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Semifinals 2 | Season 13 Rewatch | America's Got Talent · AGT Time Pod - America's Got Talent Fancast

• Cody: Hey everyone, welcome back to another edition of AGT Time Commenter. I will always love you guys. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Thank you. I will too. ⁓ That's not what I expected for the start of an episode. ⁓ Cody: Okay, what'd you what did you expect? ⁓ hey, let's go down and get a grand slam at denny's AGTCommenter: Ooh, what would my... That's more talk about Denny's in this episode than I ever thought I would hear on AGT, if I'm being frank. It's kind of ⁓ fascinating, the amount of Denny's talk we got in this. Cody: You I was going to ask then, but since we've already kind of brought it up, do you go to visit the Denny's? Have you had the Grand Slam? Yeah. AGTCommenter: I've been to Denny's, trying to think. It's probably been since I was very little, so I don't know. We have a Denny's, one in town, but I'm not sure what I had at the Denny's before. We are here for season 13. Is Denny's a big thing for you? Cody: Yeah. I don't know. It's a big thing. We of course Waffle House ⁓ We had a showny's I really like the showny's I think it closed down I hop of course, so yeah AGTCommenter: Okay. Hmm, sure. Yep. Yeah, we, I would say the big one up here for like chain, we do have an IHOP, we do have Denny's. I would say we're more like if you're getting breakfast, it's more of a local place. Yeah, we don't have Waffle House up here or anything, which is obviously like a cult classic. Cody: Yeah, so Waffle House is the determinator how bad the weather is. If Waffle House closes down, you know things are getting bad. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Okay. It's... Yeah. They're not... They're not... You're staying inside. Cody: You are finding some sort of basement or concrete. Yeah, so Yeah AGTCommenter: Right. Yeah, okay. I like that. ⁓ Yeah, fair enough. ⁓ Well, we are here for season 13 rewatch episode 9 semi-finals 2, Cody. We are right at the end. I've really enjoyed these now. 8, this will be 9th episode. ⁓ We're recording this on April 19th. People hear it on the... ⁓ Cody: We're right at the end. AGTCommenter: on the 30th, so when it drops. when you're hearing this, we're basically exactly a month out, like 33 days from season 21. So basically four weeks, four and a half weeks out. So that's sneaking up on us. That also means you and I got some random stuff to put together to finish the off season here in May. But why don't you tell people where to find us and then we'll get into all a bunch of stuff. Cody: Yeah. Let's. Right, yep. You can find us on our socials at AGT time pod you can email us AGT time pod at gmail.com and commenter We've had this we had one for a while, but we don't really advertise it much. We've got a new website a GT time pod comm we've had it for again We've had it for a long time But we just we just dropped a brand new version of a GT time pod comm ⁓ it Originally just had our podcast episode. That's all it had AGTCommenter: Mm-hmm. We did. Hehe. Cody: We've retooled it, we've revamped it, ⁓ and now it's got commenter. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Where's the, here it is, here it is. Oops. AGTCommenter: There's a whole page dedicated to the AGT Hall of Fame. It's, yeah, it's a, what do you want to call it? A, I don't know, a place to go and you can actually visit the AGT Hall of Fame now. It's got its own place outside of just audio in the world. You did a great job with the new site. The UI, we collabed, but from a building of it, the UI is far superior to what we were working with. Cody: There you go! Ta-da! That's correct, yes. Thanks, you helped. Yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: before for user interface would be the UI. Easier to find stuff, there's some search functions that are a little bit a little bit more user friendly. The Hall of Fame page is spectacular. Go check that out. It's got a little background on what the Hall of Fame is and then each class is separated into a chunk and there's a page for each each inductee with a little write-up and then Cody: Yes! AGTCommenter: ⁓ their audio clip that we used in the pod ⁓ to help induct them is on there. You can listen to all those on there too. ⁓ great site. I'm sure it'll grow into more stuff as we go. There'll be some blog posts eventually of some sort, I think is kind of the plan. then, yeah, I think the biggest thing is the addition of the Hall of Fame, but probably even bigger is just the catalog of all the episodes and being able to find those a little bit easier is kind of the big change, Cody. Cody: Yeah, and you get the flexibility. We're gonna grow it. We're gonna add some more stuff, but that gives us the ability now. So I'm real excited about this. Great job on providing all the Hall of Fame stuff so that we can get that out there. So yeah, go visit it. AGTtimepod.com. can also, it's got two ways to get there. AGTtime.com or AGTtimepod.com. Just look us up, go find it. ⁓ It's great. Send us any feedback or questions you got. We'd appreciate that. ⁓ The other thing and... AGTCommenter: Yep. Yeah. Cody: I know, y'all may notice, but we're gonna kinda say anyway, there's not gonna be any more ad breaks. We've also changed hosting providers, and so we're not gonna have ad breaks much anymore. So we're just gonna kinda fly through all the episodes. AGTCommenter: Mm-hmm. Yeah, we'll, until, ⁓ once, as soon as a company reaches out, that's the next time you'll hear an ad, as far as we know. Yeah, Denny's, give us a ring. an ad will, pop up eventually there maybe, but otherwise, yeah, ad free, for your, for your listening pleasure, ⁓ for the people. But, ⁓ we had some traction on Reddit this week. Our friend, our friend, Masssinger Homie, ⁓ threw a little thread out for the people. Did you, ⁓ Cody: Yes! Deniz! You We did. Yes. AGTCommenter: How much did you investigate this post? Cody: I mean I came across it and I had to go back because we just talked about this Two three weeks ago two or three weeks ago And so I went back and reviewed the the video we reviewed the ⁓ the clip Watch the tape. There you go. And ⁓ just to see if I could get some a little more information Didn't have an answer. So you want to kind of fill people in on what this is? AGTCommenter: Yes. Yes, watch the tape. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So our guy, Masked Singer Homie, he's been listening to the Season 13 rewatch, so shout out. ⁓ Again, anybody listening, feel free to post or send us thoughts or anything. basically, was just like, I was listening to the second quarterfinals episode, and that was the episode where Simon couldn't stop laughing after the Savitsky Cats performance, and he was just wondering, don't know why he was having such a laughing fit. Because I don't know if there was something beforehand or afterwards that caused Simon to laugh so hard. It's one of those things that really makes me wonder what could have caused it in the first place. And just wondering what everybody thinks. yeah, when we recorded that episode, we talked about it. we, upon watching the episode, there was nothing, there was no sign of something that happened. Because who performed right before the Savitsky Cats in that episode? It was... voices of hope children's choir so i i can't imagine was anything stemming you know carryover from that there must have just been a a move or comment or something that happened in the cats performance that got him loopy and he was giggly ⁓ mccain couldn't even talk Cody: I'm sorry. Well that whole episode was just unhinged anyway. mean it was crazy bonkers as well so there's no tell... Sacred Diana got tickled his funny bone somehow, right? AGTCommenter: Yeah. Right. Sure, yeah, so ⁓ I wish we had an answer. Yeah, anybody that, Mel B, Heidi, Howie want to reach out and let us know, Simon, anybody? ⁓ But yeah, no, was, Tyra, anybody can reach out. Yeah, was definitely an odd situation. And then thank God, Glenis Grace performed next and he could, I think he said, thank God I can finally talk again. ⁓ Cody: Love to know if someone was there. You Tyra? You want Tyra to reach out? Yes. AGTCommenter: on his reset Simon's brain so shout out ⁓ to our homie, appreciate you listening, feel free to send any feedback as we sprint to the finals here Cody we are on our way one episode away ⁓ anything else we need to touch on Cody: Yes, yes. my stars did not have a good first outing in the playoffs. AGTCommenter: No. It'll be interesting when this drops on the 30th if you guys are still alive. ⁓ Ryan's Minnesota Wild took you to the cleaners in game one. ⁓ yeah, no, we're right in the thick of a very fun sports time now. NBA and NHL playoffs at the same time is always fun. You get a lot of drama there. But, right, should we get into this episode? All right, we've got... Cody: Yeah, I'm hoping we moved on to the second round by the time this drops. Ryan's been... Yeah. Yes they did. Yes. Let's do it. AGTCommenter: Excuse me, we got semi-finals too to talk about. ⁓ September 11th, 2018, ⁓ 17th anniversary of the tragedy on the 9-11 attacks back in 2001. We ⁓ get a reference to it in the episode. I didn't notice that it was that on the wiki page when I was looking at the episode. ⁓ But the Angel City Chorale is gonna do a little homage. Cody: Yes, yes. AGTCommenter: to it but yeah, I was racking my brain. think we know that, so you remember when we interviewed Tom Cotter the first time, he mentioned that Joe Castillo wanted to do a performance that paid homage to the 9-11 attacks back in season seven, which would have been 2012, and they nixed it. But I don't think the episode was actually on the anniversary, so I think. Cody: Okay. AGTCommenter: As far as I can tell from over the years that this is the first time we actually had at least a performance episode on the anniversary, so that was a thing of note. Were you surprised that there was any real mention to it in terms of within performances or outside of maybe Tyra saying something off the top or anything like that, but actually being used by an actor? Cody: No, you know 17 years in it's it's kind of okay to start talking I say start talking about it We've probably been talking about it for years at that point, but 17 years in I think it's I think it's fine. It kind of makes sense It's on the anniversary the only way I noticed that I do I looked it up as well because How I mentioned they're wearing white after Labor Day. I'm like, wow was this after Labor Day already? And so I had to go fact-check that as oh, wow. Okay, September 11th so AGTCommenter: Yeah. Cody: I'm actually kind glad, I think it's kind cool that they did that. ⁓ I think with any national tragedy, it's okay to start, that kind of helps with the healing process, is to talk through a lot of that stuff. AGTCommenter: Sure. Yeah, just looking ahead to season 21, September 11th this year is on a Friday, so we will not have. We'll go no episode on there. ⁓ yeah, no, interesting ⁓ and notable obviously. ⁓ Before we get, let's do this. Cody: Okay. AGTCommenter: This was a very fascinating episode to me. And it was not the best episode of the season. I actually have it only above quarterfinals two in live shows. I have every other live show ahead of it in terms of totality. I thought the first two thirds were not very good. I loved it though, because this episode is a great, like this is what I want to see in live shows. You can feel the intensity. There's nerves, people are underperforming. I want it to be separating. I want there to be like this act is folding under the pressure and this act's rising on occasion. Now, I felt like the problem was this five acts did not rise to the occasion. thought more than not folded under the pressure a little bit and that made for not quite as fun of a performing episode. Cody: Duh! AGTCommenter: This is what it should feel like, Cody. The stakes should feel, especially in the second semis, because half the finals is already put, like, the stakes should feel immense. Did you get the sense, and I think judges mentioned it throughout, did you get the sense that the acts could kind of feel the weight of the semifinals? Cody: I I couldn't get it that much. ⁓ I kind of caught it when the judges of course talked about it But as far as watching the acts, I personally didn't catch it that much. Do you think that the second semi-finals is more? Than the first one? Okay AGTCommenter: It just felt that way. Yeah, I don't know. But yeah. Cody: Do think they're like looking back the first one? It's like, ⁓ wow. Like this is it. Like, I mean, AGTCommenter: Yeah, maybe. I don't know. And maybe it was just a group that didn't have quite as the nerves of steel. the reason it stuck out to me is because if you look at the episode, Christina Wells opens the night and she comes out and misses about 100 notes in big moments. Da Republic puts on far and away their worst performance this season. Guthrie sings a Whitney Houston song for no reason. Daniel Emmett decides to sing in English all of a sudden. The Chorale doesn't have a soloist. They need a soloist. Cody: Okay. Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: And then Aaron Crowe can't seem to capture the magic that he had in judge cuts. Barbalak has her worst performance, I thought, of the season. ⁓ We three, Simon's like, that was a disaster. And it took to like, Glenis Grace for it to feel like anybody was performing at their level. ⁓ And I thought it was fascinating. I thought it was very fun. And I thought it really cleared up the picture of the season because we talked about in the last handful of weeks, you know, names like Da Republic, Aaron Crowe, even Noah Guthrie. Cody: Yeah. AGTCommenter: where we were kind of like, well, through the quarterfinals, was like, hmm, interesting that these acts got left behind from the finals. And I'm not really feeling that way anymore. thought this, even more than semi-finals one, I thought this really brought into the, I feel like I had a very clear sense of the top 10 of the season after this, for the most part, maybe top eight. Cody: ⁓ yeah, I think there's definitely a lot. You're suffering that wheat from the chaff. Is that the, is that the saying? Yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Absolutely. Yeah. And like, I think, and we'll talk about it in results and everything and as we get ready for next week, but I think America got eight of the top 10, right? Probably seven or eight. It's, it's close. But yeah, this was, this was a, I just, I really enjoyed this. ⁓ I did have one gripe about the layout. Cody: Okay. AGTCommenter: of this episode as well as the semi-finals as a whole. So four of the first five in this episode were singing acts. And then seven of the eleven. Only five of the eleven. Why didn't they just go six? Like why did we overload one compared to the other? But the four out of five to start was like, we're just singing. This is just a singing competition. I just thought they should have balanced it out between the two episodes and within the episode we could have spread out the singers a little bit. Cody: Yes. Yeah. Yeah, so they separated the choirs and they separated the dance acts. Right? So who would you have put on the other episode? AGTCommenter: Yes. That's a question. ⁓ So the seven that were in semi-finals one were Amanda Mena, Us the Duo, The Choir, A Voice of Hope, Michaela Phillips, ⁓ Keterer, ⁓ who am I missing? Amanda Mena, Us the Duo, Voices of Hope, Michaela Phillips, Michael Keterer, ⁓ those are the five, there was seven, sorry, yeah there was seven in this one. Cody: That's fine, the five, those are fine. Yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Why would I put Makilaf- Cody: Now who would you move from this one to the first one? Okay. AGTCommenter: Right, so this one, I probably would have separated either Christina Wells and Glenis Grace, like taking one of them and put them last week, or I would have separated, what was last? I think, yeah, it's either that or maybe it's Noah Guthrie and We Three, or Noah Guthrie and Daniel Emmett, but they're different enough. I think that's the right answer. Cody: Okay, yep, yep. I think that's who you do. I think you set a breakdown. Yeah, agree. AGTCommenter: I Christina Wells or Glenis Gray should have been in semi-final one and then just would have plopped over. Cody: That would have been interesting how that picture would have changed. AGTCommenter: on voting and everything you're saying. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, for sure, because she belongs. If like if you flip Grinnis Grace, the results of semifinal one probably changed completely. I'm not sure Christina Wells would have swung anything one way or the other. But Glennis Grace moving around, she's. I'm excited, Cody and I are going to get into what we think the top five of the season is going into the finals at this point, and I'm interested to see where some of our names fall. But anything else before we dive into the performances here? Cody: Right, right. Yeah. Sure, okay, yeah. It doesn't matter. AGTCommenter: Alright, 11 acts performing for the second five spots in the finals. ⁓ We're gonna open the night with Christina Wells, which I was excited about. A good opener. Cody: Yes, yes. AGTCommenter: should have been a good opener. So she's going to be performing A Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin. Has become like a very common AGT song, it feels like. It gets sung every once in a while, ⁓ including Darcy Lynn's semi-finals ⁓ a year before this. It's a great song choice on its face. Christina Wells picking an Aretha Franklin song makes a lot of sense to me. Cody: Yes, yes. Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: I didn't love some of the liberties that she took with the song. I wanted it to be a little bit more true to form than she did. I just thought it ruined a few of the big moments of the song. Some of the key changes she decided to go with and then there's some real low points and I think some of them pop up in this clip here. So let's listen to her sing. Hoofta, there was a couple, that lasts a little bit there. She runs out of breath a lot, I feel like. Cody: You Yeah. Well, she's, she's a, she's a large woman. It's probably a little bit more difficult for her. Yeah. As, as a, as a large person myself, I can relate to that. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Sure. Sure, but we, I mean... Yeah, but she... Like she just killed a couple of the bit, like especially the you make me feel so alive moment. She like neutered it, like just made it completely dull, like extended the boring part of the note. I don't know. But man, the you there at the end was a voice crack. She runs out of breath. This is the second performance now, Cody, going back to Judge Cuts also, where her voice is kind of just given out at points where she just can't finish the song. As great as her best is. Her best is really good. She's just not a finalist level singer, I don't think. Simon said it was over orchestrated and like not her best performance, I agree. I thought she overthought some of it. Like this is kind of a song where yeah, we don't love karaoke singers, but let's just give it to us how it's meant to be sung. What'd you think of this performance from Christina? Cody: thought it was the proper song for her. think she's I think she's a great She's a proper Aretha Aretha Franklin singer that whole that soulful voice that she has very similar to Aretha Franklin I think we've talked that she's like a Broadway singer. We think she's definitely a Broadway musical theater if as how he likes to call it ⁓ Singer I enjoyed it. didn't I didn't think it was one of the best performances the night, but I still enjoyed it Yes, there were some problems. Maybe some choices that weren't the best AGTCommenter: Right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Cody: But overall, I enjoyed the performance. I thought it was a lot of fun. AGTCommenter: Yeah, would say there was more good than bad. if this thing was 120 seconds, I liked 80 seconds of the 120 probably, which is still a relatively fun, you know, listenable performance. we're trying to narrow it down to five and not to mention there's probably, there's two really great singers and then there's also a kind of a viral sensation in this. So if you're her, you're like, boy. Cody: Look, yeah. Yeah. Yep. AGTCommenter: This is going to be really hard to send four of us singers through and that was probably not a good enough performance. any other thoughts on the performance? Cody: She was the best act of the night. Or the best act so far. Sorry. Yeah. Yes. I did not have her in the top 5. AGTCommenter: so far and the worst act so far too, surprisingly. I had her in the bottom two. I had her tenth on the night. That might be a little harsh, but it's, I mean, I teared him. We'll talk about it later, but you had mentioned Howie and then you, and you pulled his clip. So let's, let's hear from Howie. Cody: Okay. Okay. AGTCommenter: with Franklin in the theater. Cody: So a couple weeks ago we got Kiss. Yeah. And now we got... Are the cameras shy? What's going on here? AGTCommenter: Yes. She was, Ruth Franklin was not in the theater. She passed away about a month before this performance. August 16th, 2018, she passed away. So think what Tyra was saying was the spirit of her, ⁓ or slash like Christina did such a good job, felt like, you know, kind of that combo. But no, she was not physically in the theater, she was dead. She had passed away just under a month earlier. So. Cody: Okay. No! Her spirit of her... Okay. Okay. RRP, okay AGTCommenter: So, RIP Aretha Franklin. She's a legend. Absolutely a legend. ⁓ I think Howie kind of captured it. He mentioned the missed notes. She agreed. She knew she missed some stuff. ⁓ But yeah, no. ⁓ Shout out Aretha Franklin. ⁓ Anything else on Christina Wells? Okay. That's gonna take us to our second act. is our dance group, Da Republic. So, they are a dance group from the Dominican Republic. Cody: See, absolutely. Nope. ⁓ AGTCommenter: They are probably... They've found themselves in a heated competition with Junior New System at this point in the competition who has gone home since ⁓ the last time they performed. They went home in semi-finals one. This was a mess from the first move. I don't know if you noticed, but they botched the first stunt, which isn't ideal. So the first stunt, they kind of all lined up and there's three of them that are going to do kind of a backflip. Cody: Republic. Republic. AGTCommenter: off of the backs of the bases and the one when you're looking at the screen on our far left just fails on the flip and then kind of messes up the next little stunt that the other two do and from there and that was just a foreshadowing and a microcosm of what this performance was going to be. I don't know if you noticed this or can see it but it was about it was a complete botching off the start and that was a telltale sign of what was to come. I thought it lacked Cody: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: some of the juice in their earlier performances. Where I'm frustrated is because I've kind of taken their side in the them versus Junior New System battle of the season. I decided I liked them better and I'm not sure this was anywhere close to Junior New System. I didn't connect with the music either. I feel like I've liked their music choices. I don't know if it was buzzer worthy. They get buzzed by Simon. I wouldn't have done that. But what'd you think of Da Republic? Cody: No, yeah. So is it telling that they wore crash test dummies outfits? Okay. AGTCommenter: Yeah, this was literal car crash. Yeah, it was not ideal. Cody: Yeah, yeah, yeah more car references from our dancing crew what's going on here? AGTCommenter: Yeah. Yeah, no, ⁓ wasn't great. What'd think? Cody: No, I thought it was not very good. I was not enjoying this. ⁓ The crash test dummy outfits fit perfectly for what this type of performance was. I was actually very bored during this performance. There was nothing in this that really excited me. They kind of let us down, because you're right, they were in a battle for each other and then they completely went straight into a wall. it's like... AGTCommenter: Big time. They did. The most disappointed I've been all year, all season, all this whole rewatch. I'd say the