A few months ago, America’s Got Talent announced that they would be searching for talent for their upcoming season on YouTube and tomorrow night twelve online video stars will make their television debuts on the show’s YouTube edition on NBC. The winning YouTubers that will appear on America’s Got Talent tomorrow night include an accordion playing dog, a pizza dough juggling extraordinaire, a rope jumper, a magician, a 10-year old opera singer and more. Read more and check out the finalists’ audition videos after the jump.
The 12 YouTubers who will perform on tomorrow’s episode of America’s Got Talent were narrowed down from 20,000 audition videos. The show has always relied on live auditions in the past and this year 70,000 wannabe’s auditioned live. The 20,000 YouTubers that entered the mix greatly broadened the talent pool for this year’s show and is very different than what the show’s producers are used to.
According to USA Today, producer Jason Raff said that the results could be great or they could be like a train wreck. “Bypassing the traditional audition experience and putting people we’ve never met before on live TV is an experiment. It’s kind of scary.” Howie Mandel, one of the show’s judges, says “There was definitely raw talent in the YouTube videos, but it was hard to tell if they recorded themselves 40 times and how they’ll perform under pressure live on stage in front of an audience. It could be sink or swim.” I for one can’t wait to see how this experiment turns out.
Whether you are a fan of reality shows like America’s Got Talent, it’s hard not to admit that it’s pretty cool that YouTube has opened up a whole new channel for talent search. America’s Got Talent appears to have found some good contestants with their YouTube search. The show will air tomorrow night, August 10, 2010 at 9 ET/PT, and will also include a performance by YouTube’s Evolution of Dance star Judson Laipply. The names of the twelve finalists were published by USA Today late last night. Check out their videos below and let us know what you think in the comments.
Pup and Ed Heiss – Musicians
Pat Miller – Pizza Juggler
Note: This is not Pat Miller’s audition video. It was nowhere to be found on the America’s Got Talent YouTube page. However, USA Today assures that he is one of the contestants that will perform tomorrow night.
