'AGT' judges stunned as married comedians audition separately — and reveal surprise twist on stage
Many married couples have auditioned together as an act for 'America's Got Talent' Season 20. However, during the recent episode of the NBC talent competition, which was released on August 5, the judges were baffled when they learned that a husband and wife were auditioning separately. At first, Ontario native comedian Matt O'Brien took over the stage and made the judges laugh with his solid comedy set. Eventually, O'Brien earned four yeses from the judging panel, and he advanced to the next round. Shortly afterward, Julia Hladkowicz came on stage to audition and told the judges that she was also a stand-up comedian from Ontario.
Following that, judge Howie Mandel asked Hladkowicz, "Do you know the guy that was just on?" to which the latter jokingly responded, "Yeah, I know Matt a bit because he’s my husband." At that point, O'Brien rushed towards the stage to kiss her; meanwhile, Hladkowicz smiled. Mandel further added, "Now you’re competing against each other. Matt is really good, but what if you do better?" In her response, Hladkowicz said, "Oh, well, good." Then, Mandel questioned Hladkowicz, "You following your husband?" to which she replied, "Yes, I am."
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During her set, Hladkowicz candidly spoke about her husband O'Brien and how he's been snoring "more and more" over the years. According to NBC, Hladkowicz said, "Men snoring is disgusting. Men snoring is the patriarchy. You’re already asleep. You already won. Why do you have to add a soundtrack to it? And, I get it. I get it. It's not your fault, men. I mean, you don't even know you're doing it. Which I find even worse, because even while you’re asleep, part of your subconscious is like, 'only I may sleep while the women suffer.' I'm not some man-hating comedian. I'm not. I also hate when women snore, but at least when a woman snores, I'm like, it's nice to see a female in a male-dominated industry."
After her performance, Hladkowicz received a standing ovation from three judges, Mandel, Mel B, and Sofia Vergara. Then, Mandel asked Simon Cowell, "Can you imagine this household?" to which Cowell replied, "That's all I kept thinking about." While offering his feedback, Cowell said, "That was hard, what you just did, actually following your husband, cause you did get a yes, and secretly one of you probably wants to be the only one to get a yes. Meanwhile, Mel told Hladkowicz, "You are my kind of girl. I wanted to hear more!" Later in the episode, Hladkowicz also received four yeses from the judges, and she moved on to the next round.
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When O'Brien and Hladkowicz, who have been married since 2016, were asked why they competed on 'AGT' individually, Matt explained, "We’ve always been two separate acts. Sometimes we’ll host a show together, which is fun, or other times a club will book us together to co-headline, which I think they like because it saves them from booking two hotel rooms. Show biz baby!" On the other hand, Hladkowicz shared, "We never set out to compete against each other. We’re just a married couple who happen to be in the same industry. We often go out for the same opportunities. Like Matt said, we’re separate acts. Maybe one day we’ll do a Sonny and Cher thing."