The 17 Most Legendary ‘Star Search’ Performances — So Far (VIDEO)

Three decades after the syndicated version of Star Search went off the air on May 20, 1995, Netflix is bringing the talent competition back to television, and this time, it’s live.

“Each week on Star Search, emerging performers in music, dance, comedy, and kids’ acts will take the stage to compete for a shot at the spotlight. The competition unfolds over time, with eliminations raising the stakes and plenty of surprises along the way. It’s part talent showcase, part high-stakes drama — and it’s all live on Netflix,” the streamer’s Tudum blog says. The host, judges, and premiere date are all TBD, but the new Star Search is casting contestants.

Netflix announced the new show on May 14, just days shy of the 30th anniversary of the final syndicated Star Search episode. That original iteration featured Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s longtime sidekick, as host, as singers, musical groups, dancers, models, and comedians vied to wow the show’s judges.

And between 1983 and 1995, the original Star Search certainly did find talent, including future A-listers. Ahead of the Netflix reboot, have a look at our picks for the most legendary performances from the original series — at least, the ones still yours for the viewing on YouTube. — Dan Clarendon

17. Lacey Chabert

In 1991, at the age of eight, the future Party of Five and Mean Girls star and Hallmark Channel MVP competed on the show, belting out “Happy Days Are Here Again.” The pint-sized performer didn’t win, but it did lead in to some of her early successes, like landing roles as Cosette in Les Misérables on Broadway and as Erica Kane’s daughter Bianca on All My Children, both in 1992. — Gabrielle Moss

16. Norm MacDonald

In 1990 — three years before he began his legendary run on SNL — MacDonald appeared on International Star Search, a special episode of the series that focused on performers from around the globe. In his memoir, Based on a True Story (per Cracked), MacDonald recalled thinking as he got ready to perform, “The good news was, if I won, I’d go from a nobody to a star.” But he didn’t win, losing out to African comedian the Bushman. However, that episode raised his profile, landing him gigs on Late Night with David Letterman, The Dennis Miller Show, and eventually, in the halls of 30 Rock. —GM

15. Kevin James

Long before he was Queens royalty, James was a Long Island-based comedian who had already appeared on The New Candid Camera. His 1995 appearance on Star Search‘s final season didn’t end with him taking home any prizes — though he did connect with fellow Star Search alum Ray Romano, and made his first appearances on Everybody Loves Raymond the following year. His Raymond character, Doug Heffernan, got his own spin-off series, The King of Queens, in 1998. — GM

14. Dave Chappelle

At 19, Chappelle was, as McMahon notes in the below clip, the youngest comedian they’d ever had on the show. He competed three times in 1993, but ultimately lost to stand-up Lester Barrie. That same year, he turned down the role of Bubba Gump in Forrest Gump, opting to instead make his film debut in the 1993 Mel Brooks parody Robin Hood: Men in Tights. —GM

13. Tatyana Ali

Between the time she provided a vocal sample to Herbie Hancock on Sesame Street and the time she started playing Ashley Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a young Ali competed on Star Search. In one appearance, she lost to Alisan Porter, future star of Curly Sue and winner of The Voice, but in another, she gave a soaring — and winning — rendition of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” —DC

12. Rosie O’Donnell

You know her from her time hosting her self-titled talk show and cohosting The View, and O’Donnell told Larry King that it was her 1984 appearance on Star Search that gave her her big break. “I was 20 years old, and I was at a comedy club in Long Island. This woman came over to me, and she said, ‘I think you’re funny. Can you give me your number? My dad is Ed McMahon.’ … About three days later, the talent booker from Star Search called.” —DC

11. Martin Lawrence

Lawrence’s credits include everything from Do The Right Thing to the Bad Boys franchise — but long before all of that, he appeared on the show in 1987. He didn’t win that night, but his act caught the attention of TV producers, who offered him a role on the syndicated series What’s Happening Now!!, which became his first on-screen acting role. —GM

