Buzzers than ever before, as each judge gets TWO buzzers and Terry can pick one. That’s a total of nine Golden Buzzers for the new season.
Los Osos High School – Dance group
This high school dance group not only brings along their choreographer, but the principal of the school as well. Simon compares them to High School Musical. Not sure that’s a compliment. For a high school dance group, they are pretty solid, but not spectacular. AGT has featured some truly incredible dance groups, the bar is high. However, by the end of the performance, the end, Simon looks pleased.
Sofia calls it “perfect” adding, “good job.” Heidi warns them to up the choreography if they make it to the next round. She is correct. Howie agrees with Heidi. He notes the incredible dancers AGT has featured, and feels they should have had at least one amazing move. Simon disagrees. He calls them “brilliant.” He loves their energy. Basically, he’s judging them by a different criteria. Howie says no, Sofia says Yes, Simon says yes, Heidi is the deciding vote. She thinks they have potential and says yes. – Howie NO the rest yes
Baby Dev – 2 year old math genius
Devin does math equations at only 2 years old. Dad claims his first word ever was “7.” AGT previewed this audition last week and it already has over 1 million views! Devin is already a social media star with a millions followers on Tik Tok. Overall, he seems like a typical 2 year old, except one with an extraordinary ability to solve math problems. He can add, carry numbers and multiply. His dad is a retired police officer, not a math professor or rocket scientist!
Simon jokes that he feels dumber after watching Devin and asks him to negotiate his next contract. Sofia and Heidi are impressed. – 4 yeses
Sam Huang – Magician
Everyone calls the 23 year old from Taiwan “Crazy Sam.” He approaches the judges table to do close up magic. Oh boy. He makes his fingers disappear, which is a little unsettling. He can seemingly “move” his fingers too. Probably, he’s super-bendy and can hide his fingers behind his palm. Yeah, this bit is a little crazy.
Simon has never seen close-up magic like that. “I loved it.” Howie calls him unique and amazing. Heidi couldn’t believe her eyes. It’s a different kind of act, but “Crazy Sam” might be a one-hit wonder, in which case, he won’t last. – 4 yeses
Daisy Mae & Clifford – Dog Act
The trainer is a special education teacher in Chicago. Her two dogs, a basset hound and red bloodhound go through a familiar agility routine. Good for them? But after last season’s storytelling dog act, Adrian Stoica and Hurricane won the show, dog acts have a hard act to follow. Case in point, the dogs stopped cooperating eventually–probably freaked out by the lights and loud crowd.
Simon thinks all dogs aren’t suited for show business. Nevertheless, a dog lover, he greets the dogs on stage to personally apologize for saying no. – 4 nos
Learnmore Jonasi – Comedian – Terry’s Golden Buzzer
He’s originally from Zimbabwe, but lives in Pittsburgh now. Terry Crews White Girls movie changed his life, he says. He’s thrilled after meeting his hero backstage. He tells the panel that he learned English watching stand up comedy with his grandfather. His act is centered upon his former life in Zimbabwe and how it compares to living in the US. He’s earnest and amusing.
The judges give him a standing ovation. Howie is impressed that he can make people laugh when English isn’t his first language. Heidi loves his spirit. Sofia calls him good from top to bottom. Simon calls him one of the funniest people the show has ever had. “I was laughing so much.” OH. How did I not see this coming? Terry chooses him as his one and only GOLDEN BUZZER. Learnmore is in tears. – Terry Crews Golden Buzzer
Ashlee Montague – Ballet Dancer
All her life, she’s been told that ballet dancing is not for her. And, she’s 33. Determined, she trained for many weeks, preparing for her audition. Uh oh. Simon admits that he hates ballet. She dances to Swan Lake. She initially appears to be merely a well-trained dancer, until she pulls out the stunt. She’s on point while traversing a line up of wine bottles. She falters at the beginning. Simon is about to buzz. She finally finishes the stunt, and performs a couple of squats before dismounting. OK. THAT had to take a lot of strength to complete.
