'America's Got Talent' Recap: The Wild-Card Round

Todd Oliver performs on 'America's Got Talent.'

With all those preliminary rounds out of the way, it was finally time for the semifinals on America’s Got Talent, right? Not so fast. On Tuesday night, in yet another attempt to prolong an already drawn-out competition, AGT held its annual wild-card round, bringing back 12 previously ousted contestants hand-picked by the three judges for a shot at redemption. Four will advance on tonight's results show. How did they do?

Howard Stern's Picks:

Spencer Horsman: This modern-day Houdini returned for one more death-defying escape act: Horsman had 90 seconds to free himself from eight padlocks while locked inside a tank steadily filling with wet cement. Time ticked away and the cement started to obscure Horsman's face from view. Was he going to die on national TV? Of course not! The young daredevil escaped, his body and face covered in cement gunk, only able to mutter the words "I'm alive!" The judges loved it. "That's what you gotta do to win!" Stern said.

Todd Oliver: The concept of pet ventriloquism is hardly appealing, but somehow this Branson, Missouri, native makes it work. Stern had told Oliver in the past to be more topical with his material. So on Tuesday the comic and his pooch, Irving, went with a winning presidential-themed set. The best joke? Irving, a black-and-white Boston Terrier, says that rather than vote for the black guy (Obama) or the white guy (Romney) this election, you should vote for him and get both. Afterward, Stern was beaming. "You did me proud," he said. "That 90 seconds flew by," added Sharon Osbourne. "Great material. Very slick."

Horse: Yes, the nutshot champion was back – Stern simply couldn't get enough of him. And things went the way you'd expect: Horse began his routine by getting his junk smacked with a golf club and later capped it off by climbing to the top of a podium and landing in the splits position atop a long wooden column. Stern, of course, loved every minute of it. "I think you're hysterical," he said, before accepting Horse's offer and launching several tennis balls out of a canon at his crotch. "You," Mandel told the man whose nether region was surely sore by that point, "are nuts."

Ben Blaque: What initially surprised us about Stern bringing back this crossbow-wielding performer was that it seemed as if Blaque had run out of tricks. Wrong. His stunt last night was mind-blowing: Rather than shooting at his assistant, he turned the arrows on himself by first positioning a trio of crossbows, then blindfolding himself, putting an apple atop his head and, using a bell as a point of reference, shooting a target to set off a chain reaction of crossbow mayhem that ended with a bolt piercing the core of the apple.

Howie Mandel's Picks:

Jarrett and Raja: We'd be lying if we said we saw this one coming. After they were literally booed off the stage in their last AGT performance, Mandel brought back this illusionist duo, saying he believed they had been "treated wrongly" the first time. How did they respond? In stunning fashion, that’s how. Raja began the routine in a rectangular box, playing a baby grand piano. The box was then closed, lifted up and quickly exploded, revealing that Raja was no longer in it. Then the camera panned to the back of the audience where Raja stood, fully intact, playing the same baby grand. "I'm so excited!" Mandel exclaimed. Stern couldn't help but agree. "You redeemed yourself," he told the relieved twosome.

Kristin Sandu: In what was one of the season's most crushing moments, this young acrobat who specializes in balancing atop odd-shaped objects fell from his perch, to the shock of the judges. Mandel felt Sandu deserved another chance. Sadly, it did not go well. Surrounded by fire, Sandu built his contraption, hoisted himself onto it and, despite balancing for a few seconds, wobbled back and forth before everything came crashing to the ground. He was nearly inconsolable, but the judges did their best to ease his pain. "I really enjoyed it, I truly did," Stern said. Added Osbourne, "You have awfully big kahunas to come back and try it again."

Sebastian "El Charro de Oro": The young mariachi singer, a clear-cut favorite from the start, returned after his shocking ouster several weeks ago. This time he promised  "a little bit of mariachi, a little bit of Frank Sinatra." What followed was a cheesy rendition of "New York, New York," interspersed with some Spanish lyrics. Stern was skeptical, but Osbourne told Sebastian he had stolen her heart, and Mandel loved it, too. "I think you are a star!" Mandel proclaimed. 

Andrew De Leon: If any contestant this season appeared to be a frontrunner based solely on an audition, it was Andrew De Leon. A freakish-looking opera singer who had never performed outside his bedroom, De Leon caught the judges by surprise from the get-go. But then he bombed in Vegas and was quickly sent packing. Luckily he got another shot on Tuesday and didn't disappoint. Yes, his falsetto-laden vocals were a bit shrill. But given his lack of training, his opera-style performance of "Unchain My Heart" was winning. "In this night of redemption, you redeemed yourself," Mandel said.

