Spoilers ahead for the latest night of America’s Got Talent auditions for Season 17.
The auditions of Season 17 are nearly over, and America’s Got Talent ended the latest episode in a pretty perfect way. No, it wasn’t with another act that convinced the judges to break the rules and hit a bonus golden buzzer again, but the surprise reveal that none other than Sethward had returned had everybody – including the judges – in stitches. The comedian has officially achieved the level of AGT fame that members of the audience were screaming his name, and the judges seemed pretty delighted… even though they probably should have seen the “wardrobe malfunction” coming. This was Sethward, after all!
Although he has taken the form of animals ranging from caterpillar to walrus to peacock, he first went for a fruit this time around. He took the stage under the guise of a stand-up comic from New York going by the name “the Big Apple.” It was after he was buzzed by Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum, and Howie Mandel that he delivered the big reveal: he’s not a stand-up who flopped on AGT, but the AGT frequent flyer dressed as a worm! It’s really an act that you need to see to believe, so take a look:
This was Sethward’s fourth season on the show, after he debuted as Sethward the Caterpillar back in Season 13. He didn’t win over the audience or the judges on that night in 2018, but he has steadily built up a reputation ever since. This time, audience members were yelling his name and explaining his identity to those who hadn’t seen him before. Sethward “accidentally” flashing the crowd brought the wild act to a chaotic end, but not a surprising one for any who remembered him as the caterpillar, when he ended up flashing everybody.
Everybody was definitely happier to see Sethward back to his old tricks than they were to watch the Big Apple's comedy routine, although Sofia Vergara still looked confused at first when he showed his face. Of course, she joined AGT as a judge only after his first two seasons, so she hasn’t been part of the Sethward saga from the beginning.
As somebody who wasn’t the biggest fan of Sethward back in the early days, I have to admit that I was as delighted as everybody else at the reveal. I did start to connect the dots as soon as the comic disappeared into his apple costume and started wriggling around, but I 100% didn’t foresee Sethward the Worm trying to rhythmically wiggle to “Dancing in the Moonlight.” Not a bad way to end the second-to-last night of Season 17 auditions!
Sethward was buzzed by all four judges before his reveal, so this may have been his first and last appearance in Season 17. At this point, I feel like it’s safe to go into each season at least hoping that he has found a new costume to try his shot at the $1 million prize again. The competition in the current season is certainly fierce, and a lot of contestants are soon going to find out their fates after the judges' deliberations.
Even those who received enough votes to move ahead after their auditions aren’t guaranteed a slot in the live shows without a golden buzzer (which we ranked in order of most likely to win), so be sure to tune in! The next episode of America’s Got Talent airs on Tuesday, August 2 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. If you’ve fallen behind, you can catch up streaming with a Peacock subscription, and find more shows to fill primetime in the not-too-distant future with our 2022 TV premiere schedule.
