{alltv} 'America's Got Talent' enlists dozen-odd YouTube acts

As if TV's oddest reality show competition couldn't get any weirder, an accordion-playing pooch and a flaming pizza juggler are about to join the competition on NBC's America's Got Talent (Tuesday, 9 ET/PT).

Pup, a 7-year-old mutt, and Ohio pizzeria owner Patt Miller are among 12 new acts chosen from 20,000 audition YouTube videos submitted for inclusion on the show, which has traditionally relied on live auditions, including some 70,000 this year.

The YouTube candidates were culled to about 40, then winnowed to 11 by AGT producers and show judges Howie Mandel, Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne. YouTube viewers selected Pittsburgh's Jackie Evancho — a 10-year old opera singer — to round out Tuesday's competition.

"It was like finding a needle in a haystack," says producer Jason Raff.

The live show — from which four acts will emerge to join this season's 24 semifinalists vying for $1 million and a Las Vegas contract — could have even more of a train-wreck quality than past episodes of summer's top-rated series. "Bypassing the traditional audition experience and putting people we've never met before on live TV is an experiment," Raff says. "It's kind of scary."

Mandel, whose taste for kooky acts has at times put him at odds with the seemingly more sophisticated tastes of Morgan, says the YouTube acts, including Pup and Ed Heiss, his guitar-playing sidekick, may not realize what's in store for them. (Mandel has been doing stand-up comedy for 30 years.)

"There was definitely raw talent in the You Tube videos, but it was hard to tell if they recorded themselves 40 times and how they'll perform under pressure live on stage in front of an audience. It could be sink or swim," Mandel says. Still, Jackie, the young opera singer, could become a fast viewer favorite and last well into the competition, he says.

Wednesday's results show will include a performance by another self-made Internet star, Judson Laipply, the motivational speaker whose 2006 Evolution of Dance video has been watched nearly 150 million times.

THE 12 YOUTUBE ACTS