Sofia compliments her and how she kept going. Simon calls it one of the most difficult acts he’s seen for a long time. Almost disbelieving, he approaches the stage to check out the set up. Nope. No tricks. She did that. Heidi calls her “fantastic.” Howie says, “You made ballet so dangerous!” – 4 yeses.
Reyna Roberts – Country singer
She appeared on Beyonce’s recent country album, Cowboy Carter singing backgrounds on the cover of the Beatles’ “Blackbird.” She’s also been a CMT Next Women of Country artist. Originally from Alaska, she lives in Nashville now.
She’ll be singing an original song tonight called “Raised Right” based on a Star Wars character. She’s joined on stage by her band, including a female drummer. In the last few years, talent shows always cast at least one black country singer, which is appropriate, considering how Black music has influenced Country from the beginning. The song isn’t a hit, but she’s a talented singer.
Howie didn’t like her original. He’s like that. Very picky about originals. “It didn’t hook me.” Heidi liked the song and her voice and look. Sofia agrees with Heidi. She calls Reyna a complete artist. Simon loves her band. He likes that she knows who she is as an artist. Howie says no, the rest say yes. – Howie no, the rest say yes
Arshiya – Dancer/contortionist
A 13-year-old from India, it’s her first trip outside of her home country. After introducing herself to the panel and audience, she dashes backstage while a prop doll house with creepy dolls is wheeled out. Arshiya returns dressed and made up like a zombie, intent on terrifying the audience. She performs bone-crushing contortion while staring down the audience. CREEPY. She seemed so sweet at first. Simon compares her to the Exorcist.
Howie calls it a scary and horrific dance recital. “Don’t do this at home!” he warns other little girls. Heidi thinks she’s one of the best contortionists the show has had. Simon said she came back to the stage as Linda Blair. He calls her “brilliant.” – 4 yeses
Chris Ivan – Plunger stunt/Novelty
28 year old from Seattle brings out a crew of male “assistants.” They are his close friends and family. Oh. It’s a Guinness stunt. Chris already has the world record for throwing plungers and making them stick. In this case, he uses his friends’ bare backs as the plunger target. Now, he’s trying to break his own record. A Guinness rep is in the house. The attempt fails, however, and Chris gets four X’s from the judges, to boot. – 4 nos
Tonikaku – Novelty
Tonikaku appeared on Season 16 of Britain’s Got Talent in 2023 where he made the finals as a wildcard finishing in 11th place. Simon reveals that Tonikaku is his son’s favorite act. His schtick involves striking various stupid poses, and declaring afterward that he’s wearing pants. He ends the act by pulling off his pants to reveal…you guessed it…another pair of pants. That’s the act. That’s it. Pretty dumb. His butt cheeks hang out of his tight fitting “pants.” Don’t need to see that. Howie and Simon think he’s hilarious. It’s hard to believe this dude made the BGT finals.
Surprisingly, Heidi and Sofia loved it. I expected at least one of them to hit their red buzzers. – 4 yeses
Richard Goodall – Singer – Heidi’s Golden Buzzer
Richard, at 55, has lived in Terre Haute Indiana all his life. He works three blocks away from his home as a janitor at an elementary school. He sings on the job to amuse himself. The kids noticed. A performance of “Don’t Stop Believing” went viral on social media, and he sings it here. He’s very nervous! The vocal is strong, and bears resemblance to former Journey lead singer, Steve Perry as he hits all the high notes. He probably sang in bands as a teenager, I bet.
Simon calls him “my hero” and calls his performance special. “I think America is going to love you.” Sofia calls him “perfect to come to AGT.” Howie says, “You just cleaned up.” Heidi is so impressed, that she gives him one of her two Golden Buzzers. He cries as he calls his fiance to share the good news. He admits the trip to Los Angeles was his first time on a plane. Simon may have found his next Susan Boyle.
