Tom Cotter

Tom Cotter is a standup comedian act from Season 7 of America's Got Talent.

Background
Tom Cotter's high energy, rapid-fire style of comedy leaves audiences clutching their sides and rolling in the aisles. Tom has filmed his very own half hour special for Comedy Central, won the grand prize at the Boston Comedy Festival. Recently, he made his first appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and was featured in "Best Of The Fest" at the Montreal Comedy Festival. Other recent television appearances include Comedy CEntral's Premium Blend, the 2008 Barbara Walters Special, The Late Late Show on CBS, and NBC's Last Comic Standing.

Since moving to New York City, Tom landed his own series on the Woman's Entertainment Network called "Two Funny" and was featured in the Miramax Film, Next Stop Wonderland. He has performed at over 300 colleges and in a wide variety of venues from Nome, Alaska to Beijing, China, to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Tom's appeal is truly international as he was summoned to London to tour and perform on British Television, and he won the Seattle International Stand-Up Comedy Competition, as the Boston Herald noted "winning the largest margin of victory in the history of the event." He has also been featured in dozens of television commercials for products like McDonald's, Doritos, Pepsi, and Amstel Lite. 1

Audition
Tom Cotter's audition consisted of joking about his parents and girl scouts beating him up, his parents trying to surprise him with a car, freezing water balloons, being spanked by the mothers of his neighborhood, stealing a Buick, an illegitimate birthy, and "bouncing up and down" his neighbor's tramp Arlene. Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne, and Howie Mandel all voted "Yes," sending him to the Vegas Round.



Vegas Round
Tom Cotter was one of the Judges' Favorites in the Vegas Round. He was sorted into the "Comedians" category. His performance consisted of joking about recollections of his wife such as "missing" her with a rifle. His audition was strong enough for the judges to send him to the Quarterfinals along with Jacob Williams.



Quarterfinals
Tom Cotter's Quarterfinals performance consisted of joking about how common sayings like "break a leg," a "party pooper," and "looking for a needle in a haystack" make no sense (if taken literally). He received enough votes to be sent to the Semifinals instead of Hawley Magic and LionDanceMe.



Semifinals
Tom Cotter's Semifinals performance consisted of joking about college such as with jokes about college students getting piercings and tattoos as well as dating a minor and studying "a broad." He received enough votes to be revealed as one of the Top 4 of the first Semifinal round instead of Bria Kelly and Eric Dittelman. Tom was later revealed to be one of the Top 2 of the first Semifinal round, immediately sending him to the Finals.



Trivia

 * Tom Cotter has currently progressed farther in the competition than any other standup comedian in the history of America's Got Talent, being in at least the Top 6.