America’s Got Talent Season 21 Judges’ Callbacks Week 2 finished the new callback round with Howie Mandel and Sofía Vergara deciding which of their remaining acts deserved the final places in the Live Shows.
Howie moved his callbacks to a comedy club with Nikki Glaser beside him, giving the comedians and musicians a room that could immediately expose whether their second performances worked. Sofía hosted her group at home with Lele Pons and Sebastián Yatra, where magic, singing, beatboxing, and a dog act competed for three remaining spots.
By the end of the night, Nene Royal, Cris Sosa, Daniel Alvarez, Bird and Byron, Kameron Marshall, Brook Lynn, and Olivia Befus had advanced. Naimana and Daniele, Rynia Kando, Vahtang, and Darrell Moten were eliminated as the Season 21 field finally moved toward the Live Quarterfinals.
Follow every audition, Judges’ Callback result, contestant page, and weekly recap on our America’s Got Talent Season 21 Hub.
Related Golden Buzzer Performers: Lai Noelle, Acro Canine Crew, Luke Taleno, Lara D, Hundred Fingers, Isaac Atkins, Mackenzie Sol, Rubén Roldán Bustos, Royal Lasers, and Veronika Goroshkova.
Golden Buzzer Tracker
Golden Buzzer Tracker:
- No new Golden Buzzers were awarded during Judges’ Callbacks Week 2.
Golden Buzzer Winners
No Golden Buzzer was awarded during Judges’ Callbacks Week 2. The episode completed the Judges’ Callbacks round as Howie Mandel and Sofía Vergara selected the final acts moving into the Season 21 Live Shows.
Best Performances
Nene Royal
Nene Royal walked into Howie’s callback with momentum already behind her after her rock audition went viral. The smaller comedy-club setting put even more attention on the young singer and guitarist rather than production around her.
There was little suspense about Howie’s decision. Nene’s musical identity remained clear, and her age made the confidence she showed even more striking. She became one of Howie’s four selections for the Live Shows.
Cris Sosa
Cris Sosa had perhaps the most appropriate callback venue of anyone in Howie’s group. Standing in a comedy club with Howie Mandel and Nikki Glaser watching, he built his set around the strangely specific observation that cereal brands are essentially different versions of cornflakes.
The material was relatable enough to land but specific enough to sound like Sosa rather than interchangeable stand-up. Howie still challenged him to keep working the material before the Quarterfinals, but the callback earned Sosa a Live Show spot.
Daniel Alvarez
Daniel Alvarez faced a more complicated decision. Howie liked the comedy but felt Alvarez was not delivering the material with enough energy to maximize the punch lines.
Instead of treating that weakness as a reason to eliminate him, Howie gave Daniel a direct assignment: work the comedy club every night and learn to hit those punch lines harder. The opportunity came with a Live Show spot, making the Quarterfinals the next test of whether Daniel can turn that advice into a stronger performance.
Bird and Byron
Bird and Byron brought the musical side of Howie’s callbacks into focus. Their sound stayed polished without losing the personal quality that had carried them through auditions.
Both Howie and Nikki Glaser responded to the balance between polish and emotion. With the callback field being judged on whether an act could hold up in the Live Shows rather than simply repeat a successful audition, Bird and Byron gave Howie enough to move them forward.
Kameron Marshall
Kameron Marshall turned Sofía’s callback into an interactive card routine involving Sofía, Sebastián Yatra, and Lele Pons. Instead of simply asking them to choose cards, Kameron built the sequence around their supposed intuition, allowing each choice to become part of the next reveal.
The result was easy for the three participants to follow while still leaving them unsure how the pieces connected. In a callback where another magician struggled to make his premise clear, Kameron’s clean presentation mattered. Sofía selected him for the Live Shows.
Brook Lynn
Brook Lynn’s callback nearly slipped away from her. Nerves showed through voice cracks, creating a performance that felt much less secure than a singer would want with a Live Show position on the line.
She recovered instead of allowing the early problems to define the performance. Sofía heard enough of Brook Lynn’s natural tone beneath the nerves to give her another chance, sending her into the Live Shows.
Olivia Befus
Olivia Befus and her dog brought a completely different kind of energy to Sofía’s callback. With no theater stage or large audience needed, the relationship between trainer and dog became the center of the act.
The routine was sweet, controlled, and immediately understandable. That combination gave Sofía a family-friendly variety act that stood apart from the singers and magicians in her group, and Olivia earned the final Live Show opportunity.
Biggest Surprises
Vahtang Is Eliminated
Vahtang had produced one of the more unusual auditions of the season by turning his voice into vocals, percussion, bass, and musical effects. That first performance made the beatboxer feel like a one-man band.
The callback did not create the same surprise. Sofía felt the second performance lacked the magic of the audition, and with only three positions available, Vahtang’s Season 21 run ended before the Live Shows.
