Where are … Willie Tyler & Lester?

Jet, April 21, 2008 by Margena A. Christian

They are perhaps the country's most renowned African-American ventriloquist team, Willie Tyler and his buddy Lester.

For nearly 40 years, the duo has been joined at the hip, traveling the country and making people laugh.

The two first won nation,-d prominence in 1968 on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" as regular performers on the TV series. They later made appearances in commercials and on shows such as "The Electric Company," "The Flip Wilson Show," "The Jeffersons" and "Hollywood Squares."

They've also worked with greats such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett, Whoopi Goldberg and Jay Leno. They've traveled through all of the 50 states and have performed in various countries, including England, France, Germany, Japan and Korea.

The pair even kicked off David Letterman's Ventriloquist Week in 2006 on his "The Late Show."

Though they aren't seen on television much these days that doesn't mean they aren't still around.

Willie Tyler and Lester continue to perform at comedy clubs across the country, in casinos and on cruise ships.

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"Entertainers never really retire," said Tyler, 67. "We love the business and being in front of the audience. That rush keeps us going. We haven't gone away. We're still at it."

Tyler's interest in ventriloquism was sparked as a kid. Each week he'd watch the legendary Paul Winchell and his dummy Mahoney on the show "Winchell Mahoney Time."

"I tried to emulate what he did," recalled Tyler of his late mentor, who died in 2005. "I didn't have a ventriloquist figure, some people call it a dummy, so I took my sister's old doll. I used that until I got my first one."

He was introduced to the art of ventriloquism while taking a correspondence course. "You get in front of the mirror and try to talk without moving your lips," said Tyler. "It was frustrating, but I kept doing it and doing it. After delivering papers, I would come home and rehearse. Finally it happened several years later."

Tyler purchased his first model of what would later become Lester at age 13. The figure did not have a name, only a model number. Tyler's brother thought the figure looked like a classmate named Lester, so that's how Tyler gave him the name.

"He came in three sizes," said Tyler, who created the glasses and a large Afro for the figure. "I had the small one. Then I got the medium one and when I started performing with Motown, I had to get the big one. That's the Lester that you see today. This one has been around 30 years."

Whenever Tyler travels, he's certain to keep Lester, who is insured, by his side.

"I have a case I put him in. I have to break him in two pieces to make him small enough to carry on the plane," said Tyler. "I used to check his body and carry the head because it's fragile. But when I was working with Sammy Davis Jr. in Lake Tahoe for two weeks, we missed a performance. When I got to Reno, the body wasn't there. I missed the first night because the body didn't come. After that happened, I carry everything with me now."

Tyler, a native of Red Level, AL, is the divorced father of three, including son, actor Cory Tyler, who played Terrence, Col. Taylor's son, on "A Different World."

Tyler's proud of his long-standing career and his little buddy Lester. So far Lester is the only ventriloquist figure that has the ability to move both arms mechanically.

"I have gears. The eyes move from left to right, the head turns and the mouth moves," said Tyler. "Lester sings a lot. When he finished a song, I wanted him to raise his arm at the end. My brother and I worked with him where now both of his arms move. Nobody else does that. This is something I really enjoy and will do forever and ever and ever."