Simon Cowell finally met a clown who made him laugh — and the crowd couldn’t stop cheering
A Chilean contestant, Papayaso, real name Andres Parada, appeared on the 'AGT' show as a surprise. Initially failing the judges with expressions of an elephant and a dog, he soon shifted to doing impressions and upped the game. He began with Jason Statham, which not only stunned the judges but also won over the audience as well. He then did a David Attenborough, the infamous British broadcaster. In Attenborough's heavy, serious voice, he said, "The Chilean clown is known for surviving solely off laughter. Therefore, this clown is in mortal danger." The audience erupted in laughter.
Then he switched to Jimmy Fallon's voice, "Gotta great show tonight, everybody,” Parada said hysterically, clapping as The Tonight Show host. “We got Adam Driver in the house,” he added. He then took things up a notch by doing the next impression of Simon Cowell. "I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve seen funnier clowns in horror films," Parada said, keeping one finger on his cheek. The act was so good that it was followed by a roaring standing ovation from the audience and the judges.
As the performance ended, Sofia Vergara went first: "Papayaso, that was amazing!" She added, "I'm surprised; I thought you were going to come and, you know, clown around. I'm going to be honest, this was a very big surprise. Good for you!" Howie Mandel also told Parada, "We look for moments, and we look for surprises, and you are a moment, and you are a surprise." He continued, "When you started with the animal noises, we thought, oh, this is a joke act, and then you were the best impressionist I've ever heard." Heidi Klum went next. "I thought your impression was amazing, but what I loved the most was how excited you were when it worked out in the end. You did your impression, and then you were so happy with yourself when you were laughing." She concluded, “That made me laugh.” Simon Cowell tried hard to regain his composure and stopped laughing. “I’ve never seen or met a funny clown in the world; you might be the only one,” he said.
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Fans, too, were completely blown away; one said in YouTube's comments section, "This is a true positive entertainer with a high IQ, no doubt. This type of performing is indeed needed to refresh minds and hearts in a stressful world." Another added, "Love how he reacts each time the audience loves his impressions." The third chimed in, "For me, this is the second-best act this season. Papayaso appeared to be a Spanish-only speaker, but - nobody expected that - he can speak with American and British English accents. That was the big surprise." One even went on to say, "Actually pretty funny. It started a bit slow, but then he got into his true impressions. Good one on Simon. Simon isn't into clowns, so that guy did a good job winning him over."
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NBC once reported that Parada learned comedy from some of the top workshops in the game, including The Idiot, The Pack, and the legendary Second City. However, Papayaso is only one part of his creative arsenal; Parada is also a writer, actor, and musician who routinely performs at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and often contributes to the infamous satirical outlet The Daily Misnomer.
