America’s Got Talent: Simon Cowell on Joining the Judges’ Table

When Simon Cowell brought America’s Got Talent to NBC as executive producer in 2006, he was under contract to FOX as a judge on American Idol, so he hired Piers Morgan to be the cynical judge on AGT. Then, when Morgan left, Cowell was still under contract to FOX, but this time with The X Factor, so he replaced Morgan with Howard Stern.

With Stern’s departure at the end of Season 10, the time was finally right for Cowell to take his place at the judges’ table, which he does tonight when America’s Got Talent returns for its 11th season.

“About two years ago, I came down to watch the show being filmed,” Cowell told reporters at a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel for the talent competition. “I was sitting in the audience, thinking, ‘They are very good, the panel.’ But I was kind of hoping one of them would hurt themselves. Not badly, but enough that I would have to go ‘I’m here,’ because it really, really looked so much fun, this show. I was offered to do it five years ago, but I couldn’t do it. This felt like the perfect timing. It was worth the wait to come back to this.”

Cowell will join Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Mel B., who he worked with previously on The X Factor, to critique the variety acts that audition, and Nick Cannon will return as the host. Cowell says that the ratio of nos to yeses is not far off from last season with the one difference now that he is on the show, being more music acts.

“They will have a better shot,” he says. “But also, from what I’ve seen before, I think they are better this year. Nobody would have said no to two or three of the people that we said yes to. I genuinely think they are that good. Hopefully, when they go out as a clip, they may go viral. But look, any show like this always needs good music acts, like Susan Boyle or Paul Potts.

Here is more of what Cowell had to say:

What’s it going to be like this year with you at the judges’ table?

I think we have really good chemistry. We are comfortable, funny. My main thing was that I wanted to improve the level of the music acts coming on. I think that is the one thing we haven’t done as well as we should have. We had one successful singer, Jackie Evancho, and another one who slipped through the net, unfortunately. But I felt like we needed better music talent. That is the main difference.

You’ve been judging now for so long on one show or another, but you seem to be genuinely really enjoying yourself when you’re up there, so how do you keep that level of enjoyment going?

You’re seeing the good days. There were some bad days. There was one day I actually said, “I think I’ve lost the will to live.” When it’s good, of course, it’s worth it. Because when you’re there, when you discover a star, or someone you think could become a star, you’ll never forget that moment, never forget that audition.

What is one type of audition you just never ever want to see again?

Clowns. I actually hate them. I’m scared of them and am now allergic to them. And then, one of the last acts one evening was a clown who was, in life, a permanent clown [He had his clown makeup tattooed on]. They’re never funny, and they keep honking things after everything they say. Like you think that’s going to be funny, honk, honk.  And it’s not, honk.

What about the producers who have to winnow through the people who audition? How does that process work?

[Jokes] We have an institution, which is medically funded. You call them asylums. We call them the Big House. After doing three years on this show, they go and live there for a couple years. You think I’m kidding. I’m not. It’s the hardest job in the world.

By the way, a lot of the time, most of the people who are put in front of us who are horrible, there’s normally one producer sitting in the back row with his hands over his head going, “Well, he/she was good when they came to my room.” So they do make mistakes. It’s tough.

Talk about working with Mel B. again.

I’ve got to tell you, I love working with Mel. I think she is better on this show than she is on just a music show because she’s brilliant on all the dance stuff, which I’m not great on. But like I said, the judges are really, really funny, this lot. They’re good and they like doing it, and Nick’s a star. It was that very first day, I walked in thinking, “What’s this going to be like?” And there was an 83-year-old woman singing a song in a leotard, and I thought, “You know what? I’m home.”

Have you brought your son to the show?

He’s come down to the show a few times. He thinks the Xs are kisses, so he calls them “scary kisses.” But, look, he has to get his education done first. But within three or four years, he’ll be sitting in that chair.

When did you realize you had the talent to make stars?

The reason I think I’m good at it is I think about what the public likes, and I’m part of the public. I don’t think I am an expert, because I’m not. I just think: “What is going to be popular,” and that gets you by.

America’s Got Talent premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.