‘AGT’ Season 19 Premiere: The Biggest, Best & Most Memorable Moments!

Richard Goodall is a quiet, nervous and unassuming man from Terre Haute, Indiana. He’s 55, a father and works as a janitor, but always had dreams of singing that he never felt comfortable pursuing.

When he takes the stage, he’s got a palpable anxiety, but a determination to push through, and when asked what he’ll be singing and why, he says that the song will speak for itself.

The song turns out to be “Don’t Stop Believing.” And Richard turns out to be incredible.

The song is a karaoke standard for a reason — it’s almost impossible to listen to and not root for whoever is singing. It’s impossible to not root for life itself and all of its magic.

That feeling of magic and wonder is exactly what Richard brings to the stage, and he’s met with a resounding cheer from the entire theater, bringing him to tears.

“Richard, you are my hero. ‘Cause that was special, genuinely special,” Simon marvels. “I think America is gonna love you.”

“I mean, that was spectacular,” Heidi gushes. “That was fun. This was an amazing surprise. I think you were perfect to come to AGT because you made our night.” 

Heidi was so moved by Richard, in fact, that she used her first Golden Buzzer to make his dreams come true.

When Tonikaku — the Japanese body performer and comic — took the stage, Simon was already familiar with him, as he performed on Britain’s Got Talent and did well.

It’s hard to exactly explain the nearly naked Tonikaku’s act, but it involves pantomime, flexibility, charisma, and wearing the tiniest speedo you could ever imagine a man of his size wearing.

The routine is strangely hypnotic and funny and genuinely impressive, and earned four baffled yes votes. Meaning we’ll see more of Tonikaku (or less, as he joked) in the weeks to come.

Chris Ivan’s whole act involved him trying to set a world record by throwing plungers at shirtless men’s backs and trying to get them to stick.

He even brings out an adjudicator from Guinness World Records.

Then, he does so badly at throwing them, all four judges slam their X-buzzers. It’s increasingly rare to get all four judges to hate the same thing, but Chris Ivan managed the feat.

Arshiya Sharm is 13, she’s adorable, and wants to scare the hell out of you.

The young artist is a dancer and a big dreamer — but she wants to stand out from the crowd, so she opts to explore the possibilities offered by horror and terror.

After changing into her true outfit — a zombie girl with white eyes — she wows the judges with a twisting, turning, mind-blowing act that left everyone stunned.

She earns her four yes votes and tells Terry, “I want to give you a shock again in the next audition!” Truly, I cannot wait to see what is in store.

While Reyna Roberts is actually a somewhat established artist (with numerous appearances performing on Monday Night Football), it’s still scary for any artist to put themselves out there in front of an audience like AGT.

Reyna is a country songstress who is based in Nashville and has an amazing, twangy voice, which is showcased in her country pop original tune “Raised Right.”

The tune earns a standing ovation and thumbs up from Simon, who praises her talent and her ambition.

Howie says the original song didn’t really connect with him, but that music is subjective. Heidi, however, likes her song, her voice and her look, and Sofia agrees.

Simon says he’s beyond thrilled she came on the show and happily gives her the first yes vote. Howie votes no for some inexplicable reason, but Sofia and Heidi make up for it, sending Reyna on to the next round.

Ashlee came on AGT because she felt that there wasn’t enough ballet being represented on the show.

Simon muttered under his breathe “for a reason,” and then explained how much he hates ballet.

Obviously, this was a clever set up to make Simon eat his words — and Ashlee managed to do just that. She’s not just a ballet dancer, she a danger artist!

Her whole set saw her walking on pointe over some precariously lined up empty champagne bottles high above the stage — and the tension was palpable.

Ashlee was brought to tears by her success and she was overwhelmed by how it felt to do so well in front of so many people.

“I said to Sofía beforehand, you know, I actually can’t bear the ballet, or opera, actually… but now you’ve found a way of making it interesting,” Simon said, calling it one of the “most difficult acts” he’d seen in such a long time.

“You made ballet so dangerous, which is something I never thought anyone would say,” Howie marveled.

Needless to say, she got her 4 yes votes and couldn’t contain her excitement.

Learnmore Jonasi is a stand-up comic from Zimbabwe and learned to speak English from watching comedy specials.

His segement was scored with Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles,” which was perfect to showcase his love for Terry — and his famous role in White Chicks.

(Not to spoil the twist — but he’s probably going to love Terry even more after this audition!)

As Simon tells him before his set, two minutes can make all the difference in a career, and this comic is making the most of his stage time with a great set informed by his heritage and poking fun as cultural differences, but on some less-trodden ground than many might have heard before.

