‘America’s’ judges reflect on good, bad and the bizarre

By Jacqueline Cutler © Zap2it

As Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne make their way down the aisle of the Hammerstein Ballroom, a once grand New York venue, the cheering is pretty crazy. But when Howard Stern follows, the audience becomes rapturously, deliriously loud.

The judges of the seventh season of “America’s Got Talent” take their seats for a day of auditions. Not all of these acts will make it to the NBC show returning Monday, May 14, for which viewers can offer eternal thanks.

On this day, there’s an offkilter marching band and a man unfamiliar with the notes customarily used in singing. Osbourne advises a woman with a good voice to smash her accordion.

Another woman’s stand-up act consists of putting on a baby voice and snorting. A 14-year-old girl sings James Brown’s “This Is a Man’s World,” and when the judges don’t advance her to Las Vegas, she begs and cries.

Two brothers, third-generation circus performers, take seven dogs through their paces, including back flips. A mime troupe in black costumes and white faces just gets on people’s nerves, as mimes tend to. Finally, a drag queen named All Beef Patty wins over a hostile audience because how can you not love a man in a zebra-patterned top, sequined shorts and a foot-high hot pink beehive?

After a few hours of this, the three judges (minus host Nick Cannon) sit down for their longest interview in New York. Here is a condensed version of it.

Zap2it: What was the weirdest act you have seen?

Howard Stern: “It was really weird when the squirrel got in the pool and water-skied. I was disturbed.”

Howard Stern is a judge on “America’s Got Talent,” which returns for its seventh season Monday on NBC.

Howie Mandel: “A man who makes an entire audience an instrument.”

Sharon Osbourne: “It was incredible.”

Howard Stern: “We had one guy who had never sung in front of anyone. It was odd and strange, but wonderful.”

Howie Mandel: “A man who had stayed around home a long time and had puppets. He had a bear on his shoulder, and it didn’t do anything. I stole the puppet from his shoulder. I wore it. That puppet did nothing.”

Howard Stern: “I am so annoyed by people who waste my time.”

Sharon Osbourne: “He gives them advice. ‘I want you to go home and get a proper job. You are too old to be doing this.’ ”

Howie Mandel: “I believe just do it! If you have the seed of a thought, I know that as a standup, I have to give some respect for that.”

Howard Stern: “There are people who waste time here.”

Web Links

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