biggest let down, because they've been great. They kind of invigorated our enjoyment for street dance, Cody. And man, this from stunt one to the final stunt was just not great. Yeah, we have to hear from Simon, because he obviously hit the buzz and you pulled that, so let's hear from Cody: Okay. Yeah. Yes. Yes! Here's one of my biggest beefs, commenter, and we'll get more production talk from Simon later on as well. Simon, it's your show! Like, you're in charge of this. And for you to call out production of how bad either something's overproduced or the music was too loud, whatever it may be, it's your show! AGTCommenter: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I don't... I never got this sense that he... I mean, he just doesn't pull punches. And if he thinks that the production did a poor job, he's just gonna say it. Because he's not producing the live shows in terms of, like, setup. I mean, he's showing up on performance night and wants to be... He wants to find out what they've come up with. He's not helping them come up with their plans, right? He's constantly asked, you know, who picked the song, you know... He critiques or talks about how much he likes stage production. So I think once the live show hits, that's kind of the whole point. And for him, it's like, hey, my issue is less about him complaining about it and more trying to decide how much we should hold it against the act or not. Right, like, what are we judging? Are we judging props behind them or are we judging the dancing? And the ambiguity, they never... Cody: Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: The problem is they never tell us who made what decisions. Right? Outside of maybe who picked the song or things like that. like, we don't know. We don't know how much of the theming of this stage was from Da Republic and how much of it was from, you know, so-and-so backstage. And that makes it hard because I agree that you mentioned the outfits weren't great or whatever. Well, what am I supposed to care about or judge here? Yeah, no, mean, if I'm working on the show and Simon once a week is like, our moron producers. ⁓ Cody: Yeah, it's like ⁓ then you get your butt down here and you tell us what you want us to do i'm like AGTCommenter: Hey, his job is to try and put together the best show possible and if they're letting him down, he's gonna make sure that they know. Cody: then he needs to get his butt down there and like on. AGTCommenter: Yeah, but he can't produce the show beforehand, otherwise he's gonna know... Do a better job. We could go round and round on this for hours. Cody: then quit calling out your crew. like, it's the old, the old adages. don't punish you punish in private, you praise in public. AGTCommenter: Right. But that means that he can't ever complain about a song choice or a theming when all of us sitting at home can clearly see that a song choice or theming was poor, I guess. Like, his hands are tied. Like, is he just supposed to never, ever, ever give his thoughts on the production of a performance in public? Maybe. It's a little bit, yeah, it's a little tricky, but he was right. The stage just didn't work. The music didn't work. ⁓ Yeah, no, mean, I'm guessing everybody backstage knows what they signed up for. They signed up to work for Simon Cowell. And my guess is working for Simon Cowell is not the easiest job in the world. ⁓ And if you can't handle it, you don't have to be a producer on America's Got Talent. Right, exactly. So he made it 20 years. Cody: Sure. and or or the showrunner. It's like yeah. AGTCommenter: the show or 19 seasons so clearly there's something there. yeah, now this was, I think Simon, did he say he was frustrated or whatever? Exactly captured my thoughts. I was really excited for this and I feel like two performances in a row I felt let down compared to what my expectations were. I did have them worse than Christina Wells. Cody: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ I had them no I had them right below Christina Wells. Yeah, yeah AGTCommenter: Yeah, I had them worse. I had these two, the worst two of the night to open the episode. yeah, alright. Anything else on Da Republic? Cody: Yes. ⁓ okay. ⁓ their intro real quick their intro was It was nothing like it was them doing some park like they did some parkour and then it was basically like it's time It's time. It's time. It's like AGTCommenter: Yes! Yeah. Yeah. There was no character to it. It was a very odd one of those two. Alright, should we move on? Alright, to our ugly alum, Mr. Noah Guthrie. He is our gritty solo singer from the Carolinas. The other Benton Blunt. He's going to be performing I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston. What a choice. Or Dolly Parton. Cody: There was no dancing. was like, yeah. Yes. The other Britain blunt. Yeah. Or Dolly Parton. Yes. Yes. Yeah. AGTCommenter: What a song choice. This is a big one. This is one of the big songs that's available. We don't have any audio clips. I liked the verse. When he was singing the verse or the bridge, he was better in those moments than in the chorus, I thought. I felt like he got stuck between the original version and the version he was trying to do in the chorus, where it was like, is he gonna do... Cody: Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: Whitney style in the chorus or is he not and it felt like it fell in between. I like him this arrangement better than last week or last round. I remember his quarterfinals. I was complaining it felt like too much of a rock band. I like him stripped back like this. It's just him and the guitar and some lights and some backing music. But I think the song, it was a big swing and I'll give him credit for taking a swing to try and make the finals. I'm just not sure it highlighted his best attributes. and I think it fell just a little bit flat. What'd you think of Noah? Cody: Yeah, he took the big swing and I think he completely whiffed on it. I thought it was I have written down. It was absolutely terrible ⁓ I didn't like because We're so familiar with the Whitney version. A lot of us are familiar with the Dolly version. I Think he was trying to go closer to Dolly obviously than Whitney and I still don't think he he hit it I don't still don't think he came anywhere near it The guitar his guitar was way too loud. There was too much reverb on it. It was very distracting what he was doing with AGTCommenter: Yeah, it wasn't. Right. Cody: The pitches I thought was just Wildly out of place. I had this second worst of the night Yeah, second worst of the night. It was he you're right. He took the big swing and it did not work AGTCommenter: Yep. And he probably needed to, to make a move. Like if you're in the horse race as the night starts, I think Merica has him in seventh or eighth. Like he had the jockey for position and this was kind of his shot. Yeah. Unless you're going to do another original, which I don't think he's a great original artist, at least not at this point in his career, I don't mind the swing. I actually had it best of the night so far of the three. Because I just think... Cody: Yes, yes. Mm-hmm. It's go big or go home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: The song didn't work, but I still think his vocals are great, whereas Christina's vocals failed her throughout the song. And I actually have it a little bit above some of the worst of the night, but not in the top five, certainly. ⁓ But there was things I kind of liked. We have a couple comment clips. ⁓ Let's hear from Howie first. Cody: Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: I agree and disagree with multiple things that he said. He was not the right choice, it didn't fit his voice perfectly, but I do think it's the best of the night so far. So I'm both with and without Howie here. ⁓ Cody: Okay. I'm completely on other side of Halley, but I think I'm more in line with Mel B. AGTCommenter: Yeah. Okay, let's hear from Mel. Cody: Yeah, I'm more in line with that. I like his voice, I just didn't think it was the right song. AGTCommenter: I Yeah, I agree. ⁓ You mentioned, because this obviously could be either you're paying homage to Whitney or to Dolly. The problem with this song, because the Dolly version makes more sense for him than the Whitney. The Whitney version is what everybody knows. It's the one that's in everybody's head. So as much as you might want to do it like Dolly did it, and I can't even think of the Dolly version, because the Whitney version is just so iconic. Cody: Exactly. Correct. Right. AGTCommenter: It just, however great Dolly is, she was never gonna beat Whitney on this song. He got pigeonholed into the Whitney version. Noah Guthrie's not a Whitney Houston style singer at all. Cody: Yeah, you know, even with the age I am when I heard that he was doing this, I was like, oh, he's doing a Whitney song. And then I remembered, oh, yeah, it's also a Dolly song. So so it's like. AGTCommenter: Right, yeah. Right, yeah. So, alright, anything else on Noah Guthrie? I had him best of the night so far, you had him second best. Cody: no. No, I had him below Christina Wells and Donald Republic. Yes. Yes. Yeah. AGTCommenter: ⁓ you had them worse that night so far. ⁓ okay. All right. That's gonna take us to another singing performance ⁓ to our guy Daniel Emmett. It's all singing. ⁓ He is going to be performing Somewhere from West Side Story. Were you familiar with this song, Cody? Okay. Cody: Yeah. Yes, do not remember when we had Jacob on. Somewhere was a blindside. AGTCommenter: was it? What was the... What was the... kind of the correlation, do you remember? Cody: YES! I can go back and look that was the AGTCommenter: West Side Story is a movie, correct? Or a pl- like, it's a- it's a- yeah, it's a show. Cody: It's a broad, it's a broad, it's a broad, yeah, it's a broad one. Yeah, ⁓ that was the Barbara Padilla, right? Let's see. I have to go back. I have to go back and look, yeah, I have go back and look to see what the other items were. AGTCommenter: It's not a big deal, yeah. Okay. ⁓ Yeah. West Side Story song. You'll remember his last performance I asked why he needed to do the Aerosmith in Spanish. Remember I was a little confused that he needs to do foreign languages. I got my answer. This didn't work. I don't... It wasn't song choice. It was language choice. Cody: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Really? Okay. Okay. Okay. AGTCommenter: I think, I need him, it didn't sound classical. And I need him classical. Now that said, it ends up being a weak enough night where his vocals are good enough to, in my opinion, be a top five act of the night. And probably a top 10 act of the season. But, this just, this didn't feel Daniel Lemedy. I want him doing pasera, want him doing Aerosmith in Spanish. I don't need somewhere in English. I don't know. Maybe I'm missing it. What did you feel from the song? Cody: Okay. Okay. Yeah, I I enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun with it. Um, I didn't mind I mean obviously he's gonna do things in english We we know his we know his range. He can do it in english. He can do it in spanish He can do it in italian, whatever we know he can do that and I don't mind that he's gonna pick a song to do in english A broadway song. Yeah, he can be a broadway singer. I can totally get on board with that. He's a classical singer He's he could be one the texas tenors. He could be Little tease with Texas Tenders. ⁓ He could be a Broadway singer. I totally buy it with this guy. He can be a Simon AI. Totally get it. