When John Riesen initially got the call for America’s Got Talent, he thought it was some kind of scam. “I got this message that’s like, ‘Would you please call this number immediately? It’s about an urgent matter in regards to America’s Got Talent.’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, right.’” Thankfully his gut told him to call them back. “So I picked up my phone and I just called the number. suddenly, things started going.”
Patrick Dailey had toyed with the idea of reality TV before but it never seemed right. As coincidence would have it though, he was enjoying watching deep fake Tom Cruise videos online. “Seeing those things, I was like, Oh, that’s really cool. I’m not a big tech person but I started sort of going down a couple of deep dives on deep fakes.”
John had ongoing commitments to the Knoxville Opera but was thrilled when producers of the opera house and America’s Got Talent were able to work out a compromise. “I got in contact with Knoxville opera, who I cannot thank enough. They enthusiastically released me from many days of rehearsal right in the middle of the process. I went out to Los Angeles and did the filming things and it was surreal.”
Daniel Emmet first took to the stage to perform “You’re My Inspiration” as the voice of Simon Cowell in an early round of auditions. “It was so much fun to get to return and to get to play a prank like that on our good friend Simon is amazing.” The response sent the act on to the next round so he was ready to step in as Simon once again.
John and Patrick were both chosen, not only because of their incredible vocal abilities but because they had face shapes similar enough to Howie Mandell and Terry Crews that the software could work. The three singers rehearsed over Zoom and tried to keep the performance a secret from the other performers and judges.
Patrick recalls the producers whisked away Terry Crews after the introduction of the act. “He did his script and then they said, ‘Terry we need you over here for a bit to do an interview.’” Patrick thinks Terry’s suspicions were up though. “I remember he comes back after everything’s done. He sees this, big, bald black guy… even though I’m nearsighted, I can see him kind of tilting his head, like ‘what’s happening’?”
The trio also had to keep the secret from friends and family though Patrick admits he found a compromise for his choir. “I said, ‘so you know what I’ve been doing? Ya know, I’ve been going to LA. I can’t tell you what I’m doing but tune in to NBC at seven central. They were like, ‘What?!’ I just said, ‘That’s all I can say.’”
Daniel admits the idea of voicing Simon Cowell caused him a little concern. “You know, there was a moment, right before we started that performance where we thought to ourselves, ‘What if he doesn’t like this, this could go really bad, really fast. Thankfully, he took it in the flattering light that we were trying to portray for him. He said the words that he had finally found the perfect contestant, someone with an amazing voice who looked fantastic. So I’ll take it. Take it every day of the week. Then adding to that experience, adding into the mix my newfound musical brothers Patrick and John as our three deepfake tenors, portraying Simon, Terry, and Howie with a magnificent rendition of “Nessun Dorma”, carrying the momentum into the grand finale, where I was honored to return once more and sing as Simon again, this time alongside the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll — Elvis — was an experience, just like my first season, that I will always cherish and be grateful for.”
Patrick shares, “Once we were moved off stage for the commercial break, Simon got up, you know, him and his security, he wanted to see each and every one of us… Of course, Terry was losing it when we met him backstage. He was like, like all of us, guys, ‘Oh my God!’ So yeah, it was really a special experience. I’m very grateful for it.”
John was equally thrilled saying, “The whole process, meeting the people backstage, being a part of Metaphysic, getting closer with Daniel and Patrick and Chris and Tom, the two men who run Metaphysic and everything, it was just amazing… it was a life-changing experience. It definitely has been an impetus for me to want to do more stuff in that world… I think the fact that we won that round, and received the compliments that we were given shows that people love this music. You just have to present it to them at the right time and in the right way.”
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