'AGT' Semifinalist Explains Why Her Videos Were Banned
Eleven performers take the stage live from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium tonight when America’s Got Talent begins the Season 18 Live Shows, and the judging is turned over to the audience to vote for their favorite performer to move to the final round.
Of the 11 artists that will entertain judges Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara as well as the rest of America, only two will get voted through, so nerves run high as the chance of making it through to the finale is slim.
Of course, the Golden Buzzer act that will perform on each Live Show has an added advantage having been given a stamp of approval from the judges, but there is always the possibility that America won’t put all the GBs through.
One act performing tonight that is a standout, who is hoping to make the cut, is 12-year-old Brynn Cummings from Paw Paw, Mich., a ventriloquist and mentalist.
“I feel like it’s scarier,” Brynn tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “Auditions wasn’t that bad, but I feel like now it’s going to be so much more pressure. It’s actually live this time and only two go through out of the 11 people, and I’m going against some really good people.”
Related: America’s Got Talent Reveals the 55 Acts Set to Perform on Season 18’s Live Shows
Brynn is following in Season 12 AGT winner Darci Lynne’s footsteps and, in fact, it was seeing Darci Lynne that first inspired Brynn to pick up a puppet and try her hand at ventriloquism.
“When I was 8 years old actually, I was in the living room and I watched Darci and I said, ‘That’s what I want to do,’ and so I basically self-taught myself from that point on,” Brynn explains. “I started singing her exact act because I had nothing else to do. I had no other act.”
Then Brynn posted her first video on social media singing The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and that blew up. But eventually she realized that so many ventriloquists sing, so she wanted to add a little something extra and she tried mentalism and magic.
Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC
One of the things that the judges always tell the acts is that they have to do something even bigger and better when they make the live shows. And Brynn, who has done both magic and ventriloquism in the same show, but not combined, is going to incorporate them together to take that next step, and she will be involving the judges and the audience.
“I’m doing something I’ve never done before,” is all she will reveal.
Following is more of our chat with Brynn, who talks about her various puppets, putting her act together, what she would do with the $1 million and more.
Do you have more than one puppet and do you make your own puppets?
We have a maker who makes them for us. We only have one puppet that’s not made by him. I have Penelope, my main puppet. You saw her on the audition. I have Savannah, and she’s like this giant teenager girl. Those are the two I perform with now. My first puppet was a mermaid. And then I have two more that I haven’t performed with, I have Wazzy, who’s an it. He’s blue and pink and white with a duck bill. And then I have Nigel, who’s a super sophisticated orangutan.
Your act is so professional for someone 12 years old, who helps you with it?
My mom helps me, and then I also have my coach Gary Owen. We do more of the writing, he’s more like inflections. He edits it and adds in jokes.
Since you first auditioned, has your social media blown up? How have people responded to you?
On TikTok, I did reach 10,000 followers, and that’s when TikTok banned me for being underage. My account got deleted, so I have another one now, but it only has a whole nine followers. Now it’s a private account, so people have to request and I have to accept if they follow. So, I don’t have very many on TikTok anymore. But I have over 5,000 on Facebook.
Did you hear from Darci Lynne?
Yes, Darci actually private messaged me on Instagram. She was like, “Good job. You’re rocking it. I wish you luck.” All that kind of stuff.
I know Simon asked you this but maybe you have a different answer now. What would you do if you won the $1 million?
Well, we can X off the bearded dragon because we already got the bearded dragon. So, still the touring [bus] because I feel like that’d be fun. I don’t really know.
Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC
You go back to school in two weeks. How do you juggle your classes with your ventriloquism?
I’m really lucky because I haven’t started school yet, so I don’t have to worry about school for AGT. But for the last two years, it’s mostly I go to school and then later, like when I get home from school I get an hour to do homework, get a snack, re-start, and then I practice.
AGT is such a huge stage, had you performed on other stages before you came here?
For the past two years I’ve been performing at the Grand Magic Theater in Colon, Mich. I did four shows a week for two summers. And then I’ve performed at Wealthy Theater a few times, some churches, some schools, and I’ve done a few birthday parties.
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, and then results are revealed on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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