Fighting Gravity Team, Andy Kaufman-Like Comedian Woo Judges on "America's Got Talent"

NEW YORK (CBS) The talent showdown "America's Got Talent" was in a New York State of mind Tuesday night as it headed to the Big Apple, where more hopefuls faced off for a shot at Las Vegas.

Things lit up when the lights went out. A glow-in-the-dark team named "Fighting Gravity" dazzled the stage with a Blue Man Group-inspired performance.

Once the lights come on, audience members see they are surrounded by "invisible" men wearing black suits. Piers found it clever; Howie called its uniqueness "exciting" ; Sharon thought their timing was spot-on, deeming them "current" and "edgy."

The quirkiness ensued with a 32-year-old white-wig-wearing store clerk named Prince Poppycock. The Virginia-raised performer dressed as a French prince and got New York on its feet with a hilarious, yet soaring operatic performance from "The Barber of Seville." Though his routine took cues from aristocratic Europe, glitzy Vegas was the judges cry.

The surprises in Gotham didn't stop there. A comedic Andy Kaufman-inspired inewcomer named Doogie Horner at first seemed to be dud with his comedy shtick; the audience immediately jeered his one-liners. Horner, however, turned the boos around and made it funny. He won over the crowd. "Celebrity judges, I swear I came here with jokes to tell," he says. "I don't know if you've heard any of them!" Howie, a comedian himself, knows comedy is a tough-sell, but thinks he "sounds and looks funny"; Sharon feels he "held his own"; Piers doesn't buy it and slaps an 'X' on the jokester, ruling he wasn't funny.

Other Vegas winners included vaudevillian burlesque outfit "Peek-A-Boo Revue"; the amazing Jia-Yi He, who plays four harmonicas at once; and the walking-through-knives stunt team Danger Committee.

"America's Got Talent" will continue next Tuesday on NBC.