10. Christina Aguilera

Aguilera was still a couple of years away from her Mickey Mouse Club gig, and about a decade from her pop stardom, when she performed “A Sunday Kind of Love” on Star Search. Even at age 9, the future “Genie in a Bottle” singer performs the melismatic riffs that would one day make her a famous singer — and a coach on another televised talent competition. —DC

9. Drew Carey

The “young man from Cleveland, Ohio,” as McMahon puts it, made his TV debut in this 1988 episode of Star Search. Carey, 30, had begun his comedy career just a few years prior, after six years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Carey killed it during his first appearance, unseating reigning champ Drake Sather. He lost in the following round, but continued his slow and steady career climb: he made his debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1991, and his star vehicle, The Drew Carey Show, hit airwaves in 1995. —GM

8. Aaliyah

One early highlight of this R&B singer’s too-short life is her performance of “My Funny Valentine” in 1989, when she was just 10. She didn’t win, but she was only five years away from the first of three double-platinum albums. As Aaliyah would later sing, if at first you don’t succeed, then dust yourself off and try again. —DC

7. Lauren Ambrose

Long before she played the iconically angsty teen Claire Fisher on Six Feet Under — or the iconically angsty adult Van on Yellowjackets — an 11-year-old Ambrose sang her heart out while performing “Dancin’ in the Streets.” “What I remember is that they made me sing a song…that I didn’t want to sing, because the girl coming back was singing a ballad,” she recalled of her Star Search episode on a 2023 appearance on LIVE with Kelly and Mark. “And I had to sing the uptempo, and I was like, ‘I’m never winning with the uptempo.'” After guest host Lionel Richie told her that her performance brought a lot of personality and character, Ambrose replied, “I think I’m bringing a lot of FEAR.” —GM

6. Alanis Morissette

You oughta know that this alt-rock singer — and her then-very-curly hair — made a Star Search appearance in 1990 when she was still a Canadian teen pop star. Just five years later, she hit it big worldwide with Jagged Little Pill, still one of the best-selling albums of all time, and there’s nothing ironic about that success story. —DC

5. Britney Spears

Despite a 10-year-old Spears’ impassioned performance of “Love Can Build a Bridge” — with not a trace of vocal fry — the judges gave the win to her competitor, 12-year-old Marty Thomas, and Spears gave a big hug to a future Broadway performer who forever has bragging rights. Spears also told McMahon that she didn’t have a boyfriend at the time because boys are mean. (Don’t they know that they’re toxic?) —DC

4. Justin Timberlake

You’d never know Timberlake would become a boy band member and then an R&B soloist if you saw him go country as the twangy-voiced, 11-year-old Justin Randall on Star Search in 1993. With a big belt buckle and even bigger hip shakes, Timberlake performed “Love’s Got a Hold on You.” A singer named Anna Nardona bested him, though, and she later told CBS News she didn’t even realize it was the N*SYNC star she’d defeated. —DC

3. Billy Porter

This Pose alum and Broadway vet — who’s just one Oscar way from EGOT status — was in his early 20s when he appeared on Star Search in 1992, appearing in the same episode as Spears, and ended up winning $100,000 on the show but forgot to shake hands with McMahon. “I didn’t know he was coming in! I don’t know!” Porter later told Jimmy Kimmel. —DC

2. Joey Gladstone

Perhaps the most-watched Star Search performance was one that aired on ABC on a Friday night. In a Full House Season 3 installment, Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) gave the competition his best comedy routine, which includes a Popeye impression and a joke about a withholding Mrs. Flipper. (“I think, even for the late ’80s, this would be considered bad stand-up,” sitcom writer Joe Wengert told Decider.) —DC

1. Girls Tyme

Before they were members of Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and LaTavia Roberson joined Ashley Támar Davis and sisters Nina and Nikki Taylor in the girl group Girls Tyme and rapped on Star Search in 1992. Though the young ensemble lost to a rock band called Skeleton Crew — in a moment immortalized in audio excerpts on Beyoncé’s track “***Flawless” — you can certainly see stars in the making. —DC