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

ventriloquist Ventriloquism or ventriloquy is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) speaks in such a way that it seems like their voice is coming from a different location, usually through a puppet known as a "dummy". The act of ventrilo ...

, comedian and actor. He has been credited as Willie Tyler and Lester or Willie Tyler & Lester. Tyler recorded the album ''Hello Dummy'' for

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

, released in 1965. He also recorded ''Cannibal'' for Motown 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 six seasons from January 22, 1968, to July 23, 1973, on the NBC television network. The show, hosted by comed ...

''.

Appearances

Willie Tyler and Lester July 2014 PETER DZUBAY

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 soul, jazz and gospel and black music and culture and promoted Black pride. The m ...

in the summer of 1969, and can be briefly seen in the 2021 documentary ''

Summer of Soul ''Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)'' is a 2021 American independent documentary film about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in his directorial debut. It had its world prem ...

''. 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 t ...

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

What's Happening Now!! ''What's Happening Now!!'' is an American sitcom sequel to the original American Broadcasting Company, ABC 1976–1979 sitcom ''What's Happening!!'' focusing on its main characters as independent people. It aired in first-run broadcast syndicati ...

'', '' 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 253 episodes, ''The Jeffersons'' is one of the longest-running sitcoms in history ...

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

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

ABC Weekend Special ''ABC Weekend Special'' is a weekly 30-minute American television anthology series for children that aired Saturday mornings on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from September 10, 1977 to August 30, 1997, which featured a wide variety of stori ...

s'' throughout the early 1980s. He appeared in the 1978 film '' Coming Home''. Tyler has also appeared in television commercials for

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

and

Maxwell House Maxwell House is an American brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz in North America and JDE Peet's in the rest of the world. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, it was named in honor of the Ma ...

. He appeared as himself in the 2004

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

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 ceremony which honors the best in African-American culture, music and entertainment. It is produced by the production company of '' Soul Train'', the program from which it takes its name, and ...

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

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

'', ''

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. ...

'', ''

Vegetable Soup Vegetable soup is a common soup prepared using vegetables (including leaf vegetables, and sometimes loosely mushrooms) as primary ingredients. It dates to ancient history, and in modern times is also a mass-produced food product. Overview Vege ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 Glob ...

'', ''

The Statler Brothers Show ''The Statler Brothers Show'' is 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 hourlong American television variety show broadcast Saturday nights (except September 1967 to January 1968, when it aired on Tuesday nights) on ABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970. Titled ''The Satur ...

'', ''

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 paneli ...

'' and ''

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

''. On September 18, 2006, Tyler was the first ventriloquist to appear on the ''

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

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 and produced by Marjorie Engesser through Montivagus Productions. It premiered at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival before being released to th ...

'', directed by

Bryan W. Simon Bryan W. Simon is a Theatre director, stage, film director and writer from Waukegan, Illinois. He directed his first professional stage play at 17, the regional tour of a children's show entitled ''Jack and The Wishing Beans,'' for the Roundtree ...

. 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. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

sitcom '' The Kids are Alright''. In August 2024, Willie Tyler and Lester appeared in the '' Adam Sandler: Love You'' special on Netflix.

References

External links

* *
An Interview with Willie Tyler Part One, February 2012
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