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Tonight on "America's Got Talent," a 75 year-old female comedian named Grandma Lee is just delightful.
We're back on Houston tonight for auditions and a trio of cowboys are our first act. They call themselves The Texas Tenors, which is a cute name. I hope they can sing. They sing "Mountain Music" by Alabama. Honestly? It's not that good. Their harmonies on the "Hey, hey, heeeeey" part are off and on the verses whichever one is carrying the melody isn't strong enough and is being overpowered by the high harmony. That was pretty meh for me. They're cute and very excited but the vocals just aren't strong enough. Since they are new, I'll give them another performance before I suggest we get the hook.
The next act is Bruce Thomas, a handyman who farts with his hands in the tune of "Yankee Doodle." Next! This leads into a Bad Montage that includes Ruby Revue, a burlesque troupe that may have just started practicing that morning; In Sterio, white hip-hop flautists; and the Crispy Family Carnival, which is just a fat guy dancing around topless while women staple money to him. Or what my family calls "Thanksgiving."
Up next is an acrobatic slam-dunking group called Acrodunk. They are quite entertaining, though I see them more being booked for halftimes at basketball games than Las Vegas. The most impressive part is how they keep passing the ball back between first 3, then 4, then all 5 members and the last one to receive the ball dunks it. I'm not explaining it well, but it's cool. They're very good and deserve to make it through to the next round, and they do.
Hmm. I've found that Acrodunk has been on "America's Got Talent" before. Interesting.
Good Montage. Live in Color, a dance troupe that is very in-sync and flashy (from what I can tell) and very "Fame" in their costumes; Anna Pipoyan, a belly dancer who dances with a lit candlebra on her head (awesome); and Eclipse, a rapper who is definitely no K-Dizzle from last night (and I mean that in a very good way).
The Kaitlin of this year is Eleisha Miller, except she's old enough to be annoying and not just adorable like Kaitlin. She's like a brunette Dakota Fanning, just precocious as all hell. Eleisha and her ringlets sing/play "Proud Mary" and it's really mediocre but without the cuteness factor that made me so Kaitlin Blind last year. I would not send this little girl through; she can't really sing and her keyboard playing is pretty basic. Sharon says no and the crowd sharpens their pitchforks by the light of their torches, but Piers and David say yes and she's through. Hmmm. The guys love how cute and funny she is, but I think Sharon's with me, she sees right through it. The girl's probably a Bad Seed or something.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm speaking ill of little girls again. I must go flog myself now.
Twins Lamar and Jamar Jefferson are up next. I think parents who give twins rhyming names should be punched in the delivery room and forced to change it. Anyway, the Jeffersons sadly do not sing "Movin' on Up," but instead call themselves Timez 2 and sing "Yeah" by Usher and they certainly drive the women in the audience wild by writhing a lot and lifting up their beaters, but their singing isn't anything to write home about. Hmmm. They are through to Vegas unanimously, though.
What is with these mediocre singers who would never in a million years get in front of Simon Cowell getting through to Vegas? I don't think the Texas Tenors, Eleisha Miller and Timez 2 deserve Vegas at all. Harumph.
Grandma Lee is a 75 year-old woman from Florida who is there to live her dream. Well, that's nice and at least she's not as creepy as that Whatever Happened to Baby Jane tapdancer from last year. Turns out Grandma Lee is a comedian and she's not half bad, especially for an old lady. I particularly like her "ain't" joke. Seriously, she's not Mitch Hedburg but she's 1000x funnier than Dane Cook* and at least she's original. She's through to Vegas. Way to go, granny!
Our sob story du jour is Barbara Padilla, who sings "O Mio Babino, Caro." Man, I love that song. My most favorite song to perform. She sings with much emotion and it doesn't hurt that she's easy on the eyes. She's definitely good enough to advance, but I didn't think an opera singer should've won last year and I don't think one should win this year. Opera singers don't play Vegas. Anyway, the strains of "Hero" kick up as she talks about surviving cancer and whatnot. Yes, yes, good for you. She's through unanimously to Vegas.