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. think, is this the one where Simon mentioned USP? Okay, we'll get to it in the comment. I just felt like he felt subdued in the majority of the performance. The song kind of kept, held him down. He needs as many big moments as possible. The final note was spectacular. And it's what you show up for Daniel Emmett for. The problem was we had to wait until basically the final note for him ever to do it. Cody: Yes. Okay. Okay, yeah. AGTCommenter: how he described it as musical theater, like you had mentioned, which is what it was. I want him to be... I want him to sing... His voice should be at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, not on Broadway. He's too good. He's too big of a voice to play a character in musical theater. He's an epic singer, and this just felt a little bit subdued. But again, best of the night, clearly. Cody: Yes. Okay, yes, okay, okay. Okay. Yes. Yes. AGTCommenter: so far. And again, although I thought was a step back from his earlier performances was still really solid and it was ⁓ actually not very difficult to put on one of the five best performances in the night, I didn't think as this night went on. So, ⁓ there's some, what was it, some fog on the stage, Cody? And fog is moisture and you know what? Moisture can do, it can make things a little slick and Tyra's got a couple comments here. Let's hear from Cody: Yes, there was some fog on the stage. Yes, was. That's right. AGTCommenter: is the beginning of end of Tyra's career on AGT. We're seeing it in real time. Cody: Yes, yes. That's right. We're down to the last five hours of her. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Yeah, yeah, because we've asked we've kind of asked like, I can't believe Simon isn't fed up with her. We're starting to see that was a that was like a ⁓ version of just saying the classic line, you don't have to talk like you can just walk and and say howie and then have howie's comments. You don't have to fill every second of air with something. ⁓ Just calm down, Tyra. ⁓ Yeah, yeah, not ideal. Cody: Alright. Take a cold shower. AGTCommenter: Tyra must have seen the writing on the wall at this point. was about as stern as Simon will get with the host of the show right there. ⁓ Simon's going to have some comments ⁓ on Daniel's performance, so let's hear from Cody: Yeah. AGTCommenter: He's done. I'm glad she asked, but she couldn't have asked dumber. What'd she need to throw in the United States Post Office for? Just say, what's USP, Simon? And then let Simon say what USP is. You don't need to throw out a clearly stupid guess. Uber Star Post Office? Cody: Yeah. Yeah, because we hit That's right, because we hadn't heard USP since the auditions? AGTCommenter: Yeah, was it in this season? I it was. Yeah, yeah. I think. Or was it already watchable? I'm not sure it was in season 13, because I'm pretty sure it was a live show that we had talked about at some point. ⁓ either way, I'm glad she asked, because I'm sure there was a lot of people at home going, why is he saying USP? What could that possibly mean? But he is done. The snark was through the roof. ⁓ Cody: Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes. AGTCommenter: Better from Simon, but anything else on Daniel Emmett? Cody: ⁓ So the Barberpedia pod where we had with Jacob. The blind side was Omeo, Babino, Cato, Nessun, Dorma, Time to Say Goodbye, and Ave Maria and Somewhere. So it was basically classical opera songs. AGTCommenter: Okay. This didn't feel like an opera song though. I did agree with Simon though, the last part finally felt Daniel Lemon opera-y and I liked that part. ⁓ But alright, should we move on? Cody: Okay. Mm-hmm. ⁓ I think so. Yeah, Mel B again. Like you confused that why he didn't sing in Spanish in a foreign language, but Okay AGTCommenter: Yeah, Best act of the night so far, clearly. Cody: Yeah. Why does Howie hate musical theater so much? AGTCommenter: I think he... Yep. So, here's my thought that I might follow along with him. This is not a stage meant for that because you're singing alone. That... I don't know. Again, I think there's a lot of fun stuff that you can do with musical theater. I think of Jimmy Herod. Cody: Like he talks about it all the time, like he puts the musical theater down like it's a bad thing. Okay. AGTCommenter: who was one of our great musical theater type voices, right? He was doing Annie and stuff like that. ⁓ So I'm not anti it, but I think if you're Howie, you're like, hey, this is supposed to be like it's you in the stage, whereas musical theater is more of a ensemble and a show. when you take away the context of the show of musical theater, again, I'm just trying to maybe get in his head, but I agree, singing, singing. And if you sound good, let's just go. And Daniel sounded great. Other musical theater type singers have sounded great over the years too. all right. It's gonna take, speaking of musical theater type ensembles, our fourth singing group, singing act of the night here through five, is the Angel City Chorale. Judge cuts golden buzzer. They are gonna be performing The Rising by Bruce Springsteen. Cody, is this a song of yours? Cody: Okay, okay, we can move on. You Not familiar with the song. AGTCommenter: I was also not familiar with the song. I just put song choice question mark. I Don't know. I didn't hate I didn't hate how it sounded the flashlights. We got the flashlights code. You've got some props. I kind of like that It's what they do they're not they're not just a singing act ⁓ I wish they had soloists. They need soloists. It just It's just not it's not They're running out of juice for me. ⁓ I liked it. I liked it Cody: Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's what they do. Yes, that's exactly what wrote down. We're the soloist. Yeah, yes, yes AGTCommenter: That's I liked it. That was the cap on it ⁓ Soloists would have made it a top five act probably for me if they would have had some good Solo moments like honestly sue was the soloist and that's not ideal because she doesn't sing She's the closest thing they have to a soloist where she's directing and turning around and pumping up the crowd ⁓ There's a lot of things to like about this group the vocals do sound really fun. I like the prop use that it's not just Cody: Okay. Yeah. AGTCommenter: singing that there's some choreography, but man, you just, you gotta have some soloist moments and they just, they're missing it. What'd you think of the corral? Cody: That's right. Yeah, I did enjoy it, ⁓ but I'm lucky. We're the soloists. ⁓ I think I enjoyed the kids more than them this time. I do like this, but I think the kids did a better job than them this round. AGTCommenter: I agree. think they've now settled as the second best choir of the season behind the kids. And I don't know if, I don't think, honestly, don't think song choice had anything to do with it. think arrangement, composition, and decisions on who's singing and singing what is what ended up hurting them. Cody: Yeah, I liked that they a rock song and made a choir song out of it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: Yeah, no, thought the song worked within the context of a choir. But Sue, you pulled a clip where Sue's talking about, help me out, 9-11, thank you. So let's hear that clip. Cody: 9-11. Yeah. AGTCommenter: What's that got to do with this performance, Cody? Cody: thought it AGTCommenter: I agree, but that was just a panderfest. She's just grabbing for votes at this point. That was not a 9-11 themed song or performance. Cody: You know what? But, right, but I think, well, I mean, they had to have prepped her ahead of time. Yeah, I don't think this was an on the spot thing. ⁓ Because like I said, Howie commented about after Labor Day, so I didn't know it was 9-11, but I was gonna say if there's any group or anyone that really should do it, it's them, but they're in LA, they're not from New York. If it was someone that was actually from New York, it might be something different. But you know what? It's 9-11. AGTCommenter: Right. Yeah. Right. Right. Cody: You it's sweet, I liked it, pander, get the votes, go for it. Yeah, it's like. AGTCommenter: Yeah. Yeah, my point is any of the first four could have just shout out, could have said shout out first responders. Like, all right, sure, congrats. The low hanging fruit was there. It would have been one thing if they were like in American flag outfits and they just sang the right, they didn't even sing like, they didn't even do like, right. And even a Bruce, like do born in the USA. Yeah, like we're this like. Cody: Yeah. Right, okay. God bless America, something like that, yeah. Born, born in the USA, there you go, yeah, sorry, okay. AGTCommenter: There was at no moment in this row it made me think of 9-11 in the performance until she just brought it up. But hey, shout out Sue. I'm not anti-pandering. I'm gonna note it when I hear it. Alright, second. Cody: Okay, sure. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Is that does that does that get some points docked in the manifesto? Okay, okay AGTCommenter: No, no, because it's, it's maybe for me, depends on what the panders is too. I don't mind this panda. I don't like the panda when you're up there and talking about how hard things are. If it works with America, go for it. I think it's a good strategy, personally. Second best of the night for me so far. I'd have Daniel Emmett won them too. Yeah, okay. All right. All right, that's gonna move us. Cody: Okay. Yeah. ⁓ Y-yes, that is correct. Yeah, yeah, that's what I got. Yep, I had to look at it. AGTCommenter: Out of the singing, get a little break from the singers for a couple performances here and into Mr. Aaron Crow. Cody: Yes. AGTCommenter: A fascinating season arc. Cody: Yes AGTCommenter: excuse me, clearly peaked in the judge cuts as we know. Cody: Yes, that is correct. AGTCommenter: The question is how much higher is the peak than the rest of it. Cody: It's pretty high. AGTCommenter: It's pretty high. It's one of the, I'd say it's one of the great outlier performances of an act that's made a real run on the show that I can remember. There's a few, and I'm trying to just even think off the top of my head. There's one there's one in my head that I'm thinking and I'm why can't I why can't I grab it? It's right there ⁓ Golly, I can't remember but it's one of those where the the difference between the peak and the the low is it's really quite a lot and Not quite that's Cody: Send out to your restaurant bar. AGTCommenter: Yeah, that's because the low was so low. This is because the high is so high, it doesn't make sense in the kind of the rest of the context of his season. Cody: Okay, AGTCommenter: I'm running out of love with Aaron Crowe. I like this performance. That's ⁓ kind of. Cody: ⁓ no! Yeah. I Howie is the one that makes the performance. Yeah. AGTCommenter: I would agree. I don't have quite the depth of notes as the last one, but he starts behind the judges table, which was kind of a jump scare for the judges. No Howie, we find out Howie's in the box, one of the four boxes on stage. I like the axe, or the little hatchet thing that he uses to pick stuff up, I thought was kind of cool. There's things I really liked about this. There is. He just can't seem to recreate the magic of that judge cut's performance. He can't find it. Cody: Yes. Yeah. AGTCommenter: He is slow and the no talking really elongates everything. Cody: Yeah. So, he is slow, but he's not like Peter Antonio slow. I think there's more there than what Peter Antonio does. AGTCommenter: No. Well, I think part of it is we know why he's slow. It's because he's not talking. So he has to mime everything that needs to happen. So we're, I think his viewers are willing to accept the slow build because we understand why it's happening. Whereas Peter Antonio was not trying, he was talking the whole time and was still slow. Yes. Yeah. I think he's a little sloppy with his magic sleight of hand type stuff at times. He taints... Cody: Okay. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. He was explaining everything in depth, yes. Okay. AGTCommenter: stuff too much for my taste. Correct. Yeah, he's a little handsy for me. ⁓ The reveal wasn't great enough. So basically what the reveal is in all this is above each of the four boxes there's a big falling weight and he cuts the rope and it falls in the box and pulverizes the box. they're going one by one through the four boxes based off of which ones the judges are picking and how he's in one of them. And I like the visual of the exploding box. I think it looks great. Cody: He grabs and moves things too, he's too much. Yes, yeah. That's right. AGTCommenter: It's down to whatever, two and three I think? Two and four. Howie is in box two. So the last one that gets picked, he's gonna cut the rope for box four and it falls and it didn't really pulverize the front of the box enough and we couldn't really see into the box and we couldn't really tell right away. So that reveal wasn't great. I think he's hit his ceiling, which is the semis. I'm just not sure he's a finalist level act. What'd you think of Aaron Crow? Cody: Two and four. Yeah. Yeah, I'm with you. thought there was a lot of downtime in this. The exploding boxes just didn't seem climactic enough. Yeah, there wasn't as much anticipation in this one as maybe his other performances. I do love Howie being involved in this. know, the camera going to Howie in the... Yeah, and he's just like looking around like, am I? What am I doing? That absolutely elevates it, but you can't... AGTCommenter: I agree. Cut, Sam. Yeah. Cody: Recreate that you know, like when he goes probably and performs other places, you know, no one's gonna recreate that magic that how he gives me ⁓ So there's all of that the hatchet I love I love the hatchet the the blocks with the ⁓ Medieval writing with the numbers on there the one thing that kind of caught me and I was wondering about this because it was numbers one two, three four AGTCommenter: Right. Right. Mm-hmm. Cody: And so when they selected one and they're all upside down, so he doesn't know what the numbers are. But when he, when they selected one, he knew to turn it sideways. Okay. And I was like, how did he know to turn that one sideways? So that the one is up and down. Um, kind of caught my eye on that a little bit, but I still really like him. I'm, I'm, I'd be really interested to see what his life was his touring performances are like. AGTCommenter: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I saw that as well. Yeah. Right. Yeah, it caught my eye as well. Mm-hmm. Yeah, he's my favorite danger act that's ever been on the show. Because I really don't care for them for the most part. I think he's the best we've ever seen. Cody: Okay, yeah, okay. Sure. AGTCommenter: There was never a moment in this performance where I felt like Howie's life was in danger at all. As much as the falling on the wood was cool, there was no way that that was going to kill Howie. Because the whole thing was he needs to trust him with his life. And it was like, his life's not in danger. It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt a lot. But that. Cody: Right. Yeah. But I felt like in judge cuts, like somebody was gonna get shot by an arrow. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Yes. And even in the quarterfinals, as much as we didn't like love love that, you could see the sheer fear on Simon's face. It came through the TV. There was really no fear invoked in this until Howie saw what was... because Howie didn't know what was happening. They had him, his ears covered and everything. The cut to him and his face when they when they break the box after they take him out was good. But that was kind of the better of the two reveals. The f... Cody: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: which it wasn't supposed to be, was supposed to more be kind of a wrap up to the performance, so I don't know. I liked it, I didn't love it. Simon, we have Simon's comments. Let's hear from Simon. Cody: I pulled it only for that, show man. AGTCommenter: He's a great showman. ⁓ It would have been a rating spike if it would have fallen on how he said. He's right. Cody: We would have gotten all those clips like they got for duo transcend that she fell to her death AGTCommenter: Yes. Yeah. ⁓ Third best of the night? So far. Cody: ⁓ No, I had him I had him below down Republic AGTCommenter: So, I would agree. Daniel Emmett's one right now. The choir's two. I have him three. Cause I have Da Republic last. ⁓ I had, I, so you'd have him below Noah Guthrie or above Noah Guthrie? Okay, yeah, I'm comfortable with him at three. Currently, through six. Cody: It let me down. It severely let me down. Yes. That's correct. Okay. Okay. Above Noah Guthrie. Yeah. Yeah, I have him sandwiched between Dow Republic and Noah Guthrie. AGTCommenter: Okay, Anything else on Aaron Crowe? It's been a fun four performances though. I agree, I agree. I wouldn't have, like, if he made it through, I wouldn't have been like a what? But I am at the point where I'm not sure he's cut out for another performance. Cody: ⁓ man, it's been a fun ride, yes. Yeah, and we never see him again, right? He doesn't come back for anything? Okay. AGTCommenter: No, no. All right, should we move on to Miss Vicky Barbalak? Trailer nasty is back. I liked her earlier stuff better. I thought this was her worst set of her four. It was really long? Really long. Like, it might be the longest stand-up comedy set I can ever remember. It felt like two more bits than just about... Cody: Yes. Yes. Oof, okay. AGTCommenter: Like Sam Comerow got two bits two weeks ago and then this was like, she told six different like true one minute, this, I didn't clock it, this felt like, this had to be a four or five minute comedy set, is pretty long. She was not able to recreate the magic of the original trailer nasty bit in quarter finals. That's still her iconic moment to this point of the season. I got bored, it got long, I didn't, I thought the. Cody: Yes. AGTCommenter: The window on the wine box is a funny idea and a funny bit. This is, to me, this was not a finalist level performance. What'd you think of Vicky Barblock? Yeah. Cody: Yeah, I thought it was fine. You know, I'm still a fan of hers. I really like her. I thought she was Like I thought she was shoving the trailer nasty down our throats a little bit She was like it's like it's like this was such a hit and quarterfinals where you're gonna get it now AGTCommenter: I agree. She was spamming it. Yeah, she's a... Right. She's... Yeah, she's becoming a trailer nasty merchant here. Yeah. Cody: Yeah, it's like here's your sign. Uh, we just get that all the time. Um I still liked it. I still really like her. I thought the denny's bit was really fun. Um the grand slam Making fun of simon all that type stuff I don't know this was the worst I mean it could be yeah But yeah, but but this is the one that puts her through so AGTCommenter: Right. Mm-hmm. I liked her other three a lot. So, I thought it was, yeah, thought it was fourth of four. Yeah. Yeah, no, we're, I mean, if neither of us really loved it, we're wrong in terms of voting. She's top three. She doesn't even go to the Dunkin' which is shocking to me. Yeah, I don't know. I just, it's almost one of the, to me, as like a critical viewer of the show, it's almost, you almost don't want to have an iconic moment this early in the show. Cody: Yeah, yeah. AGTCommenter: because you're chasing trailer nasty's moment for the rest of the episodes and either you're spamming it like she kind of is or you're just you're not touching it with whatever your new stuff is. ⁓ Now she's better off for having had the trailer nasty moment than not but ⁓ if she could have held on to it till the finals she might have been top three of the season ⁓ but No, I just, I was let down. ⁓ Howie loved it as Howie is obviously going to. You pulled his comments. Let's hear from Howie. Cody: Yet she plays Vicky and Hans both spectacularly. AGTCommenter: Yeah, yeah. The point how he made, I guess played off of, was it Heidi or Mel? Somebody else's point that even though not every joke lands, she just power-swerving is a really important point, especially on this show, when what happens in the theater in terms of what the people in the theater think matters way less than what people at home think because there's way more people voting at home than in the theater. You're not gonna throw... You're not gonna hit 100 % of your jokes. Hopefully in a 3-4 minute set, you're darn close, otherwise it can get real ugly. But what I've said before is, if I'm watching at home, I should not be able to tell how well it's playing in the theater. Because over the years, what I've realized with stand-up comics is they are the ones that convey to us how well it's going. If we can tell that they're... Cody: Yes. AGTCommenter: thinking it's not going very well, that's the only way. She could have been getting thumbs down from the whole crowd, and as long as she is laughing and powering through herself, it's good enough for me. I may not have loved all the content, but at no point did I think she was bombing. She might have been, I don't think she was, but it never would have conveyed to me. And that's the importance of just power through. The people at home... Cody: Mm-hmm. Yeah. AGTCommenter: They don't know if anybody else is laughing, they don't know if their neighbor's laughing, it only matters on an individual basis and as long as we think it's going okay, we'll give you some grace. I didn't understand the difference between the comic and the comedian. That seemed, I don't know, it seemed a little bit too hard of an attempt at being philosophical from Howie. A comic says funny things and a comedian says things funny. Okay, my goal then would Cody: Yeah, maybe you have to be in that industry to understand. Yeah. Sure, yeah. AGTCommenter: be both because I prefer my stand-up comics to say funny things as well as say them funny I guess but ⁓ we also heard from Simon so let's hear his comments. Cody: Before that I just want to say there's a lot of times that either comedian or some other act will do something funny that I will find Funny watching it and the audience has no interest at all just because of the way that the person presents it. Yeah AGTCommenter: Right. Yep. Do you think Simon would like a Grand Slam at Denny's? It's not a traditional, there's no bean, no baked beans. Yeah. ⁓ Shout out Denny's. Cody: Yes. right that's has has Tyra ever been to a Denny's AGTCommenter: No. Now, where's she from? Let's look that up. Tyra Banks Cody: And you know, Simon should just be dinner for two. You should take the whole cast out. Just close down at Denny's one night. Take the whole cast. Okay. AGTCommenter: Yeah. Yeah, she was born in Inglewood, so I don't... Maybe. I was gonna say maybe she's... I don't know if she's maybe she was from like Tennessee or somewhere where maybe Waffle House was kind of, but I don't think that's really a California thing. ⁓ Yeah, maybe. Maybe she's had the Grand Slam at Denny's. ⁓ Yeah, Simon's fallen for Vicky a little bit. ⁓ Any other thoughts you want to give on Miss Barbalak? Cody: Okay. No, I do like her. Yes, I will agree. Better than Samuel J. Conroe. Still. Yes. AGTCommenter: Yes, I agree. So here's where I'm at. Seven acts. Daniel, I'm at one. I have The Choir, two, so far. I have Aaron Crowe, three. I have Noah Guthrie, four. And I have Vicki, five. Cody: Yeah. Yes, yes. Okay. ⁓ okay. Yeah, I had her below the corral. Third. Third, yeah. AGTCommenter: So third, okay. Yeah, I could be convinced she should be ahead of Guthrie, but either way, it's not gonna be enough for me to think she should be in the five. all right, anything else? All right, we're getting back on the singing train here for a couple performances. We Three, our sibling band, they're gonna be doing their original song called Make Up. I believe that they had wrote it for this performance. I don't believe it was a song that they had had prior to the prep for this, as far as I understood. Cody: Okay. So they basically had a week. AGTCommenter: Yeah, what, what, ⁓ three weeks maybe? Cody: ⁓ were they in quarterfinals 1? AGTCommenter: They were in quarterfinal one. Yeah, so they had one, two, three, yeah, three weeks. It's been a month since the last time they performed, so they a little time. I thought the trumpet was unnecessary. I still think they're really good. I still like them a lot, I do. We've had so few good, passable, likeable live bands. Cody: Yeah, yeah, one, yeah, okay. Okay. Okay. Agree? Yes. AGTCommenter: true bands on this show that I'm so happy to have them because I really, they pull it off. I believe them. And on a week night, which I think through, this is the eighth performance of the night, I would say there hasn't been a ton of great stuff. I still felt like after watching this, they had a real shot at the top five, but I do think it's their worst of their four at this point. And I thought they maybe overthought it a little bit. There was parts of the song I liked. What'd you think of We Three? Cody: Mm-hmm. Yep. If they had done what they normally do I would say they're the third best act of the night AGTCommenter: Yeah, I would say they would have been a real, ⁓ had a real, real, real good shot to be in the top five. Yeah. Cody: Yes, yes, yep. This is where they got bad advice from Simon, right? Yeah. AGTCommenter: Yeah, was said that they'd needed, they'd just kind of been doing the same thing through three performances and he wanted something to change up. Well, they did. They tried something and then he hated it. Yeah, it's like the bait and switch from Simon. I really wish he would have said like, why didn't you just stick to what you've been doing? would have been, almost would have been too funny to be mad about. But he might not have been wrong. It would have been nice for them to spice it up a little bit. I don't think they'd... Cody: Yeah, and then, yeah, it's like. You Sure. No. AGTCommenter: did it the right way. The trumpet, just have the trumpet in the backing track if you really want a trumpet. We didn't need to see you loop pedal the trumpet for a minute. just... Cody: Or, have another person come in. Yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: I have somebody in the background trumpeting. There's a bunch of different ways outside of him having to loop pedal the trumpet. It just didn't work. ⁓ And I just felt like their harmonies didn't shine through in the same way in this. It did feel a little discombobulated. ⁓ She's great. She's... They're both really fun to listen to, but this just was a little bit below... I've talked about it on a few different... There's a lot of acts in this semi-final whose best days are behind them. Cody: She's still amazing though. Yeah. Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: and have yet have just aren't recreating the magic from earlier performances and they would be another one. Cause their two auditions were great, both of them. Any other thoughts on the actual performance? Let's hear from Simon cause Simon's gonna say his piece. Cody: ⁓ nope. Okay. AGTCommenter: Cough thought it was not, I didn't think it was a mess. That was probably, that would be a little bit harsh for what I would critique. But it wasn't, it wasn't ideal. And yeah, he's right. Like that was not a killer song. Their other songs had been better. Other thoughts you want to add on We Three? Cody: Yeah, just do another song about your mother. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Yeah, something, yeah. All right, should we move on? Cody: Yep. That's right. AGTCommenter: The night's about to kick in, Cody. It is our gal, Ms. Glennis Grace. Cody: Do you put her here or do you put her earlier? AGTCommenter: Hmm. Well, I'd put her last is where I'd put her if I could I understand why had one's gonna go last I get it ⁓ Yeah, she should be last she's gonna be performing this woman's work by Kate Bush Never heard this song before outside of by miss Glenis Grace cuz I've heard it about a thousand times now She is just she's so dynamic and versatile Cody: ⁓ fair, okay. Yeah. Okay. AGTCommenter: We've seen her sort of alternate now through four performances from these epic ballads where she's just dominating the theater and then kind of these heartfelt almost serenades. Like she blows the roof off in auditions. She comes back in judge cuts and it's kind of small and intimate in the theater. She comes back last round and puts on one of the all timers doing Never Enough from The Greatest Showman and has the lead singer of Kiss. like saying wow in the theater. And then she comes back in this one and it's kind of subtle and soft again and a bit of a serenade. And this bouncing back and forth, I love it. The contrast is great. Now this one I thought had some bigger moments than the Judge Cuts ever did. Let's hear her sing a little bit and then we'll talk about the rest. ⁓ She's just she's just so reliable ⁓ Cody: That's why she's the Harlem Alune. AGTCommenter: 100%. The quarterfinals was more explosive, like I said, but I thought this was just a vocal masterclass in a different way. Best of the night by, to me, leaps and bounds. What'd you think of Miss Glenis? Cody: Yeah. Yes. No, I enjoyed this. thought she really, she really hit like the eighties pop sound. Absolutely loved it. I could definitely hear kind of the Cape Bush a little bit in there. It's been so reliable, right? AGTCommenter: Mmm. Yep. Yeah, yeah, like just, you can't help but bob along and smile. She looks great, she sounds great. There's never a moment, she's not, Daniel Emmett is like an example of, unless I'm getting your big moment, I'm a little bit wondering what's the point of you. She doesn't have that. There's never a, point in the song where I'm wanting something differently than what she's doing. Whatever she's doing is working for me ⁓ and I love that and that's not overly common with singers. Emily West was the same way for me. Whether she was singing, Emily West whispered a lot. Whether she was whispering or hitting a big note, I was there for it. I was eating it up. She had me. Glenis Grace is the same way and it's why I think they're the two best adult female singers we've ever had. ⁓ Cody: Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: We've got a few comments. Mel has been kind of her biggest champion of the season so far. I think she's got, you know, feels a little bit of a connection to GLONASS. Let's hear from Mel first. Cody: Yes, yes, yes, yes! AGTCommenter: Yes, yes, yes, yes. ⁓ It melds right into Heidi's comments. Let's hear from Heidi as well. Yeah, I agree. Best of the night. ⁓ next performance is going to, I think, put into a heck of a competition for the two best of the night. But, ⁓ yeah, I have her, ⁓ ahead above or maybe even two above Daniel Emmett at this point, but anything else, where do you feel? So we've heard, ⁓ obviously this one we had never enough last week or last round. She did nothing compares to you. The Shanae O'Connor song in the judge cuts and she did Whitney Houston run to you in auditions. Cody: Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: Obviously I'm asking you to kind of remember a lot, I... There's just one, I just don't think there's a low point in two. I'm trying to... Yeah. If I'm ranking quarter, I still think Never The Greatest Showman song is one for her. Cody: Yeah. No, again, that's why she's carlone Malone man, cause it's like- I was gonna either put that or the Audition as one. AGTCommenter: And think Audition's two. Yeah, I think that's one, two. I think I like this next and then the Judge Cuts. ⁓ And we're gonna get a Snow Patrol song next week, so it'll be interesting to kind of see what she goes with there. But anything else on Miss Glenis Grace? Can't wait to see, Cody: Sure, I can get on board. Yeah, can get on board. Okay. Okay. ⁓ we didn't know we we didn't put where we had we three AGTCommenter: ⁓ yes, ⁓ so I'll just have Glenis on now too. So I Glenis 1 right now, Daniel I'm at 2, I had Wee 3, 3. Last? Really? I still thought it was fine. Yeah, because then have The Choir, Aaron Crowe, Guthrie, Barbalak, Christina Wells, Dot Republic. Cody: Yep. Yep. I had them at the bottom. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, think the trumpet just completely ruined it for me. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Yeah, thankfully it was only about 10 seconds. Like if you, right, but if you would have kept, like there would have been a lot of trumpet, it could have got real wonky, but all right, should we move on? To Mr. Brian King Joseph, oh boy. So, last round we were a little disappointed. I think it's the low point of Brian King Joseph's season. When we did the rewatch, I think we had the same sentiment at the quarterfinals. The contortion background dancers. Cody: Yeah, that whole ten seconds just... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was not great. AGTCommenter: the production, just didn't work. This could not be a further difference. They fixed it and they nailed it. He's gonna be doing Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio Witch. What a song choice. Perfect. The high rise to start, he's on the pedestal in the clouds. What do you think? 15, 20 feet in the air? Probably a basketball and a hoop and a half, maybe two. Cody: They fixed it. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. The Collin Clouds. ⁓ yeah. Sure, yeah. He was eye level with the balcony, man. Yeah. AGTCommenter: something like that. What a way... Yeah, what a way to start a performance, Cody. I mean, the contraption, you can see it in the middle of the aisle, the kind of the walkway in between two sections. This was just so much better without the extra dancers and things. The song was great, he's tremendous. He's doing a little plucking it like a guitar in this one finally we get to see. This is the best type. I honestly I think next week is probably up there with him too but this is the way I like Brian King Joseph the best. What do you think of Brian? Cody: Yes! No, I loved it. think you know Kim this week. He's coming down next week. He's gonna be rising up, right? Yeah Love seeing him like this Coming down getting on the stage plucking the plucking the the via the violin Just shredding the bows just absolutely shredding them And I like him by himself I mean we talk all the time that AGTCommenter: Right. Yes. ⁓ man. Yes. I Cody: We think singers need some extra stuff or a solo dancer needs extra things. I don't think he does. He uses the whole stage. It doesn't seem big to him. I think it's, he's just, owns it. AGTCommenter: No. Hehe. He owns it. The only thing like, and it might not be for AGT, but if you're doing an hour long Brian King Joseph, background singers would be great. Like people singing in the background, stuff like that. But for the three minutes we get him on AGT five times, just give us, all we need is him. Cody: Sure. Yeah. AGTCommenter: I would say, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, the violin I would say is kind of a finesse instrument, right? It's almost a dance in and of itself. He's a fullback on the violin. It's power. He's a power violin player, and I love it. There's like an intensity to his violin playing. It almost like your heart rate goes up. like, you can't keep up with how hard and fast he's playing the violin. It's such a different way to do it, and I love it. Cody: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. AGTCommenter: second best of the night? Okay. I went back and forth about 10 times. Because there's an epicness to this that Glenis can't quite replicate, but at the same time, Glenis was great. Yeah, I actually have the same score for the two. I think they're very, very, very similar. But I'm gonna give the slight nod to Glenis at this point. ⁓ any other thoughts on this performance? Cody: Yes, that is correct. That's the correct answer. Yes. Yeah, no, no, no, that's the correct answer. Okay. Do think his hands were numb? From his fl- or from being excited? One of the two? AGTCommenter: from his elation, yeah. Yeah, from how excited he was to be on television again. ⁓ Simon has his thoughts here, so let's hear from Simon. Did he not just watch Glynis five minutes earlier? And this was great, but to say it was in a different league. It was a different league than everything but Glynis, in my opinion. ⁓ Cody: Right Right, yeah. The other 9 11ths of the night, right? AGTCommenter: Right. Shout out. September 11th, 2018. Yeah. Let me think. The end of his comments. Well, one, he says he thinks he could win the competition. I think he's right. Like, this was a move, and he jockeyed some position here with this performance. But yeah, no, think, and I like his point on this has been a weird night. It has been little bit of an odd night until now. Like, Glennis and him. Cody: Well, 8 8 11th because Courtney hadn't performed yet, but still yes Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: both came out and just delivered what we were hoping to see from everybody else. So shout out, shout out Brian King. Anything else on this? Cody: AGT definitely back-loaded this episode. mean, like, I don't think they did it intentionally. They probably hoped a lot more from Christina- they