Sharon Osbourne's Picks:

All That: Osbourne seemed to enjoy the prospect of this all-male clogging team oiling themselves up and ripping off their shirts even more than she did their dancing skills. For their return performance, the toe-tapping crew staged what appeared to be a competition between themselves and a fake team of cloggers projected as silhouettes on a screen behind them. The intriguing idea however, didn't quite redeem an adept, but bland performance. "I'm gonna be totally honest," Mandel said. "I don't think it's exciting enough." Stern concurred: "It won't be enough to get you through."

Jake Wesley Rogers: After bowing out several weeks ago following a frighteningly gaudy take on Britney Spears' "Toxic," this coiffed singer returned to do, um, a Lady Gaga tune? Apparently Rogers didn't learn from his initial song-selection mistakes: his rendition of "Edge of Glory" resembled something you'd hear at a karaoke bar. Osbourne was diplomatic, but the two male judges pulled no punches. "You don't make that connection with the audience," Stern said. Mandel added, "I think this is not the year for the singer on America's Got Talent."

Banbaz Brothers: This nephew-uncle acrobatic duo was one of our favorite acts all season, and we were seriously bummed when they were eliminated. Thankfully, Osbourne felt they had more to offer, and they stepped up their game last night with a stunt that one member said killed his grandfather's cousin (whoa!). For the performance both men had knives sticking out of their mouths. Then, one member held himself up with an arm upon the other's shoulder, linked up his knife with his partner’s below, and miraculously stood straight up in the air using only the knife as support. "It was breathtaking," said a mesmerized Osbourne.

Lindsey Norton: Nothing stood out to us about this teen dancer from Florida so we were surprised to learn Osbourne had brought her back. Norton's performance on Tuesday was more acrobatic than dance – continuous backflips, contortions and so on – and while undeniably slick, it was hardly memorable. Stern and Mandel both agreed that she might be in trouble come Wednesday's results show. "I'm afraid, as proficient as you are," Stern said, "you might get overlooked."

PREDICTION: It’s going to be a close call, but we’re betting on Spencer Horsman, Todd Oliver, Andrew De Leon and Banbaz Brothers to advance in Wednesday’s results show, which also includes a performance from Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen.    

Last recap: YouTube Night Winners Advance      

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'Downton' Girl: Elizabeth McGovern on America's New National Pastime

Elizabeth McGovern as Lady Cora in 'Downton Abbey.'Carnival Film & Television Limited 2011 for MASTERPIECE

The U.S. is no stranger to British invasions, be it four Liverpudlian moptops or TV shows featuring a surly talent judge seeking a hot new pop singer. But the latest U.K. import to overtake the pop culture zeitgeist is the saga of a World War I-era aristocratic family and their devoted household staff. The Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Downton Abbey, now airing its second season on PBS, welcomes viewers into its arcane world populated by lords, ladies, entails, deathbed marriages and blackmailing wives. Presiding over Downton Abbey itself is Cora, Countess of Grantham, exquisitely portrayed by Elizabeth McGovern (Ordinary People, She's Having a Baby). The American-born actress has lived in England for "nearly 20 years," making her a natural choice to play the Yankee wife of the Earl of Grantham. With the highly anticipated third season of Downton currently in preproduction, McGovern checked in from London for a brief chat.

So the big Downton Abbey news this week is that Shirley MacLaine has been cast as Cora’s mother. Are you excited?

I’m over the moon. She’s just a great actress and is such a life force. I think it’s going to be fantastic.

Does this give you more of an idea about your character’s past, other than the fact that she’s a New York heiress?

Well, yeah, it’s been a very murky area, and casting anyone will, by its very nature, stamp a personality and a definition on a family and a lineage, so the very fact of [Shirley’s] casting gives me a much clearer idea of where Cora comes from. I think that the writers and the producers and I are just coming to terms with where Cora comes from and what her life story is now. I love having the opportunity to explore a part for a great length of time, really get deeper and deeper into it, because you only have a chance to do that once or twice in a career.

The name of Shirley’s character is "Martha Levinson." So is it possible that Cora is from a Jewish family?

It is possible! So we’ll see if it has ramifications later on in the story as the inevitable wheels of history roll forward, but to be perfectly honest, I’m finding out along with everybody else [laughs]! So I’m doing my best to adjust to these revelations as well.

There is such a Downton Abbey infatuation sweeping the U.S. right now. Did you ever expect Americans were going to take to it the way that we have?

