Simon Cowell compares America’s Got Talent act to Alien: 'Japanese humor might be funniest in the world'

Anticipation for the Olympics was strong on Tuesday night's episode of America's Got Talent, as the show prepared to break for two weeks to make way for the games airing on NBC and streaming on Peacock.

Before they did, a very strange act decided to get in on the excitement. The Black Peppers is led by Brock, a Japanese man whose Olympic dreams ended with an injury when he was a child. He now acts out a routine on the pommel horse with the help of several others, including a man positioned so that it looks like his face is coming out of the first man's belly. That second man moves his arms around like they're legs, and the result was bonkers.

"Do you remember that movie Alien? The first one. Do you remember when the thing comes out of the guy's stomach?" judge Simon Cowell asked when the group of five people included in the act stood on stage at the end. "Yeah, it was really funny. I did get a bit confused, I'm not gonna lie." 

Sofia Vergara, meanwhile, felt for the man who was awkwardly situated in another person's torso.

"Can we get this poor guy out of there?" she asked, adding that she thought the act was "Amazing. Super funny. Super ambitious."

Heidi Klum found them "hilarious" and was complimentary of "the humor you have in Japan."

Howie Mandel and Cowell agreed, giving the Black Peppers four yeses.

"I'm actually starting to feel that Japanese humor might be the funniest in the world," Cowell said.

In another humorous — or at least meant to be amusing — act, Nick from Queensland, Australia, announced that he would attempt to break the record for the most underpants put on in 30 seconds. He had to put on 24 pairs in 30 seconds, which he failed to do.

But he had a man from Guinness World Records on standby to help him see if he could break another record, that of most people gathered in one place wearing underwear on their heads. (Yes, that's actually a thing!) The audience, who all had a pair of new white men's briefs under their seats, agreed to help him do it, even chanting, "Simon, wear it," to pressure Cowell to participate.

"Looks like a nun convention," Klum joked.

Official counters came in and declared that they had broken the record of 355 people, with 1,206 people. But it didn't help them crack the judges, who all voted no.

"I understand that a lot of people are very, very fascinated by those records," Vergara said. "For some reason, I don't really care about seeing them happen. So I didn't love it."

Klum didn't either.

"I mean we definitely have not had an act quite like this before," she said, "but I feel like for all of us to put underwear on our heads is not a talent."

There were several acts on the stage that required a very specific talent: balance. Prilepin Quartet, from Russia, was one. The men sported matching suits and immediately gave judge Howie Mandel Beatles vibes.

However, this fab four did not sing, but rather built pyramids to the tune of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

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Mandel "loved the theme, and I loved the strength," he said. "You were amazing."

Cowell felt much the same. 

"You were so slick," he said. "And normally in an act like this, there's always somebody who has the easy part. And on this act, every one of you had the hard part. And the strength that goes into that and the precision… It really, really was a great audition."

The men will be back, after the judges all voted for them.

The rest of the night was filled with a pogo-stick act, aerialists, singers, and more.

When the show returns for the live shows on Aug. 13, the shows teased, each of the judges will have one Golden Buzzer, which they can use to send an act straight to the finals.