probably had high hopes for Christina Wells' Star Republic. So, yeah. AGTCommenter: They did. Yeah, they really did. ⁓ Yeah, did- I agree. when you look at the set, I thought there was no way DOW Republic wouldn't put on a really nice performance. They'd been so consistent through three performances. Christina Wells, we knew there was some risk. She was kind of boomer bust in her performances so far, but if it's great, it would have been awesome. But yeah, even Daniel Emmett just was a little bit less exciting than what he had been. But okay, should we move on? Last act of the night to our gal, Miss Courtney Hadwin. Cody: Right. Yes. AGTCommenter: She's gonna be performing Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild in all time rock song. ⁓ They're gonna give her the Van Der Waal treatment in the intro with the YouTube segment in the intro clip. So you'll recall two years earlier in the finals, the intro clip for Van Der Waal was people singing her audition song, doing their own renditions. This was a little different. This was a montage of people reacting. Cody: Yes, that's right. Okay. Okay. AGTCommenter: to Courtney Adwin's quarterfinals performance. That was interesting. Reaction videos have become a big industry on YouTube. love a good, like good reactors I enjoy. It feels like you're watching a video with somebody. She's, they're playing her, they're showing her as a megastar. That's kind of what they're trying to get across to us, similar to what they were getting across to us with Vanderwaal in season 11. ⁓ This performance, I'm interested in your thoughts. I am. We didn't pull an audio clip. To me, this is the performance where things have started to slightly go sideways. Because at this point, there was no sign of her slowing down. Her audition made her a megastar. Last round was solid. We're predicting victories for her, as we'll hear in a minute. She's so screechy and so screamy. in this. just, didn't think the song worked. It's... I'm interested, I want to hear what you think of this. As I noted this today, I never really thought of this. It's almost like she's becoming self-aware of what people like about her. And she's trying to do it too much. I think what made her so awesome through two performances is she was just doing it. And what she was, people love. But now it almost feels like she knows, like they want me to run around and... Cody: Interesting. AGTCommenter: do weird leg kicks and scream and rasp and I don't like self-aware Courtney Hadwin. like naive Courtney Hadwin who just goes out and does what she feels like is fun for her. Cody: Yeah, you want her to be all nat- all natural, right? Yeah. AGTCommenter: Exactly, and this feels staged and forced a little bit too much. The big notes are still spectacular. There's a real talent in there that's fun. But the in-betweens, it almost gets cringy for me at times. What'd you think of Courtney Hadwin? Yeah. Cody: Sure. Yeah. Right. had a lot of fun with it. ⁓ I love the jumping around and kicking and almost like very Marty McFly at the Enchanted Under the Sea dance where he's kicking the amps over and playing the guitar on his back, stuff like that. I really like that about her. I have a lot of fun with it. I appreciate the character that she's become. Yeah, and I think it's a lot of fun to see. If this was something I would... AGTCommenter: Sure. Hmm sure. Yep. Sure. Cody: If this was something that I think I would enjoy in person, I might go see her. I don't know if I ever would. But I definitely understand and get the character. Okay. AGTCommenter: I agree. My point is, is I think she does too. And I don't want her to play a character. I want her to be her. And I'm not, I don't know. It just struck me today. was like, she know? Did she catch on to? Again, it was very similar to Christina Wells and it was better. That's not what I'm saying. But we talked about of the 120 seconds, 80 of them I really liked. Cody: No, I understand that. You AGTCommenter: This was probably even closer to 100 of the 120 seconds I really enjoyed. I think it's one of the five best of the night and deserves to go through. I did. I didn't think I was going to because I remember her rewatchable, felt like this and I still today felt like it's starting to wane a little bit with her. The night played out nicely for her. I'm not sure she goes through last week. I shouldn't say that. I'm not sure I would have her going through last week. She was always gonna go through. Cody: Yes. Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: She was a top five of either, she was gonna get the votes. Howie is very excited. We didn't even pull the clip pre-performance, he screams, when they're introducing Courtney Adwin, ⁓ but he is very excited. Any other thoughts on the actual performance from you? Okay, let's hear from Howie. Cody: Uhhh nope. AGTCommenter: Mmm. Cody: When did we start referring to AGT by the year? AGTCommenter: I like, I kinda like it. I don't mind it. I think it's easier, I think you don't run a risk of saying the wrong season. Cause you know what year it is. You know it's hard to mess up in September of 2018 the year. Cody: Do you like that? Okay. AGT 2026. Okay, okay Right, how many times do I get the year wrong of this season? Yeah, yes. AGTCommenter: Sure, right, right. But I think if you're them, you're like, well, I'm not gonna mess, I know what year it is. I might forget what season it is, so it's a little less risky, but, ⁓ Howie, I get, it's like your favorite team. You're gonna root for them, I have no problem with that. Is it the worst prediction of all time? I'm glad it was semis and not quarters. Cody: He loves his golden buzzers. Yeah. Boy, that's interesting. ⁓ AGTCommenter: Because we saw him predict Kenichi win in the quarters and he was right. So it's one of the greats. ⁓ Cody: Yeah. I know, I'd have to go back and look. It's not the craziest. I don't think it's the craziest prediction. AGTCommenter: I agree, but what the results end up being, it'd be one thing if she took third. We've seen, ⁓ was it, ⁓ Pierce in season five was like, Jackie, Jackie's gonna win, Jackie's gonna win. She finishes second. It wasn't, he was wrong, but it's not egg on your face. Who knows, two more people vote and she might have won, I don't know. Cody: Yeah. Second. Yeah. AGTCommenter: To say she's gonna win in the semis, you didn't even wait for the finals performance, and then she doesn't even make the top five, is tough. Cody: Well, but didn't Simon also just tell Brian King Joseph? AGTCommenter: He said, think you could now, thanks to this performance. Howie literally just said, I think you are going to win AGT 2018. To not be in the top, there's a long ways between top five and not, like, not being in the top five is tough. Cody: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you hadn't even gotten the results yet for this night. So yeah. AGTCommenter: Right, yeah. Yeah, I think it ends up ultimately, unfortunately for him, being probably the worst prediction we've ever seen. ⁓ We also have Mel's comments, so let's hear from Mel. Cody: at all. Yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: I didn't necessarily get the nerves. I did feel like it wasn't as good as previous stuff, but yeah, I don't... I almost felt like she wasn't nervous enough. Kind of playing to my point where it feels like she's starting to be in on the joke. ⁓ Cody: Okay Okay. AGTCommenter: She captured my feelings though of like, I like a lot about it but it is, it's wearing on me a little bit and I don't know. But any other thoughts? We'll talk about as we're gonna get to results here. ⁓ Scores. I had it as the second worst live show of the five so far at a 75. Cody: Yes. I went up from semi-finals 1 to a 77. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Okay, so we're in the same ballpark. I like quarterfinals one way more than you did and you liked this more than I did. I thought it took eight performances for somebody to perform at the level I wanted them to. I almost went to a 74. I ended up settling at 75. I had quarterfinals one and quarterfinals three to 76 and this at a 75. So it's a good season though. Where you sitting? Cody: Overall I have a 73.8 and for the live shows I have a 74.6. AGTCommenter: I have a 74.067 and then a 75.4. So we're... I'm interested to see what we score this finals next week, but should we talk some results here? All right. Cody: Yes. AGTCommenter: Alright, results night. Duncan Save, our trio. Oops, here in the Duncan Save. Daniel Emmett, Glenis Grace, we three. Fascinating Duncan Save, Cody. Three really solid acts, two better than the third, I think. ⁓ But there's your Duncan Save. First group of the night, Aaron Crowe, Vicki, and Da Republic. When you see that list... If you were sitting at home in 2018 getting ready to do the results reaction pot as I'm tabulating the fantasy scores, who do you think's going, hey, three of these, one's going through, who would you have guessed? Aaron Crowe, Vicky, and DOW Republic. Cody: Yeah, who was it again? Vicky? Yeah, I think it's, I think it's like none of you. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Yeah. Yeah, this... I would have probably picked Vicky. I was gonna go through and I didn't end up doing it before we started. I just kind of looked. I think one thing we miss when we're doing these that we obviously we do during an actual season is kind of remembering how it worked, how people had performed voting-wise. I can't remember. I think Vicky was straight through in the quarters. ⁓ But like I looked at... Cody: Yes, yeah. Mm-hmm. AGTCommenter: I look at somebody like Dow Republic. They ⁓ were a judge's choice in the quarters. why was I expecting them to do much better than this? ⁓ Just not remembering voting trends the same way. But ⁓ it is gonna be Vicki. So she is in the top three of the night. I had her ninth. Where did you have Vicki? Cody: Right. Right. ⁓ I had her sixth. AGTCommenter: Okay, so an overperformance in our eyes, voting wise. Group two was Noah Guthrie, Courtney Hadwin, and Christina Wills. This one felt pretty obvious that Miss Hadwin was gonna be going through. I had her fourth on the night. Okay, so through, but maybe Duncan Save. And then we had the choir, and Brian King Joseph to me was an obvious choice again. He had him second as well. Cody: Yeah, yeah. ⁓ had her fifth Yeah, I had him second. AGTCommenter: Glenis is gonna win the Duncan save, thank god. ⁓ Cody: Now I still had the choir fourth, so I still had them going through. So, okay. AGTCommenter: Okay, yeah. So, Glenis is gonna win the Duncan save, Daniel Lemmon's gonna beat we three in the judge's choice. Probably how I would have went there as well. Only male voted for them. Vicky, Courtney Hadwin, Brian King Joseph, Glenis, and Daniel Lemmon. Glenis is obvious, yes. Agreed? Brian King Joseph, obvious, yes. I think those two, I don't know how you could argue for them not going through. Cody: Yes. Yes. Yes. Correct, yes. AGTCommenter: The other three I think you could putz around with. My top five of the night was Glenis, Brian King Joseph, Daniel Emmett, Hadwin, and I had Wee Three as the fifth. We were year five. Cody: ⁓ I had those I had four of those same five. I had the corral going in AGTCommenter: So I had the corral sixth. And if you want to tell me they were better than we three, I'm not going to say you're wrong. But it was hard. So you didn't have Vicky top five. What did you say again? Sixth? Sixth, yeah. This was a tough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I only really felt great about the top two. So I tiered them. So I'm interested in what you think of my tiers. Cody: I did not. Sixth, yeah. So she's Duncan save, I mean she's Duncan save in that, so. AGTCommenter: Glenis and Brian King Joseph are tier one. I had Daniel Emmett and Courtney Hadwin in tier two. Then I had We Three, the choir, and Aaron Crowe in tier three. You had We Three, really low. And then I had Guthrie, Vicki, Christina Wells, and Dow Republic in tier four. Cody: Yeah, see, didn't have wait, three, yeah, so. AGTCommenter: I would never have put Vicky through, there's things I really like about her, if it would have been, there's other names that could have