No, absolutely not. Whenever I work on anything, there’s always the fantasy that what one is doing is the next Citizen Kane-slash-Sopranos. But I have long become accustomed to the fact that the reality of show business rarely falls into place in such a satisfying way, so this was a shock to me. But I can be nothing but grateful and totally overwhelmed by it. I mean, the nicest thing of all, actually, is when an actor feels that little story points are registering with an audience. The fact that the audience is participating in the energy and pleasure of it has been really unusual for me, and needless to say I am definitely enjoying it.

 Have you seen any of the Downton Abbey Internet memes such as the "Downton Abbeyoncé" Tumblr or "Shit the Dowager Countess Says"?

No, but there are some really charming spoofs of Downton on YouTube. There's one that's little mice in a house that are all the Downton characters. It’s actually so witty and well done. It’s brilliant. The funny thing about Downton is, on one level, when we are doing the work we have no choice but to approach it with complete and utter seriousness, but there’s something about it that is so ridiculously spoofable at the same time. It doesn’t jar with the seriousness of our approach – it’s absolutely appropriate. We all love it!

Do you find that the American reaction to Downton Abbey is different than that of British audiences?

Well, the British love nothing more than to turn on their own icons, so they’ve spent the entire Season Two ripping it to shreds and finding fault with it. Some of which I think was not unjustified, but maybe it’s because I’m not in America, but I haven’t noticed that turn over there as of yet.

Downton Abbey deals with many feminist themes – personified in Lady Sybil – but do you see Cora as a feminist? She seems like the bridge between the generations: She’s very supportive of her daughters, but she is also very good at smoothing things over with the Dowager Countess, who is more of the old-school mindset.

Yeah, I think that’s a very astute reading of Cora’s personality, whether it’s something that’s intrinsic to her nature or whether it’s because she’s American, she’s certainly written as someone who has a lot more emotional and psychological flexibility than her English family has in terms of accepting change. And I think in Julian [Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey]’s mind, that is characteristic of an American. Although obviously there is the younger generation of the English family that are much more forward thinkers.

It’s my understanding that you are a singer-songwriter and you are recording an album with Michelle Dockery [Lady Mary].

Well, I have a band, Sadie and the Hotheads, and we have an album that is already out that is available on our website. We just finished recording the second album, and many of the songs are recorded with Michelle and she has sung with us a couple of times live. I actually love singing with her because she has a perfect voice for the music. So that’s been a little side pleasure.

The album is called How Not to Lose Things. When is it going to be released?

The plan is for us to release it when Downton Abbey comes back on the air in England, which will be the fall.

How would you describe your music?

It’s very lyric-oriented. To me, the lyrics of the song define the kind of style it is. And my bandmates are capable of doing any style, so in the second CD there are some songs that are very jazzy, and a lot that are more acoustic and folk-sounding.

What’s the significance behind the album title?

It’s one of the songs. All of the songs come from me – where I am in my life, and where I think a lot of people are, which is . . . we’re not old, but we’re not young. We’re not young kids saying, "I love you, I love you, I love you." We’re looking at our partner of 20 years and exploring what that’s all about, or looking at our kids growing up, and trying to capture musically how that feels. These are things that are on the mind of people in the middle of their life, which I don’t think a lot of music addresses. So "How Not to Lose Things" is somebody who’s lived a long time, and is trying to keep track of everything in their life. When you’ve got a couple of kids and a lot going on all the time, it’s quite a knack to keep it all in place, and all at your fingertips.

Who are your musical influences?

I’m a little trapped in my youth. I always say Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Leonard Cohen. There’s a certain age where you listen to music a little differently than I think you ever do as an adult. I also like Lily Allen, Harper Simon and Eliza Doolittle.

We’ve already heard Michelle Dockery sing on Downton – are we going to hear you sing in an upcoming episode?

 You tell me!

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Tony Bennett: 'Lady Gaga Could Become America's Picasso'

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga in the studio for 'The Lady is a Tramp' recording session.

“I’ll never retire,” says Tony Bennett. Truly, the 85-year-old singer does not seem close to slowing down: his album Duets II recently made him the oldest living artist ever to top the Billboard pop album charts. He did it with help from such singing partners as Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones and the late Amy Winehouse, the latter in her last known studio recording ("Body and Soul"). The album has since been nominated for three Grammys and its recording sessions are the subject of the PBS documentary Great Performances: Tony Bennett: Duets II, which premieres on the channel on Friday, January 27.
Bennett announced the television special late last week at a gathering of the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, California. It followed a half-hour set of Bennett's euphoric, recognizable tunes from the Great American Songbook; during George and Ira Gershwin's "They All Laughed," Bennett spun around with a warm smile and finished the song with a booming, "Who's got the last laugh now?" After the show, he paused backstage with a glass of wine and his son/manager Danny to chat with Rolling Stone about his Duets II collaborators, substance abuse among musicians and his own enduring pop success.

