Don McMillan received Howie Mandel’s wildcard nomination on “America’s Got Talent” on Wednesday night, but America did not vote him to be the wildcard act.
McMillan’s original audition to make it into the America’s Got Talent competition was back in April, airing on July 26. He captivated the masses with his PowerPoint presentation comedy, securing him a spot in the semifinals.
McMillan’s semifinals performance did not get him a spot in the finals, as decided by public vote.
However, there was one shot of redemption for McMillan – the wildcard vote.
At the beginning of Wednesday night’s episode of AGT, each judge (Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandel and Simon Cowell) nominated one act for the wildcard spot in the finals.
Howie Mandel selected McMillan as his wildcard vote.
“It was really cool. He’s been, since my first audition back in April, a big supporter, which is thrilling to me because he was truly one of the first comics I saw when I was 21, or 22,” said McMillan. “He is one of the best live comedians I’ve ever seen before, so the fact that he was a fan of my comedy was just thrilling. It was great.”
The time from the nomination to the announcement of the winner was only an hour, and McMillan himself had no idea how the vote was going to go.
“Well, it took me back to the semifinal show, where it was live and I was there on the stage, and it’s such a helpless feeling because you’re totally at the vote of America,” said McMillan.
During that hour McMillan and his wife were contacting friends, family and anyone they knew to vote for him. McMillan said numerous people were reaching out to him, letting him know that he had their vote.
“I mean people from my sixth-grade class sent me an email going, ‘God I remember playing kickball with you on the playground. I voted for you; my family voted for you. We can’t wait to see you,’” said McMillan.
Despite the valiant efforts of McMillan and his supporters, he did not receive enough votes to be chosen as AGT’s wildcard act.
McMillan’s time on AGT is not yet up, however. He has been asked to perform in next week’s AGT finale on Wednesday, Sept. 14, in the “roast Simon” comedy special.
He will be performing a “Simon analysis” PowerPoint comedy presentation, roasting the very judge who gave him his one and only no in his audition.
If that is too long of a wait to see a McMillan special, McMillan will be performing locally Saturday night at 9 p.m. at J.R.’s Comedy Club, 24201 Magic Mountain Parkway (inside Mimi’s Café). Tickets are available at bit.ly/3B58eOS.