went through that I would have had bigger gripes with, I thought they did okay. But there's your, the finals are set. Cody, should we wait till the very end to preview it or do you want to rock it before us? Let's do it now. So, Brian King Joseph, Daniel Emmett, Vicky, Gladys, Zerkerow, Sam Comrow, Hadwin, Shin Lim. Cody: Big preview now. That's my... yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: duo Transcendent Michael Ketterer. It's Sunday night before finals. You, me, and Ryan are sitting on Ryan Analytics and making our predictions. We're not doing it exactly the same. If you were, if they made you vote, if they're like, we're scrapping the finals. We decided no one's performing. They said, Cody, cast your ballot for your top five ranked choice. What's your first, second, third, and fourth, and fifth place finishers before the finals? Cody: So number one I would have Zerkerow. Yes. I would have Glynis Grace as the runner-up. I'd have Dio Transcend as the second runner-up. I'd have... Brian King Joseph as third runner-up. And then I would have Vicky Barbalak as fifth place. Yes. AGTCommenter: you'd have Zercherow winning the show. Okay? Okay, third place, more commonly known on the show. Fifth, okay. I'd have Shin Lim won. I agree that Glenis Grace right now is the runner up for this season. I would still have Brian King Joseph third. I'd have Zerker O fourth and then duo transcend. Cody: Yes. AGTCommenter: So right now, had, so you had Zerkrow, Glenis, Duotrans and Brian, so going into the finals, you have two of the actual top five, and you're top five, and I have three. So we both have some disagreements with the way America decided to have this fall. I can't. Cody: Glenis, yes, Duo Transcend, Brunke and Vicky, yeah. Sure. I am well known for not being on the same page as America. AGTCommenter: Cannot believe that Glenis Grace finished on the outside of the top five in this season. She's spectacular. I think, I don't think there's a real argument for her to win because Shin's so good. But for somebody like you that's not like a big Shin Lim fan, there has to be in your head, be like she could, you can see a path argument in your own head for her winning, can't you right now? Yeah, yeah, she's great. Cody: Yeah. Right. Yes, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, if she if she was the winner I'd be like, yeah, I get it. Yeah AGTCommenter: Fair enough, yeah. Okay, all right, let's do this. We're take a non-commercial break break, and then we're gonna come back and wrap up with segments. We will be right back. most rewatchable performance? I could watch Glenis' performance time and time again, that's my answer. Cody: Yeah, it's either that or Brian King Joseph, one of the two. Yeah. AGTCommenter: Yep, and I think hers is just more rewatchable, because of the singing, probably. The Howie Mandel Memorial Good Judging Moment Award. I thought Howie with Christina Wells. I also thought Simon with Glenis Grace was, ⁓ we didn't pull the clip of it, but ⁓ I thought he gave some good feedback on that. The Julianne Hough Memorial Bad Judging. Cody: Okay. Okay. Yes, that's what I got. AGTCommenter: I thought Simon with Wii 3. I didn't think it was a mess. I didn't think it was great, but I didn't it was a mess. The Howie prediction, yeah, and the heel turn, the inconsistencies. The Howie prediction's an easy, it's almost low-hanging fruit for this category. Would you have anything else for bad judging? Cody: Yeah, but also the heel turn. But also the heel turn. Yeah. You I mentioned how I actually liking Noah Guthrie. I don't know if that's... No. No. AGTCommenter: Sure, yeah that's good actually. It was not a good song choice, he was like, great choice. No, yeah. The Tyra Banks Memorial Bad Hosting Moment Award. She got chastised by Simon about the slippery thing. What'd you... Yeah, basically told her to shut up. Did you have anything... This is not the worst Tyra episode. She was fine. Yeah. Cody: Yes, basically Tyra shut up No, she was fine. See, see neither the end was coming. AGTCommenter: The slippery thing was probably the low point. Most unique, talented, and entertaining. Aaron Crowe still is most unique in this episode because the rest of it is either singers, a dance group, a comedian, and a violin player. So maybe Brian King Joseph at... Sorry, go ahead. Cody: Yeah. Yes. Yeah, what? I was gonna agree with you. Yes. Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt but I was gonna ask What other magicians would have done this exact same trick this what other magicians this season would have done this same trick? Okay, I was gonna say the prize. Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Yeah AGTCommenter: Oh, yeah, none, yeah. Maybe Rob Blake. But this is, he does danger magic more than like Rob Blake's type of magic, So I think he's the most unique. Glenis, thought, was the most talented. But the show Brian King Joseph puts on from an entertainment standpoint is he's the most entertaining. Okay, all right. You're almost out of breath by the end of Brian King Joseph's performance. I also think he's the star. Cody: Okay. Okay. Yes? Yes. Yes. Yes you are. Okay. Yeah. Yes, he's the whole stage. AGTCommenter: Because I think it's just too big of a production. He just, he steals the show. ⁓ Yeah, but if you want to tell me it's Glenis, I'm not going to say you're wrong either, but I think I would lean bride king Joseph. This was not, like her quarter finals performance, makes her the star. This was not meant necessarily to be that. The Sandow Trio Russian Bar Moment for unintentional comedy. Howie predicting a Courtney Hadwin victory was unintentionally comedic, not as unintentionally comedic. Cody: She's got to do more to make it more entertaining. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. AGTCommenter: on September 11th, 2018 when we didn't know what was gonna happen, we have the advantage of knowing what's gonna happen. Did you have anything else for unintentional comedy? All right, you've got a blind side, cooked up. What do you got for us, Cody? Cody: Not for unintentional comedy, no. Yes. Rank these five acts. One of the acts is in this episode. ⁓ We three. AGTCommenter: Yeah. third. Cody: Okay. Three shades of blue. AGTCommenter: Mmm. success. Cody: the 82nd airborne chorus. Okay, okay. AGTCommenter: I like the chorus. Second. Okay. Cody: Soibs Studio One Young Bee Society AGTCommenter: fourth alright let's see what are we doing here so the 82nd airborne to we three three so it's fourth i remember three shades of blue what was three shades of blue again what is the theme here Cody: Okay, we're, yeah. Season 5? I think they're season 5. me... ⁓ sorry, 10. They were in our Season 10 rewatch. Yeah, yeah. AGTCommenter: ⁓ yeah, I don't know what the theme is. What's the last one? Cody: Triple Threat. AGTCommenter: threat. ⁓ Cody: ⁓ It's a naming theme again. AGTCommenter: There's all numbers in the name. Gotcha. Yeah. I would have had we three one. Air the choir to so it's three. What did three shades of blue do again? Forget there. Cody: All numbers in the name, yeah. Yeah. ⁓ pop rock band from Philadelphia that reached the semis. So you have to look up there. AGTCommenter: Three shades of blue. I just need to see them. Their faces. What did they sing? ⁓ They did... Season... ⁓ they were on the edition in Season 9 as well. I do not remember any of their... I don't remember them at all. ⁓ The name I remember. I just don't remember them. Okay. Alright. ⁓ Shout out Three Shades of Blue. Cody: Yeah. Okay, yeah. Okay, okay. You remember us talking about him though. We talked about him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. AGTCommenter: Alright, should we wrap it up with some some history lessons, some leaderboard talk? We have four performances here that are on our leaderboards. The only one that made the finals that isn't is Miss Barbalak. ⁓ First one is We Three. I guess two, we also don't have ⁓ Who's the other... ⁓ Daniel Emmett's not on there yet. ⁓ We Three. I gave this performance an even four. What did you have, you think Cody here? Cody: I think I did as well somewhere. Okay, yeah, okay. Yes. AGTCommenter: Yeah, you had a 3.9. You're happy with that. Okay, so they're done. They're settled. 4.27, 44th. One behind Guardino, one ahead of preacher Lawson. Cody: Okay. Okay, that's I I have him miss miss scored because he's definitely better than them Yeah I'm fine with them at 44. He's probably way too low He and the clairvoyance have probably been miss scored AGTCommenter: Okay. Alright, so that's... Okay. You're fine with them at 44 out of 58 though. Okay. Alright, fair enough. You... yeah. Okay. Alright, fair enough. Um, Glenis Grace. I had this at a 4-6. So a couple lower than last round. What do think you had, Cody? You had a 4-5-7. Would you like... Cody: ⁓ Four-seven. AGTCommenter: reevaluate that score. 4-5, 4-5-5, 4-8-1. Cody: What were the others again? Yeah. Yes, the 4-7. Yes, 4-7. AGTCommenter: You want to even 4-7. Okay. Alright, that is gonna jump her, ooh, a few spots. Holy cow. One, two, three, four spots. Up to 19th from 23. Top 20 with one to go. She's moved ahead now of, so she was behind, she jumped Taylor Williamson, Kenichi Abina, Tom Cotter, our friend. Cody: yet. Top 20, okay. AGTCommenter: and Bianca Ryan. Okay, alright, 19th. one to go. Mr. Brian King Joseph next. I also had this at an even 4-6 like I did Glenis. What do think you had, Cody? You had it at a 4-6, just like me. 4-4-2, 4-4-6, 4-2-5. You like the 4-6. Okay. Now remember, next week you have a 4-9-9. Cody: I'm okay with that. Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay with that. for eight. And what were the others? Yeah, that's probably about right compared to the others. Yeah, that's about right compared to the others. Okay. Sorry, sorry. ⁓ AGTCommenter: So, let's see. My guess is you're gonna bring that down. So, if you like potentially his current score, this round might be where you can gain some points back. 499, that's crazy. I can't wait. I don't really remember the performance all that well outside of the opener. Yeah. And then Courtney Hadwin is our last one. I had it at a 4.1. Cody: Okay. It's as you say, it's all elevator. Yeah. Okay. ⁓ four three. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. AGTCommenter: right on, 4-3. So you're good there. All right. That's, ⁓ that right there is quarterfinals, or excuse me, semifinals two, Cody. So, ⁓ next week, rapid finals. Brian King Joseph's gonna open the night. I know I read the names, but we can kinda talk about the layout. Daniel Emmett, second, great opener with Brian King Joseph. Barbalak, third, Glenis Grace, fourth, Zerkerow, fifth, Sam Comerow, sixth, Hadwin, seventh. Shin Lim 8, Duo Transcend 9, and Keterer is going to close the night. Not a Garth Brooks original. Cody: Yeah, and not a great closer. Just him being the closer, just in general. Yeah. AGTCommenter: No, I agree. There's better, Hadwin's a better option. Gladys Grace is a better option. If you're looking at singers, if you're looking at non-singers, Brian King Joseph would be an awesome closer. ⁓ 39 out of 40 standing O's next week. Do you want to guess of the 10 who didn't get, how he didn't stand for this one? Cody: Diotrex in. Yeah. ⁓ yeah, I don't know. talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Tune in next week. AGTCommenter: tough. Nah, we'll talk about it. We'll leave the people in suspense. ⁓ And no buzzers for the first time this season out of any episode. So, we're buzzerless in the finals. It's gonna be a fun episode. I think it's gonna be really great. ⁓ I'm interested to see if your list of five, and mine as well, ends up changing after this last, ⁓ our current top five. I think my gut tells me I'm gonna end up being close to what I have now, but we'll see. ⁓ Anything else you wanna add before we sign out? Cody: I don't think so. AGTCommenter: Alright, let's get out of here. Cody: So can find us on our socials at AGT TimePod. Find us on our new website, agttimepod.com. And of course you can email us agttimepod.gmail.com and you can find commenter out there at AGT commenter. Go look at the AGT Hall of Fame. Yeah, everyone have a great night. AGTCommenter: Yes. Absolutely