Darrell Moten’s Reveal Becomes Too Complicated
Darrell Moten again used misdirection built around an apparent failure. His callback moved from the fake-out into a video component and then a mentalism reveal.
The idea had layers, but those layers became the problem. The final effect was interesting without being immediately clear, and Sofía’s group was left trying to process the mechanics instead of simply reacting to the reveal. Darrell was eliminated.
Naimana and Daniele Lose the Judges in the Concept
Naimana and Daniele returned with the unusual combination that had made their audition memorable: opera performed through ventriloquism and puppetry.
The technical difficulty was obvious, but the callback reinforced the concern that the presentation could become confusing. Howie and Nikki were left with too much to process at once, and the duo did not advance.
Rynia Kando Repeats Too Much of Her Audition
Rynia Kando entered the callbacks with a collection of impressions that had already established what she could do. The second performance needed to reveal another layer.
Instead, Howie felt too many of the voices repeated material viewers had already heard during her audition. In a round specifically created to give the judges a second look, that lack of new material proved costly.
Acts Most Likely to Make an Impact
Nene Royal enters the Live Shows with one of the clearest identities from Howie’s callback group. Her viral audition already established her as a young rock performer, and Week 2 did nothing to weaken that momentum. Bird and Byron also leave the callback round with a sound that both Howie and Nikki Glaser found polished and heartfelt.
Among Sofía’s selections, Kameron Marshall appears particularly well suited to the next stage because his magic remained easy to understand while involving multiple people in the routine. Olivia Befus also gives the Quarterfinals a distinctly different act, while Brook Lynn now has an opportunity to show whether she can control the nerves that nearly derailed her callback.
What This Means for Season 21
The Judges’ Callbacks are finished, and Week 2 clarified what the new round was designed to test. A strong audition was not enough by itself. Rynia Kando lost ground by repeating too much of what Howie had already seen, while Vahtang could not recreate the surprise of his first performance.
Daniel Alvarez represents the other side of the format. His callback was not flawless, but Howie saw enough potential to advance him while giving him specific work to do before the Quarterfinals. Brook Lynn received a similar opportunity after recovering from a nervous start.
Kameron Marshall benefited from clarity. Darrell Moten’s mentalism became difficult to follow, while Kameron’s card routine gave Sofía, Lele Pons, and Sebastián Yatra a sequence they could experience in real time. With the Live Shows beginning August 18, those distinctions now matter even more because the audience will become part of the decision.
Variety Spotlight
Comedy received unusual attention during Howie’s half of the episode because the callbacks took place inside a comedy club with Nikki Glaser helping him judge. Cris Sosa used the setting to his advantage with tightly focused observational material, while Daniel Alvarez advanced despite Howie identifying delivery and energy as areas that still needed work.
Sofía’s group supplied the episode’s strongest specialty variety. Kameron Marshall used interactive card magic, Olivia Befus relied on the connection between trainer and dog, and Vahtang returned with vocal percussion and beatboxing. Their different results showed how much the callback round rewarded acts whose premise remained immediately clear on a second viewing.
Booking Takeaways
Judges’ Callbacks Week 2 featured stand-up comedy, rock and vocal music, close-up card magic, mentalism, impressions, beatboxing, opera ventriloquism, and a trained dog act.
The episode showed how differently those categories create live impact: comedy depended on immediate laughs in Howie’s club, Kameron Marshall’s magic worked by involving Sofía and her guests directly, and Olivia Befus created a warm visual act through the interaction with her dog.
Book Live Entertainment for Your Event
If you are planning a corporate event, fundraiser, church event, theater show, fair, festival, or private event, The Grable Group can help you find live entertainment that fits your audience, budget, and event goals.
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Related Season 21 Recaps: Auditions 1, Auditions 2, Auditions 3, Auditions 4, Auditions 5, Auditions 6, Auditions 7, Deliberations, Judges’ Callbacks Week 1, and the Season 21 Hub.
America’s Got Talent Season 21 Judges’ Callbacks Week 2 FAQ
Who advanced during AGT Season 21 Judges’ Callbacks Week 2?
Nene Royal, Cris Sosa, Daniel Alvarez, Bird and Byron, Kameron Marshall, Brook Lynn, and Olivia Befus advanced to the Live Shows.
Who was eliminated during Judges’ Callbacks Week 2?
Naimana and Daniele, Rynia Kando, Vahtang, and Darrell Moten were eliminated during Judges’ Callbacks Week 2.
Who advanced from Howie Mandel’s Judges’ Callbacks?
Nene Royal, Cris Sosa, Daniel Alvarez, and Bird and Byron advanced from Howie Mandel’s Judges’ Callbacks.
Who advanced from Sofía Vergara’s Judges’ Callbacks?
Kameron Marshall, Brook Lynn, and Olivia Befus advanced from Sofía Vergara’s Judges’ Callbacks.
When do the AGT Season 21 Live Shows begin?
The America’s Got Talent Season 21 Live Quarterfinals begin Tuesday, August 18, 2026 on NBC.
