No joke?

Birmingham-born comedian-musician J. Chris Newberg has blown through his 15 minutes of international stardom, at least for the moment. He was voted off America's Got Talent this month after receiving a second-chance, "wild card" reprieve from judge and fellow cockeyed comic Howie Mandel. Ultimately, he lost out to a troupe of crazed acrobats who skip flaming ropes for giggles and a quasi-folk string band called the Fiddleheads.

Now that's funny.

But while our J. (for James) Chris won't be on the show for the results of AGT's semifinal round at 9 tonight (NBC/Channel 4 in Detroit), he'll be there in spirit. Because after being slammed by Piers Morgan for being "not funny," "almost startlingly inappropriate" and mounting an act that "is probably, in fact definitely a bad idea," Newberg turned the tables while going down in the all-time annals of the reality series by assailing the prissy Brit judge with a blistering one-man "celebrity" roast.

"You're a dream-squisher," Newberg charged, squinting at Morgan. "You've made more kids cry than divorce."

Then, "There's your other show, Piers Morgan Tonight (9 weeknights, CNN). It's broadcast in almost 100 countries, and watched by almost 100 people. Your ratings are so bad, I heard Leno might take over."

And the clincher: "Thanks again for being a good sport," Newberg told Morgan, "and thank you for giving me a career. Because anybody in this business will tell you that you're nobody until you've been insulted by a nobody on a reality show. So Piers, thank you for being my nobody. America's Got Talent, thank you for being my reality show. I am J. Chris Newberg, I am made in Detroit, and I love you all!"

How could you not root for this guy?

"You've got balls of steel!" marveled Sharon Osbourne, Morgan's fellow judge.

Even the smug Morgan had to admit he'd been one-upped. "I think I just got 'owned,'" he tweeted shortly after the segment. "Fair's fair, that was a funny roast J. Chris Newberg. I'll 'suck it up,' as you Yanks say."

Piers may suck, but J. Chris does not. Those of us who have followed Newberg from his many appearances at Mark Ridley's Comedy Club and other local stages know he's been an established entertainer for at least a dozen years, a performer since the late '80s. He'd already made national TV appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Comic Standing and several other shows. In fact, he began his memorable stay on AGT after concluding a road tour opening for comic supernova Dane Cook. "I went right from private jets, tour buses and personal security to sitting in a holding tent in a parking lot, sharing space with 150 people," Newberg said by phone the other day.

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