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Tom Cotter was a comedian from Season 7 of America's Got Talent. He finished the competition in 2nd place. Tom returned for America's Got Talent: The Champions, where he was eliminated in the Preliminaries.

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 in 2003. He won the grand prize at the Boston Comedy Festival and was voted Best Stand-Up at the Las Vegas 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 in 1994, 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 in Episode 704 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 in Episode 712 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 in Episode 716 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 in Episode 717 instead of Hawley Magic and LionDanceMe.

Semifinals[]

Tom Cotter's Semifinals performance in Episode 726 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 in Episode 727 to be one of the Top 2 of the first Semifinal round, immediately sending him to the Finals.

Finals[]

Tom Cotter's Finals performance in Episode 730 consisted of randomly rolling a die determining his material topic: Poor Examples. He proceeded to joke about topics like bed bugs and fairy tales.

Finale[]

For the finale in Episode 731, Tom Cotter roasted the three judges in a duet with Joan Rivers. Tom was revealed to have finished in second place in the competition that same night, in front of William CloseDavid Garibaldi and His CMYK'sJoe Castillo, and The Untouchables, but behind Olate Dogs.

The Champions Preliminary[]

Tom Cotter returned for The Champions.  Tom's performance in Episode TC03  consisted of perfoming a stand up routine involving jokes about dogs and being a father to twins. Simon Cowell buzzed the act, but Howie Mandel gave him a standing ovation. Tom did not receive enough votes to advance to the night's Top 3, eliminating him from the competition.

Trivia[]

  • Tom is the first stand-up comedian to be a runner-up in America's Got Talent. He was followed by Taylor Williamson in Season 8 and Drew Lynch in Season 10.
  • He was the first act ever to be buzzed on any kind of America’s Got Talent spin-off show (America’s Got Talent: The Champions).

External Links[]


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