America’s got (lots of) talent

America’s got a lot of talent, and on Oct. 13, at Milwaukee’s Historic Pabst Theater, some of the best of the best from the past 10 years of the show, “America’s Got Talent,” performed for a diverse audience.

Taylor Williamson, 29-year-old stand-up comic, hosted the show. Williamson is from Delmar, Calif., and was the runner up on the eighth season of “America’s Got Talent;” he was also a semifinalist on the “Last Comic Standing.” He entertained the crowd with his family-friendly jokes and kept everyone entertained between acts.

Emily West is a very talented country music singer. She wore beautiful dresses while performing her songs from last year’s show, which she was the runner-up in. West debuted on Billboard’s Hot Country Song Charts in 2008 with the single “Rocks in Your Shoes.”

Smoothini “the Ghetto Houdini” was a favorite of the night. His real name is Tomas B. De La Cruz Jr. and he is from the Dominican Republic. Smoothini is a close-up magician who was eliminated in the judge’s choice round of 2014, Season 9. Smoothini wowed the audience with several card tricks and some audience-involved magical acts. One of his acts was very Houdini-like as he had an audience member tie his hands and he escaped by pulling his hands out of the rope while it was still tied.

Another favorite of the night was the band Recycled Percussion. The band finished in third place on the fourth season of “America’s Got Talent.” The band plays music called “junk rock.” They play on anything they can find, from ladders and buckets to trash cans and even metal grinders. The group is determined to inspire a drug- free youth to realize that they can do anything when they put their minds to it.

The Kristef brothers are a hand-balancing act from Season 8, where they reached the finals but were ultimately eliminated. The duos do a very different kind of balancing; they balance on top of each other’s heads. You can check out their act on YouTube to see it for yourself. It was very amazing indeed.

The show was very entertaining and proved that America does have a lot of talent. Like a lot of other audience members, Mitra from Antioch, Ill., could not decide what she liked best about the show. She and her family are big fans of the show. She said she “liked the host and the percussion band, but she really liked the whole show. It was hard to pick a favorite.”

“America’s Got Talent” Season 11 airs the summer of 2016 on WTMJ. In the meantime, you can check out any of the performers from the show on YouTube.