Willie Tyler (born September 8, 1940) is an American

ventriloquist Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

and actor. Tyler has been credited as Willie Tyler and Lester or Willie Tyler & Lester. Willie Tyler recorded "Cannibal" for Motown Records in 1968, but it was not released. He has appeared in many television commercials, sitcoms and films. Tyler got his first big break in 1972 on ''

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Da ...

''.

Appearances

The duo made an early appearance at the

Harlem Cultural Festival The Harlem Cultural Festival was a series of events, mainly music concerts, held annually in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, between 1967 and 1969 which celebrated African American music and culture and promoted Black pride. The most successful ...

in the summer of 1969. Tyler has had guest roles in ''

The Parent 'Hood ''The Parent 'Hood'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on The WB from January 18, 1995, to July 25, 1999. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas. Originally to be titled ''Father Knows Nothing'' (a parody of th ...

'', '' Pacific Blue'', ''

What's Happening Now!! ''What's Happening Now!!'' is an American sitcom sequel to the original ABC 1976–79 sitcom ''What's Happening!!'' focusing on its main characters as adults. It aired in first-run broadcast syndication from September 7, 1985 until March 26, 1988 ...

'', '' The White Shadow'' and ''

The Jeffersons ''The Jeffersons'' is an American sitcom television series that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, to July 2, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of List of The Jeffersons episodes, 253 episodes. ''The Jeffersons'' is one of the longe ...

'', as well as serving as host of the Saturday morning children's

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

ABC Weekend Special ''ABC Weekend Special'' is a weekly 30-minute American television anthology series for children that aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1977 to 1997, which featured a wide variety of stories that were both live-action and animated. Similar to bo ...

s'' throughout the early 1980s. He appeared in the 1978 film '' Coming Home''. In addition, he has appeared in

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s in the 1980s for

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Hires Root Beer Hires Root Beer is a root beer marketed by Keurig Dr Pepper. Introduced in 1876, it is one of the longest continuously made soft drinks in the United States. History Hires Root Beer was created by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania pharmacist Charle ...

, and

Rent-A-Center Rent-A-Center (commonly referred to as RAC) is an American public furniture and electronics rent-to-own company based in Plano, Texas. The company was incorporated in 1986 and as of 2014 operates approximately 2,972 company-owned stores in the Un ...

Willie Tyler and Lester July 2014 PETER DZUBAY

He appeared as himself in the 2004

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

Comedy Awards, '' Frank McKlusky, C.I.'', ''For Da Love of Money'', '' In the House'', the 4th Annual Black Gold Awards, The 1st Annual

Soul Train Music Awards The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual music awards show which previously aired in national broadcast syndication, and honors the best in African-American culture, music and entertainment. It is produced by the makers of ''Soul Train'', the pro ...

, ''Motown Returns to the Apollo'', ''Lou Rawls Parade of Stars'', '' Powerhouse'', ''The White Shadow'', ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pro ...

'', ''

The Electric Company ''The Electric Company'' is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. The ...

'', ''

Vegetable Soup Vegetable soup is a common soup prepared using vegetables and leaf vegetables as primary ingredients. It dates to ancient history, and is a mass-produced food product in contemporary times. Overview Vegetable soup is prepared using vegetables, ...

'', ''

The Flip Wilson Show ''The Flip Wilson Show'' is an hour-long variety show that originally aired in the US on NBC from September 17, 1970, to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs s ...

'', ''

The Super Dave Osborne Show ''Super Dave'' (also known as ''The Super Dave Osborne Show'') is a variety show starring and hosted by the fictional character Super Dave Osborne (played by Bob Einstein). It ran from 1987 to 1991 on Showtime in the United States and the Global T ...

'', ''

The Statler Brothers Show ''The Statler Brothers Show'' was an American television variety show hosted by country music group The Statler Brothers. The show ran for seven seasons from 1991 to 1998 on The Nashville Network (TNN) as part of the network's Saturday night line ...

'', ''

The Hollywood Palace ''The Hollywood Palace'' was an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly Saturday nights (except September 1967 to January 1968, when it was seen Monday nights) on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Title ...

'', ''

Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelist ...

'' and ''

Family Feud ''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. The show has had three separate runs, the ...

'', as well as a number of other variety programs. On September 18, 2006, Tyler was the first ventriloquist to appear on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

s Ventriloquist Week. In 2009, Willie Tyler and Lester were featured in the ventriloquist comedy documentary ''

I'm No Dummy ''I'm No Dummy'' is a 2009 documentary film about ventriloquism directed by Bryan W. Simon, produced by Marjorie Engesser through Montivagus Productions. It premiered at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival before being released theatrical ...

'', directed by

Bryan W. Simon Bryan. W. Simon, is a stage and film director, and writer. Simon grew up in Waukegan, Illinois and attended Waukegan High School, College of Lake County. Simon directed his first professional stage play at age 17, the regional tour of a children� ...

. On May 21, 2019, Tyler appeared as a 1972 TV version of himself on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' The Kids are Alright''.

Notes

External links

Official website
*

at Richard De La Font Agency
Willie Tyler
at Funny Business Agency
Willie Tyler
on ''Tom Green Live'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, Willie 1940 births Living people African-American male actors American male actors Ventriloquists People from Covington County, Alabama ABC Weekend Special Culture of Detroit