ADEM Show made their way onto the stage of America’s Got Talent in 2019 with a massive challenge in front of them. Simon Cowell was grumpy. Even grumpier than usual. As can be seen at the beginning of the video, Cowell was scathing of everything he had seen up until that point. “When it’s not as good as we’ve had before,” he told one rejected act, “I can’t get excited.” To another, he dismissed in a bored voice, “Way too generic. You’ve got to do something better than people have done before.”

So that was what Kyrgyzstan’s ADEM Show were up against. They needed to do something original that was better than the judges had seen before. Considering this was Season 14 of the long-running talent show, that was no mean feat. “This has been a seriously odd day,” Cowell sighed wearily. Then ADEM show appeared on stage, assembled together in outfits inspired by the game Mortal Combat. Cowell became wide-eyed with surprise. Refusing to introduce themselves made the judge even more intrigued.