For the final week of auditions, America's Got Talent came to New York City, the city where America's dreams of the stage begin, and, in many cases, die. But who cares about the ones who fail, unless they're so appallingly bad as to make good TV?

Take, for example, the Pennsylvania Hand Band. They had two guys in tuxes who claimed that they were classically trained. But that was neither here nor there, unless you can be classically trained in making fart noises with your hands. The other member of their group, by the way, was a man in a giant hand costume whose entire job, as near as I could tell, was to stand around in a giant hand costume. Clearly, these guys were never going to make it, but the Big Giant Hand assured their place in the final cut of the episode.

So remember last week's drama over Boy Shakira, the act that the Hoff hated and Sharon and Piers put through anyway? New York brought about exactly the same thing, thanks to Leonid the Magnificent. You may remember him as the guy who auditioned last year wearing a pair of angel wings and some body paint; this time he was dressed as, I think, an Aztec priest wearing body paint. Again, Sharon and Piers said yes, and again, David stormed off. And again, I agree with David Hasselhoff. It was cool that Leonid refused to apologize for who he was to David, but the fact remains that the act was baffling. (What was with the girls with chains?) By the way, it feels strange enough for me to say that I agree with David Hasselhoff, but what's even stranger is that I seem to be making a habit of it.

Some of my favorite acts of the night:

• Illmatic Styles: You will be inspired by this dance troupe. From the moment that the tearjerking strains of "I'll Stand by You" assailed your ears in the intro clips, it was pretty obvious that these guys were going to sail through and provide a great story. And they did; one of their members, Luka, aka "Lazy Legz," had a muscular disorder that left him with little mobility in his legs, but he came out and spun and jumped around along with the rest of his crew. They were a good act, but Luka and his crew would have been just as inspirational without the show telling us how inspirational they were.
• Philadelphia Plowden: A stand-up comic who was brave enough to do an entire set about Hurricane Katrina. I wasn't sure at first, but he got in some pretty good barbs. I'd like to see what other material he's got.
• Glamazons: They were the plus-size Pussycat Dolls, according to - well, everyone - and their performance of "Lady Marmalade" scored a point for normal-sized women everywhere. Thank you, Glamazons, for giving me the confidence to eat that cookie dough ice cream in my freezer.
• Three Redneck Tenors: Another one of those unexpected gems. Three guys came out in ridiculous mullet wigs, sang an a capella version of Beethoven's Fifth, and it was actually fabulous.

And while we're on the subject, there were a couple of acts that I appreciated for what I will freely admit are frivolous reasons. One was Rubberboy, a contortionist who inspired the line of the night from David Hasselhoff: "You hurt me, Rubberboy." (I'm going to try to use that in casual conversation.) The other was The Great Throwdini, a "dangerous creepy reverend" (Piers' words) with a knife-throwing act. The act itself was all right, but what I really loved about Throwdini was that he went by the same stage name as Dave's knife-throwing nemesis on NewsRadio. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you owe it to yourself to find out.

Meet you back here in two weeks for the Vegas callbacks!

For more TV recaps and commentary, visit Glowy Box.

Comments | Jun 27, 2007 12:38:54 AM | #

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Hi, I am a member of the Pennsylvania Hand Band that was on America's Got Talent last night. We didn't get much of a shot to show what we can do last night. In fact, what we do is more than just making noises. It takes years of practice to get to our level.
Check this out:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO5W2aYOLD0

Bruce Gaston | Jun 27, 2007 3:43:42 PM | #

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Unfortunately, you caught the judges in a bad mood, especially if you followed Leonid. Most of the stuff passed is so run-of-the-mill. I still haven't seen anything in the US version that rivals the should've-been winner of the UK one that just wrapped---this is a 6yr old girl!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_BMi9bOEgA&mode=related&search=

ScottM | Jun 27, 2007 6:07:00 PM | #

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I saw the Pennsylvania Hand Band last night on America's Got Talent. I remember a manualist (that's the term for people that play music on their hands) that was on The Tonight Show a few years ago and did some Internet checking. Check this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manualism_%28hand_music%29
and you will find that Bruce Gaston (first post here) was one of the performers. Hmmm, good enough for The Tonight Show but not good enough for America's Got Talent?

Actually I think they never had the chance to show any talent, since they were Xed so quickly. I do think the hand outfit was unnecessary and led to a quick exit. Too bad they never had the chance to show what they could do.