Alright guys, join us back here next week for even more "America's Got Talent" auditions.
*Dane Cook sucks and you know it.
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AcroDunk isn't the only talent show also-ran from the episode, Andrea.
Live in Color? Shocking elimination from America's Best Dance Crew season 1. Last night's Iconic was also on ABDC season 1.
Timez 2? The Jefferson twins made it to American Idol's Hollywood round in season 4 (or 5, I can't remember which).
Grandma Lee? She was on Last Comic Standing, though she never made the house. Of course, Last Comic Standing never was known for choosing the best comedians for that round, but still...
http://mel31602.blogspot.com/2009/07/americas-got-talent-auditions-five-and.html
Check out my recap here of both Wednesday and Tuesday night's shows. BTW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ_CO-7YN5o
The Jeffersons auditioned for American Idol before and actually got through to Hollywood. I liked them at first tonight but then it went downhill.
As for the rest of the show, I liked the acts a bit more than you did, though I thought most were good but not great except for Barbara, who I like better than Neal from last year (who I agree should not have won). I also hated Kaitlin last year (see my rant in the above blog posting) but thought Eleisha was at least good on the keyboard to go through as long as she doesn't sing anymore. I liked her better than Kaitlin since she actually has talent. I also enjoyed Acrodunks, and I do remember them vaguely from season's past and think they were better this time around. I also enjoyed the Texas Tenors though the high guy I thought weakened the performance a lot. Grandma Lee was cute as well, though not the funniest routine I've ever heard.
Sorry Tyler didn't see you beat me to it with the Jeffersons info. It was season 4 btw- I saw it on AI Rewind last week.
I've never watched ABDC and I don't remember the Jefferson twins from Idol, unless they are the much-slimmed down version of those twin brothers who threw big hissy fits in Hollywood. : )
Andrea- No that was the Brittnum twins who threw the tantrums. I only remember the Jeffersons because I saw the AI Rewind episode where they auditioned a few days ago.
Andrea kudos on mentioning Mitch Hedburg. He was probably the funniest comedian I have ever heard. Its sad hes not around anymore. anyway I got a koala infestation, its the cutest infestation ever
I thought I recognized Grandma Lee from LCS. The dance troupes going from ABDC is new since Jabberwockz - the masked dancers- went from AGT to win on ABDC. Isn't it nice that there are so many venues available now to keep the dream alive?
I also noticed the Crispy fat guy had blood running down his forehead after they stapled the money to it. If a circus performer like this is any good, there's never blood.
Grandma Lee is orignal?
Uh, what planet are you on? All her jokes are common jokes retold by an old lady. Come up with new stuff.
Eleisha is the kind of kid that I regularly want to let my neighbor's St. Bernard use as a chew toy. She's not cute, she's an over-indulged brat. If my sister had acted that way on stage in front of a national audience, several female relatives would have been lined up backstage to smack the freckles off of her. Kudos to her, though, for at least taking Sharon's advice in stride. And I also was reminded of Dakota Fanning, which was why I muted the TV until the little demon was off the stage (let the "you're so mean to that little girl" flogging commence).
I would like to think the judges would remember past contestants, but apparently not. Either that, or America really has run out of talent. Either that, part 2, or they're all getting senile. The glowing reviews of an act that's already been on the show was just pathetic.
Grandma Lee is funny, yes, but she's a bit too blue for a family show. I hope they tell her to tone down the comedy before she gets to Vegas. There will be kids in the audience, after all, and as Tim Allen found out after he got famous, you can't do an act with foul language and jokes about sex in the garage when the front row is made up of nine-year-old girls.
Didn't care about Barbara Cadilla's sob story (don't care about any of them, actually...save it for Oprah), but I did enjoy her singing. Her daughter put it all in perspective, though; after her momma was done, and she was in the wings talking to Nick, the kid asked, "Can we go now?" Timing is everything.