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2/27: Live at “America’s Got Talent” auditions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta crowd booed Santa.
Blasphemy? Not in the world of “America’s Got Talent.” On Wednesday, several hundred people watched live auditions of the hit NBC reality show at the Cobb Energy Centre.
Act I
And a guy dressed as Santa and calling himself Kris Kringle and the “Singing Santa” gave everyone the creeps as he talked about his work during the summer:
“I have a wonderful bathing suit. I visit children.”
Bad juxtaposition there, Kris! The boos started and Judge David Hasselhoff uttered, “Background check!”
His singing didn’t help matters and he was buzzed off within seconds. “I think Mrs. Claus warned me about this and she was right,” he said forlornly.
“Seeing you in the middle of the summer doesn’t seem right,” judge Piers Morgan said. ” So it’s a no.”
“If you landed on my roof, I’d move,” Hasselhoff said.
Act II
The acts who came on Wednesday afternoon were a mix of the surreal and the sublime. Besides Santa, the audience was “Live at the Apollo” tough on a dorky-looking magician who threw out lots of umbrellas, a Prince impersonator who couldn’t sing Prince songs (because they weren’t cleared by the show) and a dance/acrobatic crew from Orlando that lacked pizazz.
During the portion I watched, two people won tickets to the semifinals in Vegas: a 19-year-old blonde gal named Sarah did a rather good imitation of Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats.” And the sword swallower made it through although Hasselhoff was more scared than entertained and questioned whether he could sustain an hour-long Vegas act. He did seem kind of one note but certainly good TV at least one time.
Like a lot of TV shows, not every sound you hear is spontaneous. The producer felt the crowd reaction to the sword swallower was inadequate and asked them to do gasping and cringing sounds again.
Is this TV?
Three other observations: the “X” buzz sound the judges press is even more aggravating live. Jerry Springer was missing in action on stage, doing most of his camera work backstage. And the acoustics here are quite good.
Last year’s winner, singing ventriloquist Terry Fator even stopped by during a break. He said he was doing a private corporate gig in town and heard about the taping so he came by to say hey and tell everyone he will be back in Atlanta for a public show October 11, coincidentally at the Cobb Energy Centre.
If you have time, definitely stop by tomorrow to check it out. There are two tapings: one at 11 a.m. and another at 4 p.m. It’s free and they have plenty of seats available. Today, they had to do some recruiting for the early shift, bringing folks in from senior citizens homes and kids from local schools.
Q&A with the judges
I wasn’t allowed to talk to the contestants but I did have a few minutes with Hasselhoff, Springer and Morgan. Here’s the story we’re running in tomorrow’s print edition:
When David Hasselhoff arrived at DeKalb Peachtree Airport Tuesday, he had his driver go directly to his childhood home in the Chamblee Dunwoody area.
It was gone, torn down for a new home. But that didn’t stop the “America’s Got Talent” judge from walking up his old driveway and waxing nostalgic.
“I used to ride my skateboard up and down that street,” Hasselhoff said Wednesday morning before the start of two days of auditions for the hit NBC summer reality series at the Cobb Energy Centre. “I had a go kart, which became the Knight Rider. I was a terror!”
The “Hoff” — known for “Knight Rider,” “Baywatch” and strange YouTube videos — recalled mowing lawns for $5 an hour and performing a play as a child for the family of Martin Luther King.
But alas, he had work to do and he joined host Jerry Springer and fellow judges Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan on the stage at noon, greeted by cheers from the Atlanta audience.
“What’s not to love about the Hoff?” Morgan said. “We call him ‘Breaking News Hasselhoff.’ Every ten minutes, there’s some sort of breaking news about the guy.” He then noted how Hasselhoff recently made headlines after wrangling an elephant tusk from his ex-wife’s home. “I used to work for a tabloid. We wouldn’t have had a newspaper without him.”
Morgan then did a fine imitation of Hasselhoff reacting to a lousy act: “That was awesome! Awesome!” he said, eyes bugged out, hand slapping the table.
Springer, Hasselhoff and Morgan were all thrilled that last year’s winner Terry Fator, the singing ventriloquist, is doing so well. Fator nabbed a regular gig at the Las Vegas Hilton and is pocketing $100,000 a pop for corporate events.
“Terry is a true rags-to-riches story,” Springer said.
“We’re getting a lot more varied cats coming to casting calls,” Morgan noted. “He proves the unusual can win this show. It’s not ‘American Idol.’ You don’t have to just sing for your money.”
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Josh
February 27, 2008 4:33 PM | Link to this
“‘Seeing you in the middle of the summer doesn’t seem right,’ judge Piers Morgan said.”
I guess we know when the show is going to air.
By Lauren
February 27, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this
Almost all my friends tried out for AGT, they said the judges where not so supportive as they might seem on TV.
By wenfy
February 27, 2008 8:18 PM | Link to this
find auditions here http://www.auditions.com find Acting here http://www.myactingagent find Casting here http://www.castingaudition.com
By deanna
February 28, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this
can you audition in another city if you dont make the first time
By DeacinGA
February 28, 2008 6:51 PM | Link to this
Deanna - yes you can. a friend of mine was pulled aside by one of the judges after his audition & told that they were limited in how many singers they could send, so they recommended that he audition again elsewhere & he’d stand an excellent chance of making it.