Thanks to People magazine for this report from Tuesday night's show ...

'Stand' & Deliver: Gina Glocksen's performance of The Pretenders hit "I'll Stand By You" knocked out the judges and the crowd, but it was Glocksen who was bowled over by Simon Cowell's praise when he told her it was her "best performance."

During the commercial break, the 22-year-old clutched host Ryan Seacrest for support as the audience erupted into applause for her one more time.

Showing Them Up: Seven minutes to show time, Randy Jackson was introduced to the crowd, followed by Ryan Seacrest. Grabbing the mic from the young warm-up comedian, Jackson joked, "You can tell who gets ready early, huh?" (Of course, he was poking fun at Simon and Paula Abdul, who were still in their dressing rooms.) "The Dawg is ALWAYS ready."

For the next six minutes, Jackson crossed the American Idol stage, saying his hellos and shaking hands with all of the musicians and backup singers before taking his seat. As for Paula and Simon? They made it to their seats within 45 seconds to airtime.

Audience Participation: During the commercial breaks, the audience was invited to compete in their own singing competition. One man warbled a Justin Timberlake ballad. As Randy would say, it was just aight. Next, a young boy attempted Timberlake's "SexyBack." The consensus? Not bad. Finally, another young boy named Ryan sang the Carrie Underwood hit "Before He Cheats" â€" which made the crowd go wild!

It's a Hair D'Oh!: While Sanjaya Malakar was shaking his "pony hawk" to the beat of No Doubt's "Bath Water," Simon looked over to where Idol's executive producer Nigel Lythgoe was sitting and both started cracking up.

Even Malakar's mother, Jill, chuckled to herself. Don't worry, Sanjaya: They were laughing with you? Kind of.

Cool Under Pressure: What, Ryan Seacrest sweat? Not a chance. When the Idol stage manager yelled, "Fifteen seconds!" over the loudspeaker, Seacrest took his spot in the middle of the audience to do the show's opening monologue. When a fan asked, "Hi Ryan. Are you nervous?" Seacrest shot back, "No, are you?" As the stage manager yelled, "Ten seconds." Seacrest continued to banter with the audience: "This is where I clear my throat."

With four seconds to go, the host nonchalantly turned to a female audience member in the aisle, grinned and asked, "Do I have anything in my teeth? Okay, here we go." Delivering his lines like a pro, Seacrest began,

"This is American Idol..."