It finally happened tonight as I had predicted on America's Got Talent. For his first appearance this guy appeared to be "special", "weird" or "different" - the judges and audience bought it. His second performance seemed to go over "okay" but not as well as the first.

The one thing he seemed to avoid up to this point was being seen or viewed as a magician or illusionist. I had mentioned in another post that he would not be able to keep this perception up as he proceeded. Tonight it happened. He blew his "special" image and not only was it seen as magic (illusion or trick) it was confusing and not well received at all. They turned on him, which as I had thought, once the audience and America discovered this was simple disguised "magic or illusion" they would feel duped, which I believe they now do.

His weirdness also became too much, over the top and unbelievable, also contributing to them turning on him. Too bad, but this happens when an entertainer starts something that is so difficult to sustain. Too bad, but we saw this coming.

He should of quit while he was ahead. Just do the one appearance and then vanish and leave everyone with a mystery to ponder. But I'm sure he was contractually obligated to keep making appearances until they voted him off. Pity.

I have to agree Mindpro. I was suprised when I saw him move on from the begining and last night was terrible

I agree. He could not sustain the image without eventually becoming a "magician".

Ron

Penn & Teller stopped calling themselves "the bad boys of magic" thirty years ago, because the word "magic" was keeping audiences away.

Special Head seemed to have a malfunction this week as noted by Heidi Klum who stated she saw his little Special Head after the puff of smoke.

Here are the links for the performances:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tL6tRBO6NI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVi0vFRjM......XDp_86jc

I can't see any links for the comments.

I don't think that the problem is 'magic'. I think it's just that he has a surprising novelty, which loses a lot when it isn't a surprise anymore. If his act included more variety, then his mysterious/ wacky persona and novel presentation could take him further IMO.

I also noticed that they did not put him in the magician category, but in the "variety" category. Seems to me that the producers did that on purpose to keep the split between magician and "weird guy".

I believe that he had a technical issue with his vanish. His "vanish" was not fast enough, his flashpot cover was not long enough. Even Heidi caught it and to an extent, exposed a decent illusion to America. It happens to all magicians at some point or another (equipment fails, assistants miss their cues, etc.). It was just unfortunate that it happened with the cameras rolling.

He could have done a bit more setup about dematerializing and materializing that may have helped with the confusion, but hard to say. Other than the vanish, the effect looked great. I thought the character was exactly what he needed to do to get noticed, and it worked. Good for him on that front. Sorry to see him go. He had good stuff.

Even if the vanish had been pulled off perfectly, the audience really didn't get it. He re-appeared outside which was confusing to everyone, especially in the theater and almost as much as home. It's not like he reappeared in the back of the theater or at the judges table. This failed on several levels.

And that weird dumb noise he made before the vanish was a complete turn off to many. He could have come up with something different.

Heidi also called out the female illusionist (Arianne Black) who was performing the interlude effect this season. Special Head's first effect was the strongest and very well done.

The 2nd video isn't playing. I don't watch the show, as I hate it. But, I do occasionally watch clips online that I've heard were interesting. He has posted on another online forum that his third performance was NOT something he wanted to do and that the AGT staff cooked it up for him, and something went wrong.

I know don't post here often, but I like this guy. Agreed it's hard to maintain such an eccentric character on a show like AGT which is "reality" driven. But, he is different, fun and with work could develop a truly wonderful show. Personality driven magic gave us Rob Zabrecky, a great performer who has shown magic what a little theater can do to improve a performance.

Just out of curiosity Jonathan, was advice would you give/have given this guy?

As Richard Kaufman says in August Genii, "kudos to Special Head" esp for sticking it to the pretentious judges and jeering audience. Nice editorial from Mr Kaufman, which credits the effect back to Walter Gibson in 1921!!! Might be older than that in fact. Lynn