Huge break for the British freestyle comedy rapper

Freestyle comedy rapper Chris Turner has made the final of America’s Got Talent.

Audiences put the Brit through to the last ten of the high-profile competition following his improvised rap in the semi-final, using random items taken from judges and audience members.

After the news was announced, a beaming Turner posted an Instagram reel from the stage and said: ‘So happy that I get to do this one more time in the AGT final. Thank you, America.’

Here’s the moment host Terry Crews revealed Turner had made the last stage:

On Tuesday’s semi-final, judge Howie Mandel called Turner the ‘best act of the night’ while Mel B led the audience in a chant of the comic’s name.

Sofia Vergara said: ‘You are so clever, the way your mind works, so quick. You are like a genius or something. It is so entertaining, it’s so much fun. You changed your act completely. I think you should win.'

And Cowell – who was reduced to hysterics by a line inspired by a tampon – told Turner: ‘That was so funny. That was absolutely brilliant. That is going to get you in the final.’

Here’s that performance:

He joins singers Jessica Sanchez, Jourdan Blue and the Leo High School Choir;  projectionists LightWire and acrobats Sirca Marea as well as the Golden Buzzer acts who skipped the semi-finals: rappers Micah Palace and Mama Duke; dance troupe Team Recycled and singer-songwriter Steve Ray Ladson.

The finalists will perform on the NBC show for the last time on Tuesday, with the winner of the  $1million prize being revealed the following night.

Now based in New York, 36-year-old Oxford-educated Turner cut his teeth on the UK comedy circuit where he was a finalist in  So You Think You're Funny 2010 and the BBC New Comedy Awards 2011. He was also a competitor in the 2011 Chortle Student Comedy Awards. 

In 2014, his debut Pretty Fly won the Amused Moose People's Choice award for best show at the Edinburgh Fringe, and he has returned to the festival almost every year since. 

In the US, he became one of the first comedians to ever perform a Las Vegas residency with Cirque Du Soleil, has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and has racked up more than 100 million views online for his  improvisational raps, many filmed at Manhattan’s Comedy Cellar, where he is a regular.

Published: 18 Sep 2025