By MARK FRANKLIN
Be thankful American Idol isn’t a talent show in which singing is forbidden.
If it were, the surviving members of Team Compromise might reunite, with one yodeling while the other snaps his toes.
Another contestant might pop out of a closet and promptly set the Idol stage on fire.
The day after the final 36 were announced — minus, of course, Ms. Joanna Pacitti — Idol popped a new series of video interviews on its Web site.
The contestants were paired off and asked a series of questions. They included, what hidden talent do you possess.
For those who don’t have time to sit through 18 video interviews, or have a slow internet connection that makes that difficult, I’ll fill you in.
Just call me the helpful Idol Chatter blogger.
So here goes. The Idol’s hidden talents …
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Anoop Desai: He can make pigeon noises, then proves it.
Joanna Pacitti: She does great monkey noises. The perfect pair, until she got the boot.
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Kris Allen: He has one less rib than most folks, the result of surgery. That’s a talent?
Jesse Langseth: She has a plate and 10 screws in her ankle. That’s a talent? Jesse explains: “We’re both broken.” Another perfect pairing.
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Brent Keith: Says his friends call him MacGyver because of his ability to adapt. For instance, he says he could probably make a grill out of a pair of rocks.
Tatiana Del Toro: Poor Brent was teamed with Tatiana. Her response to his talent: “I’ve survived eight hurricanes. I know how to make energy out of nothing.” Another perfect pairing? I wouldn’t suggest that to Keith.
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Kristen McNamara: She yodels. It’s a well-known fact. When she was on Nashville Star, she yodeled as part of her first performance, which one judge thought was silly, but which another thought was great.
Michael Sarver: He can’t yodel. He tries. Kristen cracks up laughing. A not-so-perfect pairing.
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Nathaniel Marshall: He’s the toe snapper. But he’s unlikely to demonstrate on Idol. “Don’t look, America,” he says, as the camera pans down. “I have ugly feet.”
Arianna Afsar: I’m not sure what talent she’s demonstrating. But she claps her hands together and makes an odd noise while hitting herself in the forehead. Never know what you’ll get from those former pageant contestants. Nathaniel tries, and can’t duplicate Arianna’s odd ability.
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Casey Carlson: She’s adept at tumbling. She explains that she’s a former cheerleader and served as the flyer, the gal who gets tossed into the air all the time. To the disappointment of all the guys out there, lovely Casey doesn’t demonstrate her tumbling prowess.
Danny Gokey: He can whistle like a bird.
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Kai Kalama: Says he has an incredible knack for screwing up famous lines from popular movies.
Jeanine Vailes: Says she’ll be talking to someone and has the strange habit of slipping into different accents. She shows off all her accents. Kai’s response: “I think we just took a trip around Europe.”
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Mishavonna Henson: Claims she’s double jointed, then proves that it’s more than a claim to the amazement of Jorge Nunez-Mendez.
Kendall Beard: She can talk with her mouth closed. She sure can, and that amazes Stephen Fowler.
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Megan Corkrey: She can do awesome tongue tricks, a single loop, a double loop, a triple loop and a wave, and we get to see all four.
Scott MacIntyre: Not to be outdone, Scott shows how can smack his body so it sounds like a drum set. “I’ve gotta figure out a way to use that in my career.” (Video below)
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Lil Rounds: She can’t pirouette, at least not the way a ballerina does it. But she says she’s darn good at walking and jumping on the balls of her feet.
Von Smith: Demonstrates one of the oddest talents. He can make his eyes go in different directions at the same time. At least it sort of freaks out Jasmine Murray.
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Nick Mitchell: Are you kidding? I think we’ve seen talents from him that should have remained hidden, at least on a singing show.
Taylor Viafanua: Says she can wiggle her ears. Then shows Nick. I don’t see anything moving.
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Ann-Marie Boskovich: She likes to imitate popular singers, including Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears and Aaron Neville. Then she demonstrates that she could indeed go to Vegas and make a living as a Britney impersonator. I would have rather seen her imitate Aaron.
Alex Wagner-Trugman: Surprise, surprise, he’s the contestant most likely to set the stage on fire. He likes to juggle. And, if he gets far enough in the competition, he’d like to juggle fire on stage. Of course, he notes, he’ll have to learn how to juggle fire first.
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Jackie Tohn: She’s quite adept at making clicking noises with her tongue.
Alexis Grace: Can imitate Celine Deon. It’s remarkable how many of the Idol gals cite Celine as their major musical influence.
Ricky Braddy: Can make himself sound like an Italian opera singer.
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So just imagine, no singing on Idol and we’d have ourselves a tongue clickin’, tongue trickin’, eye rollin’, body drummin’ good ol’ time.
Still not sure what Tatiana would contribute. But have no doubt, she’d provide energy of some type.
You say your favorite Idol contestant isn’t listed above. Well, some didn’t discuss hidden talents.
Perhaps they didn’t want to embarass themselves on camera.
But, hey, Idol, that was fun. More fun than the San Francisco audition show, in fact.
Megan Corkrey and Scott MacIntyre display their unusual talents at the end of this video clip.
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