The comic earned a standing ovation and some real love from the judges — particularly, fellow comic Howie.

However, he got a display of real love from Terry, who rewarded all his hard work becoming a comic and his kind words with the seasons FIRST GOLDEN BUZZER!

Dog trainer Amy and her precious pup, a beagle named Daisy May, win over Simon from the moment that they take the stage, and it’s a super cute act.

Daisy May doesn’t appear to be the most agile dog (despite being an agility training dog, apparently), and she’s very well-behaved.

I’m gonna be honest… I love dogs, but it’s hard to imagine most dog acts as being major breakout hits. And as fun as it is to see a puppy run around and be adorable, there needs to be more pomp, circumstance and theater to the whole thing.

And, in this rare case, the judges agree. Even Simon — who says yes to every dog act under the sun — says no. And the other judges follow his lead.

But it’s still a fun watch on YouTube because the dogs are just cute as hell.

It’s always worrying when a contestant is brought out without any indication of what their act is going to be.

In the case of ‘Crazy Sam’ it seems like it’s going to be creepy magic. 

And this prediction is proven true when he comes down to do some close-up magic for the judges that involves him “removing” his fingers and “moving” them around his hand.

Sometimes, the judges don’t appreciate truly impressive magic when they are confronted by it. However, other times some fairly simply street magic illusions just blow their minds.

In this case, it seems it’s more Crazy Sam’s vibe and personality that wins them over more so than the magic itself — not to say he’s not talented by any means. But either way the judges are charmed and give him four yes votes.

One of the youngest contestants ever in AGT history is a toddler who can do math like a real pro.

The bit starts off with the judges throwing out numbers that the young math whiz — at this direction of his dad — starts solving on white boards.

The bit is fairly impressive  — although clearly designed to capitalize on how ridiculously cute this kid is — as a very young child solves some reasonably challenging addition and multiplication problems.

It’s a super cute act, however, is it one that’s going to win $1 million and a Vegas act? The judges seem to think so as they give Devon and his dad four yes votes!

The group of young women who come out first are met with resounding cheers from the audience. As it turns out, the group is from Los Osos High School from Rancho Cucamonga, California, and nearly the entire school came out to cheer them on.

The dancers are so optimistic and cheerful, it’s hard not to root for them right from the start — and then when they hit the stage, their flawless movement and innovative choreography just seals the deal.

They are as expertly timed as any AGT dance crew you’re likely to see, and they’ve got a great blend of energy and enthusiasm that it’s clear why they’ve got the kind of support that they do.

The group keeps getting bigger and bigger as the dance goes on, and the judges seem delighted. 

Heidi and Howie like the act, but want them to try to up their game when it comes to mind-blowing moments. Simon, however, disagrees, and thinks the routine displays “everything a good school should be doing” for its students.

The dance crew get three yes votes (and a single no from Howie, because of course) and are moving on to the next round!

AAAAnnnnd we’re off on a new season!

Every AGT premiere is so exciting because the untapped potential of what we might get to see this season is limitless!

Hopefully, we’ll get a magician, a young singer, a musician with an inspiring backstory, and a dance crew who trained themselves!

While sometimes it can feel a little bit like the acts fall into tropes, the truth of the matter is it’s wildly inspiring to see what people with true talent can do!

Let’s all celebrate hopeful people chasing their dreams yet again. It’s AGT time!

The Golden Buzzer is the biggest game changer and wild card this season — and it was Terry who explained why the very format of the show is so important.

“Talent is subjective. When you put a singer next to a dancer, next to a danger act, next to a magician — they each need their own buzzer!” Crews told ET. “I just think it’s perfect! And I’ve said this before, AGT is consistently evolving… [and] it’s getting better every time a new evolution comes out.”

With the new season about to start, it’s good to look back and see who earned the win in Season 18.

For the first time ever, a trained dog act took the grand prize! Adrian Stoica and his brilliant canine companion, Hurricane!

The season before that it was a dance crew! This show really brings out all kinds of amazing performers.

While the Golden Buzzer rule has been around since Season 10, this time around all the judges – and Terry – will get the chance to slam the Golden Buzzer twice!

How this is going to play out in the long-run is hard to tell. Is the final going to just be Golden Buzzer choices? If so, what’s the point of the audition rounds? Will having that many Golden Buzzers dilute the thrill?

ET spoke with Sofia Vergara recently, and she explained, “I thought at the beginning that we didn’t really need it. I thought, ‘Oh, it’s gonna lose a little bit of the excitement for it.’ But, you know what, the [contestants] are getting so good that you always feel like you want another one! So I think it was a great idea.”

Only time will tell!