I don't think I'll be watching America's Got Talent any more. Too much meanness and lack of common courtesy.

Daniel | Jun 27, 2007 7:17:31 PM | #

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Ricardo Aleman is the comedian that insulted David and Piers. I can't believe they didnt show his set. I've seen him live in NYC and he's hysterical. Check out his website FunnyMexican.com. He has a clip of himself insulting the judges. Soo funny!

John Keener | Jun 28, 2007 7:59:26 PM | #

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Being Triple-X'ed in 10 seconds was exactly what I expected from AGT.
The short attention span of the 2 washed-up Brits & a Drunk reminded me of the
kindergarteners in my computer education lab (I teach K-8).
AGT just doesn't get it. The Tonight Show and 20+ other TV shows we've appeared on do get it. God forbid our perfect hand-squeezed intonation would show up
the karaoke wannabe's in Simon's quest for more money-making record contracts.
By all means log onto the LINK BELOW to gain an understanding of just
what it is that we do. Fare thee well AGT as you continue to operate with
10% of the "class" the old Gong Show operated on. Long live Chuck Barris!

Jim-ofThePA-HandBand | Jun 30, 2007 7:02:33 AM | #

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come to indiana

samara | Jun 30, 2007 6:25:10 PM | #

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As the giant hand in the Pennsylvania Hand Band, I'm really ok with the results. Still, it would have been nice to get 15-20 seconds before getting buzzed and ripped apart. At least then the viewers would have actually gotten to see what was rejected.

Larry Schwarz | Jun 30, 2007 7:21:32 PM | #

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Incidentally, I actually had a function; I play music on my teeth. The microphone was off, and we were buzzed too quickly. The funny thing is, it may have very well been the hand costume that got us on the show in the first place...only to have that same hand costume cause our downfall. In all fairness there were far worse acts that were allowed to go on for much longer. Such is life in the world of television.

Larry Schwarz | Jun 30, 2007 7:33:07 PM | #

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The "pa hand band" got screwed.

You can tell by the amount of B-Roll, voice over and pre production that led up to their performance that the producers thought they were great.

The Giant Hand and the two Penguins were not given ample time to allow their song choice to evolve.

We know all about David Hasseloff's drinking problem as well.

When you look at the show in rerun he comes off like the village drunk.

When the Brit kept telling him "Oh David you’re having a bad day". That's Brit code word for "David, you're a drunk fool."

Hassleoff drinking problem added to his short fuse and lack of patience when it came to this pa hand band.

You could also see Hasseloff covering his ears when the crowd screamed to loudly. Another telling sign of someone with a massive hangover and drunk.

Hand Band should not give up.

Who the hell is Sharon Ozborne anyway? Aside from being Ozzy's glorified babysitter back in the 80's.

What talent does she have? None. None at all!

What a no talent she is!

Pa. Hand Band Never give up till carpel tunnel syndrome sets in.

Paddy McPaddy

Paddy McPaddy | Jul 2, 2007 4:15:20 PM | #

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I second Paddy McPaddy's comments wholeheartedly! With all the B-roll that ran throughout the show leading to their performance obviously the producers realized their talent. If they had no talent the producers would not have wasted airtime on all those B-roll edits throughout the opening montage and leading into their performance.

The Pennsylvania Hand Band should have been allowed to play at least a verse and chorus of their song. They weren't even allowed to establish what the song WAS being triple Xed before the song intro was even over!

Keep manually driving in the direction of your dreams, Gentlemen!

May carpel tunnel syndrome never set in!

Isabella Donovan

Isabella Donovan | Jul 5, 2007 2:23:21 PM | #

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Paddy thanks Isabella for the back up. Clearly PA HandBand was not given a fair shot.

Paddy would like to buy Isabella a drink. Provided she is 21 years of age.

paddy

Paddy McPaddy | Jul 10, 2007 9:34:18 AM | #

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they should not have let he she go on two the next round because he she relly sucked badly

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu | Jul 10, 2007 6:04:50 PM | #

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also i agrea with uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu as she said he she relly sucked

layla | Jul 10, 2007 6:09:49 PM | #

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i was talking about boy shakira and i think layla was to

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu | Jul 10, 2007 6:12:59 PM | #

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that is got to be a gril becase he has a gril aksent.

kathleen | Jul 16, 2007 4:11:42 PM | #

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