{"id":1597,"date":"2024-08-20T08:31:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T12:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/?p=350254"},"modified":"2025-02-07T16:59:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T16:59:34","slug":"beloved-americas-got-talent-star-perry-kurtz-dies-in-hit-and-run-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2024\/08\/20\/beloved-americas-got-talent-star-perry-kurtz-dies-in-hit-and-run-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Beloved&#8217; America&#8217;s Got Talent star Perry Kurtz dies in &#8216;hit-and-run&#8217; crash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Perry Kurtz has died 11 years after he auditioned for America&#8217;s Got Talent. He rapped about judges Howard Stern, Heidi Klum and Mel B, but received three &#8216;no&#8217; votes and was sent home.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Known as a &#8220;beloved&#8221; comedian in the LA area, <a href=\"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/tag\/americas-got-talent\">America&#8217;s Got Talent<\/a> star 73-year-old Perry Kurtz has died after a suspected hit-and-run incident on Thursday, August 15, leaving behind a 19-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-beloved-agt-comedian-dies\">&#8216;Beloved&#8217; AGT comedian dies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Perry Kurtz is a &#8220;beloved&#8221; America&#8217;s Got Talent contestant who sadly died on August 14. The Los Angeles-based comedian was also known for appearing on The Late Late Show with James Corden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Law enforcement sources told TMZ Perry was involved in a fatal hit-and-run in Tarzana, Los Angeles, after a collision around 11.20pm on Thursday, when a gray Honda Civic struck the car he was in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Los Angeles Fire Department pronounced him dead at the scene, while police have reportedly arrested a suspect on suspicion of felony hit-and-run causing death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>SALARY: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/shows\/highest-earning-americas-got-talent-judge-takes-home-eye-watering-salary\">Highest-earning AGT judge is Simon Cowell<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-kurtz-rapped-about-howard-stern\">Kurtz rapped about Howard Stern<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kurtz was a successful comedian from way before he auditioned for AGT. He started his career in the 1970s, when he headlined some of the biggest comedy clubs in LA and New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hilarious star became a consistent headliner at Dangerfields, and played the Comedy Store, the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club, the Hollywood Pantages Theater and other well-known spots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He had a close relationship with and opened for the late actor, Robin Williams, before he passed in 2014. Just a year before, in 2013, Kurtz decided to audition for AGT and rap about the judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He received three no&#8217;s after rapping about Howard Stern, Mel B and <a href=\"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/tag\/heidi-klum\">Heidi Klum<\/a> on season 8, but Stern was not present. Kurtz introduced himself as an &#8220;ex male stripper who made a lot of money&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Perry Kurtz on The Late Late Show with James Corden\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GilvIOEPMJ8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-it-started-with-puppet-shows\">It started with puppet shows<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kurtz&#8217;s successful career started with puppet playground shows as a 10-year-old cub scout. Then after he graduated in 1972, he went into creating art for the likes of Pepsi, Levi Strauss and Sprite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After two years, he decided to pack the artwork in and become a comedian. Kurtz entered a talent show in New Jersey, taking a $250 prize for singing a parody of Eleanor Rigby as Jerry Lewis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He took a comedy workshop and lived on his savings until 1979. It wasn&#8217;t long before Kurtz began to show up in comedy gigs everywhere, moving to San Francisco to become a paid regular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kurtz was married for over 20 years, has four kids over 30 and one daughter, Bella, who practiced stand-up comedy with him at the age of eight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One daughter, Sarah, has launched a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-perry-kurtzs-final-arrangements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fundraiser<\/a> in his honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>CAREER: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/shows\/howie-mandel-sets-out-to-stay-on-americas-got-talent-judging-panel-until-he-dies\">Howie Mandel to stay on AGT panel \u2018until he dies\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Perry Kurtz has died 11 years after he auditioned for America&#8217;s Got Talent. He rapped about judges Howard Stern, Heidi Klum and Mel B, but received three &#8216;no&#8217; votes and was sent home. Known as a &#8220;beloved&#8221; comedian in the LA area, America&#8217;s Got Talent star 73-year-old Perry Kurtz has died after a suspected hit-and-run [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249734182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1358],"tags":[1764,1780],"class_list":["post-1597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-america-s-got-talent","tag-editor-s-picks"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/realityshrine\/2024\/08\/20\/beloved-americas-got-talent-star-perry-kurtz-dies-in-hit-and-run-crash\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"&#8216;Beloved&#8217; America&#8217;s Got Talent star Perry Kurtz dies in &#8216;hit-and-run&#8217; crash","url":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2024\/08\/20\/beloved-americas-got-talent-star-perry-kurtz-dies-in-hit-and-run-crash\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/2024\/08\/20\/beloved-americas-got-talent-star-perry-kurtz-dies-in-hit-and-run-crash\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Celine Byford"}],"creator":["Celine Byford"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Reality Shrine","logo":"https:\/\/realitytvshrine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-mX3_1x3z.png"},"keywords":["america's got talent","editor's picks"],"dateCreated":"2024-08-20T12:31:53Z","datePublished":"2024-08-20T12:31:53Z","dateModified":"2025-02-07T16:59:34Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"&#8216;Beloved&#8217; America&#8217;s Got Talent star Perry Kurtz dies in &#8216;hit-and-run&#8217; crash\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/thetab.com\\\/realityshrine\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/20\\\/beloved-americas-got-talent-star-perry-kurtz-dies-in-hit-and-run-crash\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/thetab.com\\\/realityshrine\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/20\\\/beloved-americas-got-talent-star-perry-kurtz-dies-in-hit-and-run-crash\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"\"},\"articleSection\":\"News\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Celine Byford\"}],\"creator\":[\"Celine Byford\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Reality Shrine\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/realitytvshrine.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/cropped-mX3_1x3z.png\"},\"keywords\":[\"america's got talent\",\"editor's picks\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2024-08-20T12:31:53Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-20T12:31:53Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-07T16:59:34Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/realitytvshrine.com\/p.js"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249734182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7540,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions\/7540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/realityshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}