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Canada’s Got Talent, episode 11: Dirty Dancing daddies and the next Justin Bieber

Canada’s Got Talent, episode 11: Dirty Dancing daddies and the next Justin Bieber
Canada’s Got Talent, Episode 11

If Canada’s Got Talent didn’t air on Sunday nights, we could make a drinking game that would get us blotto. The rules would be as follows: drink every time Stephan Moccio’s neck gets so cold he has to wear an indoor scarf (he’s wearing a peach-coloured one); take a shot whenever someone comments on Measha Brueggergosman’s hair (she’s wearing it in a sort of Bettie Page up-do); and chug whenever Martin Short makes a corny joke. Like last week, host Dina Pugliese has a small child in her lap towards the end of the show, but this week, the child is hers—she brought the whole family along to watch. Adorably, her son is either too tired or too shy to say much (the apple does fall far from the tree, sometimes), but the Puglieses aren’t the only special guests: Canadian comedy star Andrea Martin is in the audience (the camera guys not-so-subtly pan to her, and the producers even add a caption under her face). It’s getting more and more difficult for us to choose the best and worst, but check out our picks after the jump.

Vithou Thurter-Promtep (say that 10 times fast) is a teenage dream with a penchant for fedoras. The baby-faced performer invites comparisons to Justin Bieber from the male judges, while Brueggergosman melts because he winked at her (Short joked, “Wow, are you cheap”). While we would have preferred virtually any other song than his rendition of the grossly overplayed Bruno Mars hit “Just the Way You Are,” Vithou’s crooning and teen idol good looks will take him far in this competition.

Daddy Cool was the dance troupe we liked from the Montreal auditions, but despite improvements in their technique (something the judges were puzzlingly against, claiming they liked the rough-around-the-edges style the dads had in their audition), their dated references (like their homage to Dirty Dancing homage at the auditions and last night’s Night at the Roxbury dance) made this act feel stale. With 10-plus members, all with teenage daughters and sons, these guys may make it to the finals simply by virtue of tech-savvy kids (each individual can vote up to 50 times via Twitter, Facebook, text message and the like).

Roger LeBlanc is an actor from Calgary we met briefly during the eliminations round. His arresting soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth has a Canadian history twist—he and his fellow actors (well, silent props, really) are all dressed up in Canadian military costumes to honour the 95th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Again, we’re unsure how acting talent translates to this particular contest (monologues can only take a guy so far), but LeBlanc’s captivating stage presence makes us want to see what he comes up with next.

Yuval Fichman is a very talented piano player to be sure, but piano is simply not all that interesting to watch. Though the stage was decked out in what he called “Liberace at Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride” style (complete with tons of candelabras and fog shrouding the stage), and Yuval wore a tuxedo, we found the performance pretty lacklustre.

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