How Shin Lim Won America's Got Talent 2018 (Clip)

You're an actual real technical magician, right? Whereas before magic was seen to be some sort of like a comedy act or, you know, people that are not really that technically good, but they can, you know, through sheer presentation, things like that. But when you come in with your act that even just like wows other professional magicians, that's something that hasn't been done before, right? And then after you, now everybody, like actual professional magicians, they all want to come on to America's Got Talent, but you are like the first. So why did you decide to go on America's Got Talent? After Foolish, they had contacted me actually, AGT. The AGT, like people, they're scouters, I guess. They were actually at FISM as well. So they're at FISM 2015. They saw me at FISM. And then of course they saw the Penn & Teller video. So then they contacted me right away. They're like, Hey, we think you'd be amazing for AGT. Why don't you audition? I had always wanted to do AGT. Ever since I saw Dan Sperry perform on AGT and Fool Howie, I was like, Oh, this is a cool show to be a part of. I really want to do it. I think it was 2016 when they first asked me and I was like, Oh, let's just, I do. I told them, I do want to do it, but I don't want to do it this year. Let's just wait. And so every year after that, they had, they continue to like remind me that, Hey, you still want to do it? And so I kept saying, Oh, one second, one second, let's hold on. And then in 2018, that's when I decided to compete. Do you actually get to rehearse on the, on the stage because it's a massive stage and you know. It's very crazy. It's very, let me tell you, it's a, when, when it's live, it's very scary. They have all these other acts that are before you and after you that they have to either strike or they have to put on. Just that in itself creates a lot of chaos. Something can happen that's not even under your control. And, and then, and then all of a sudden you're live, you have to do it properly unless, uh, you know, or else, or else it just won't look good on TV. And so, yeah, people always like, Oh, like it's not actually live. I'm like, no, no, no, it's live. And, and even like the audition and the, um, the judge cuts, those are live too. Like, it's not like you mess up and then they're like, all right, let's, let's just do it again. I guess like, no, like they don't have time to redo it. They, you, you, you got your one take. That's it. Like you do it once and you can't do it again. If the judges don't like you, that's it. It's pretty, it's pretty, pretty tough. But at the same time, it's not really because the audience, you know, and the judges, they're the celebrity judges. They're not there to like, uh, screw nice. They want you to succeed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're there for entertainment. They're there for the entertainment purposes. They're not going to judge you like how a magician your peers would judge you, you know? So, so as you progress through to the next round, do you have this confidence that I can win this whole thing? I mean, sure. In front of the camera, you have to sound confident. It's like, yeah, I can win this whole thing. But deep inside, did you know that you had a chance? I knew that singers had always done really well on AGT. Usually the winners would be, you know, a singer with a, with a really good, really good sob story. That's what they say. All about the sob story. You have to have a good sob story in order for you to win. I just told people my life is everything was true. Everything that happened, everything, my journey to, to learning magic, to deciding magic, to be my career was, was the honest truth. That's all I had. And I was like, take it or leave it kind of thing. Maybe it wasn't so much me. I, my wife, Casey, she, she had the most utmost confidence that I would win. My producer, Kayla, she, she literally was like, I think you're going to win. But she said it in a way where she was so confident about it that it gave me confidence. So I think it was the people kind of around me that really helped give me this boost of, okay, I think I can actually do this. So just do your best.