AGT Comedian Makes History Getting Booed For a Golden Buzzer
Australia's Reuben Solo got booed by the crowd, rejected by the Judges... and a Golden Buzzer?
An Australian comic with hopes of moving out of his parents’ house might want to put a pause on packing his bags, at least if his performance on America’s Got Talent is any indication.
Like most who step onto the AGT stage, Reuben Solo certainly had his eye on the show’s coveted Golden Buzzer, hoping to bypass the following stages of the competition and head straight into AGT’s live rounds with his version of funny. He promised “a mix” of styles to the Judges, fusing stand-up with sketch comedy he hoped would be enough to help him come to America.
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“It’s so hard to stand out; there are so many comedians,” Solo acknowledged. “So, I’ve cooked up something a little bit different for you guys.”
What did Reuben Solo do for his performance?
First, Solo did a shoutout for his mother, who he said should have been in the Live Audience. When she didn’t respond, Solo said, “She didn’t make it.” When Solo did another shoutout for his father, a voiceover came to life with a man saying, “Get on with it!"
The crowd warmed up to the Act with scattered laughter.
Solo transitioned to a bit using a whiteboard to illustrate the comedic temperature of the room, drawing a graph and measuring the intensity of laughter against how long it lasted.
“What?” wondered Judge Heidi Klum as Solo marked what he called some “fake laughs” and “cheers” before deciding to test the data against the judging panel.
When asked, Judge Sofia Vergara admitted she wasn’t enjoying the performance just yet, but then a male voiceover came over the speakers and said, “Not only are you funny, you’re handsome as well.”
Judge Heidi Klum shook her head ‘no’ when Solo asked what she thought as a recording of a scream continued.
Vergara was the first to hit her red X when Solo asked for Judge Howie Mandel’s response, which was then dubbed by the recording.
“Reuben, old boy, this is the greatest comedy act I’ve ever seen,” said the voiceover.
Judge Simon Cowell was next to hit his red X, and Klum soon followed suit.
How did Reuben Solo get the Golden Buzzer?
The voiceover continued to talk about how it was “Golden Buzzer time, baby,” and to the shaking heads and boos of the crowd, Solo hit the Golden Buzzer on behalf of Mandel. Once back onstage to the cannons of gold confetti, Mandel was the last to vote ‘no’ for the comic.
“I think you better phone your mum and dad and say you’ll be going back to live with them again,” Cowell told the performer. “That wasn’t great; it just didn’t work.”
While the Judges agreed that Solo didn’t have what it took to make the next round, they all agreed he was a nice guy and thanked him for coming out all that way to make an effort.
What do we know about Reuben Solo?
What Reuben didn’t tell AGT Judges was that he’s increasingly establishing himself as a comic out of Melbourne and has already won a couple of Australian Fringe Festival awards for his work. He is currently on his Please Clap 2024 tour in Europe and the U.K., with over 20 stops around the continent, according to his website.
U.K. entertainment magazine The List, called Solo's style "absurdist" and "surreal," citing Please Clap as "flipping brilliant."
"You'll either love him or you'll loathe him, but it's highly, highly unlikely you'll find yourself without anything to say about him," The List wrote in their February 2024 review.
His late 2023 comedy special, Feedback Loop, featured a collection of bits from his 2023 tour show, Palindrome.
Solo has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram and more than half a million followers on TikTok, where his videos have garnered tens of millions of views.
In 2023, South Australia’s The Barefoot Review called his Palindrome work “excellent” and “not to be missed.”
“Reuben Solo is a rarity,” wrote Kym Clayton. “His comedy has a unique style all of its own, and it’s not merely about telling jokes which would be lamentably formulaic. His own publicity describes his humour as ‘off-beat’, and it is certainly that: it is eccentric, unconventional (thank the lord!), and intelligent.”
Reuben Solo might not have won the Judges over on AGT, but that doesn’t mean the world has seen the last of him.
Watch all-new episodes of America’s Got Talent, Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and available to stream the next day on Peacock.
