...or talent.

To be fair, I've seen some very talented acts on there, as well as some that, while not household names, are pretty well established. They were not singers, tho, so they had no chance in hell of winning.

The problem is, the only reason they want people like us is for cannon fodder, and what little exposure we may get doesn't translate into "increasing your buisness and potential contracts with just one performance!" That's a sucker pitch.

Do we really want to pack up all our gear and costumes, travel, spend several 10+ hour days (if we're lucky) giving them material we've spent years creating and honing, all for the chance to be on tv for 1 - 2 seconds? Or at *best* dismissively judged by a panel who's mission statement is to get a singing act for a Vegas showroom.

Listen to the 5/27/09 ep. of Conjurers, Carnies & Collectors to hear Chris McDaniels' tell the story of his AGT experience.

Chris is not only *very* talented and has a pretty impressive resume, he's also one of the nicest gentlemen you could hope to meet.

The most important thing I learned from Tyree's emails is that "!" can be used in place of "you @55h0le".

Even better: "We're looking for variety acts to use as cannon fodder and laughing stocks for our judges to get their jollies with as we search for the next desperate unknown singer with little or no stage time."

Has a nice ring to it.

Stephon, would you mind terribly if I copy & pasted your reply? The AGT guys are pestering me as well. I have received 4 mails iin the past month and would like to send them a message. You know, if we ALL were on the same page with our replies, maybe........

Listen guys, you are fighting a losing battle. They don't care about us and never will. It's music acts that have won every year, except for Terry Fator (and he did vent impersonations of famous singers).

So, if yu can't beat them...join them. The only way to win is to sing "If I Had a Hammer" while doing Blockhead or "I've Got You Under My Skin" while doing Human Pincushion.

Nipps, you could be a contender if you lifted a male sibling from your teets while singing, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"

Listen to the Professor. I know.

Todd

And if any of you do take this advise, and happen to win the thing, you owe me 10 percent.

I could do onstage blacksmithing and sing "Bend Me, Shape Me"....

Todd, tongue-in-cheekiness aside, my only goal was to see how they would respond; I don't expect that AGT is going to change any of their methods, or start spell checking their emails.

Now, I just want the information to be out there, so anyone who considers auditioning goes in with full disclosure.

Oh, and Nipps--feel free. Or you could do what Charon Henning did and tell them "AGT is the worst thing to happen to the variety arts in the last century. Please do not ever ever contact me again"

They send an email back apologizing for upsetting her.