America's Got Talent stands out among reality competition shows for showcasing a variety of acts rather than just singers or dancers or comedians. The June 18 episode featured plenty of unexpected acts, including not one but two flutists. 31-year-old teacher Brandon Coprich brought out his flute to try and dazzle the judges, but it ended up being host Terry Crews who stole the show with a pec-jumping performance.
Terry Crews is undoubtedly best known to most folks for his work on the small screen and/or the football field, but he's also a skilled flutist. He just doesn't really get a ton of opportunities to show off his flutist side on Brooklyn Nine-Nine or host of America's Got Talent... until now. When judge Simon Cowell revealed he's very much not a fan of flute music, Crews brought out his flute to passive-aggressively (and hilariously) play the instrument at Cowell.
That wasn't the end of the flute shenanigans, though. Brandon Coprich walked out to perform his own flute number, much to Simon Cowell's dismay. Although the performance took a surprisingly Magic Mike-esque turn, Simon remained unimpressed, and none of the other judges were all-in either. Luckily, Terry Crews came to the rescue. The very, very shirtless rescue.
Take a look! The full video is worth the watch, but you can skip to 3:25 to see Terry Crews hit the stage.
I have so many questions! Did Terry Crews already know how to play Ginuwine's "Pony" on the flute, or is he so skilled with the flute that he just picked it up on the fly? How did Brandon Coprich keep his cool so well when he saw the shirtless Crews striding confidently on stage with his flute? How do clothes even contain Terry Crews on a daily basis? Has he actually just been wearing very convincing body paint for all these years because mortal seams can't contain his muscle mass?
Honestly, a big part of me wanted one of the judges to hit the golden buzzer for Terry Crews. Would it have made sense for the host to get a golden buzzer for crashing somebody else's performance? Not really. Would it have been hilarious if the flutist competitor was saved because Crews came out for a double-team flute act? Absolutely,
Surely even Simon Cowell would have had to admit that Terry Crews and Brandon Coprich teaming up to play "Pony" on their flutes while improvising a shirtless dance deserves to get to the live shows, right? Maybe viewers can vote Coprich back at a later point. Was Coprich so superior to all the other acts that were axed that he definitely deserves a second shot? Maybe not. If it meant the possibility of Crews showing off his surprisingly delicate shirtless flute skills on national television again, though, I'd vote for Coprich.
The competition is already shaping up to be quite stiff at the live shows. The golden buzzer winners so far alone are formidable competitors, and singer Joseph Allen shared the unique variable in his performance that helped him earn his golden buzzer. He may have gotten a standing ovation for "doing nothing," but all the ovations in the room apparently weren't enough for Brandon Coprich to advance.
If you weren't already sold on Terry Crews as the replacement for Tyra Banks as America's Got Talent host, hopefully this performance did the trick! Just like Tyra couldn't have pulled off that Dirty Dancing-esque lift that Crews managed a couple weeks ago, she definitely couldn't have nailed the shirtless flute dance.
Find out what's in store next on AGT with new episodes on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. It's not the only viewing option this summer, and CBS has an ambitious new reality series to provide some competition for America's Got Talent, so it should be interesting to see how the ratings hold up as the summer continues.