How do you feel when you step offstage?
Every show is different. The public has always been nice to me. I’m fortunate that way.
Your first Grammy was for 1962’s "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," but you’ve had a tidal wave of awards since the 1990s.
Each time, it’s good. John Lennon said in an interview once that the Beatles had a terrible time when it hit so fast. And that happened to me when I was young. Pearl Bailey started me out and put me in Greenwich Village with her. She had a lot of belief in me. She said, "Now, son, everything’s going to be good for you, but look out for the helium in the brain." Looking back at that many years later, she was so clear, and yet it had me spin out whenever I had the first big success. You get lost.
How is it now?
The fact that I have a hit record at 85 – I’ve been through the mill so much that I can take it. I know just what’s going to happen. I know what’s bad about it and what’s good about it, and I don’t have any entourage or bodyguards and all that, so the fact that it’s happening this way is wonderful. It’s an amazing experience to understand who you are and have something go Number One on Billboard throughout the world. I started hearing we were platinum in Australia and Spain and Paris – wow, what’s going on? It feels wonderful.
What do you like about doing the Duets albums?
The first one [in 2006] was gigantic with Barbra Streisand and Elton John and Paul McCartney and all that. These are all new kids [on Duets II]. What I liked about them was they all came out of schools: Berklee School of Music, Julliard. John Mayer is a great blues singer, and he is a very tall guy and he could be a great movie star. I was really surprised at Queen Latifah, because originally she was a rap singer. They are not going to be forgotten. They are very, very highly competent.
How was working with Lady Gaga on "The Lady Is a Tramp"?
She came in so prepared and so knowledgeable about what to do. She’s as good as Ella Fitzgerald or anybody you want to come up with. And that’s without her dancing and her philosophies about breaking myths that are incorrect and social situations. She’s very strong. I know it sounds way out, but she could become America’s Picasso if they leave her alone and let her just do what she has to do. She is very, very talented.
And a sharp dresser.
Yeah, she’s far out, but in the meantime she’s also one hell of a good singer. She’s great at piano and she dances wonderful. She’s got it all.
You also keep coming back to k.d. lang, this time for "Blue Velvet."
I love her. Singing is a gift. It’s even hard to describe. It’s just someone who knows how to do it. She knows how to sing, whatever song it is. We worked in Australia with her, and she is one of the toughest acts I ever had to follow. The audience loves her. She’s a natural.
Were you confident that everyone you invited to be on Duets II would be able to deliver at that level?
I didn’t know until it happened. One thing Danny came up with is, he said, "Why shouldn’t we go to them instead of them coming to us?" That was a wonderful thing. From one corner of the world, we traveled to Pisa for Andrea Bocelli, we went to Amy Winehouse at Abbey Road Studios, back to New York with Lady Gaga.
Before Amy Winehouse died, you had planned on seeing her again.
Because of my 85th birthday, the BBC did a television special for me from the Palladium and I wanted her on that show. Right after the [Duets II recording] date, I said, "I’m going to talk to her and tell her to cool it, because she’s going to destroy herself. I’m going to talk her out of it." When [Danny] called me up and told me she died, I couldn’t believe it. She didn’t look that ill when we recorded that day. She was absolutely sober that day. That’s why I felt that I could help her.
You’ve seen this happen many times over the decades.
Believe me, I’ve met so many people that were geniuses but were hooked on heroin. They told me that they hated it. One person told me, "I wish the first time I stuck a needle in my arm somebody would have hit me and knocked me out so it would never happen again. It’s the worst thing that ever happened to me." These people have a touch of genius in them, and yet they were hooked. It’s that dangerous.
Have there been recent songs added to what's called the Great American Songbook?
Stephen Sondheim. But what happened in the United States in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s: you had the greatest composers from Broadway and from movies, and they wrote the best songs. Those songs are not old. They will live on forever. No country in the world has ever given the rest of the world that much great music. What’s the Number One hit in Sweden? I don’t know. What’s the Number One hit in Germany? I don’t know. But I travel all over the world, and they love all those Fred Astaire songs.
You mentioned plans for recording an entire album with Stevie Wonder.
We’ve been talking about it for years. Sooner or later we’ll do it.

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