What happened when Phoenix's Spaceman Bob got cosmic on "America's Got Talent?"

Tuesday night’s episode of “America’s Got Talent” got space-y with a cosmic performance by interplanetary musician Spaceman Bob.

If you aren't familiar with Bob, he is a couple of things: An alien who has come to our planet to remind earthlings that we work too hard. He uses his original hip-hop dance tunes to do that. He is also Robbie Pfeffer, the frontman of the band Playboy Manbaby, who creates sonic chaos and fun with a mix of punk, ska and funk, and whose shows are known to work the crowd into a dance party frenzy. The band has been traveling around the states for several years, building their fan base.

During the pandemic, Pfeffer started making fun TikTok videos about random things like hot dogs from Costco and a personal favorite, one about how much the Burton Barr Library rocks. The library folks agreed — they shared it with much appreciation. As Pfeffer started his Spaceman Bob project, some of those videos were on the alien’s Instagram and, about six months ago, caught the attention of some “America’s Got Talent” producers.

Pfeffer says he wasn’t initially interested. He didn’t care about the vast exposure the show would give him, which they used as a bullet point to create excitement. “They wanted me to do a video in that same vein, which is humorous rap, but I wanted to do Spaceman Bob,” he says. So, through a series of Zoom calls with the producers, they talked it out, and he got the thumbs up.

Judges Sophia Vergara, Mel B., Howie Mandel and Simon Cowell had differing opinions on Bob. He’s pre-performance conversation definitely invited some confusion. Mel B. asked, “So are you like from a different time zone?” Let’s say that Spaceman Bob didn’t mince words explaining his alien origins, leaving them not really knowing what to say, though they did sort of excitedly count along with his countdown, and he then launched into his performance.

He went for it and had fun. The “fame” potential of that platform didn’t get his blood flowing any faster than usual. I don’t care about any of those people, so it wasn’t intimidating to me. I don’t really watch that show. I watched ‘Idol’ when it first came out. It’s just funny to be around celebrities when you’ve spent your whole life in the obscure art world,” he says.

The robe came off, the alien backdrop lit up, and his dance-rap started. The audience was all in, cheering as he and his glowing backdrop instructed everyone to ‘Get your hands up.’ He made it to the end, feeling good about all of it. The audience chanting “Bob” at the end showed where they stood.

“I feel like I won — the crowd loved it. It’s free publicity and a funny experience,” Pfeffer says. Spaceman Bob’s new record, “Lift Off,” is now streaming.