Columnist Lisa Ferguson: No flying under the radar for Willie and Lester

Lisa Ferguson

Friday, July 25, 2003 | 8:42 a.m.

Lisa Ferguson's Laugh Lines column appears Fridays. Her Sun Lite Column appears Mondays. Reach her at lmsferguson@yahoo.com.

In these days of heightened airport security, the contents of Willie Tyler's carry-on luggage often raises a few eyebrows.

Baggage screeners won't find weapons, explosives or even your garden-variety sharp, pointy objects in the legendary ventriloquist's bags -- just pint-sized body parts.

Tyler typically warns workers that awaiting their discovery is his longtime comedic sidekick, Lester, who literally goes to pieces when the comedy team travels.

"I say, 'Now, his head is in there,' " Tyler explains of the pre-boarding routine with his disassembled buddy.

As an added measure of caution, Tyler usually carries photos of himself and Lester together. "So there's no surprise" when screeners open his luggage and see a head. "That can be very traumatic," he says. "I was in Japan one time and this young lady ... opened it up and sort of grabbed her chest real quick. I didn't have a picture on me to show her."

After more than four decades in show business it's not often that Willie Tyler and Lester -- who wrap a weeklong gig at Riviera Comedy Club tonight through Sunday -- go unrecognized.

The human half of the duo doesn't argue that he and 42-inch-tall Lester are household names.

"At least Lester is," Tyler explained during a recent call from his home in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. "If people know me, they know Lester; and sometimes they don't know me, they know Lester."

Other times, they own Lester -- or at least a likeness of the dummy, which for some 20 years has been sold as a toy in J.C. Penney catalogs and at other retail outlets.

These days fans approach Tyler following performances, with Lester dolls in hand. "They've had it since they were a kid, and they'll say, 'Would you autograph it for me, please?' They had gotten it for a Christmas present and they just hung onto it, and they never really tried the ventriloquism thing."

That doesn't surprise Tyler, who claims he's in his "latter-50s" (though the movie website imdb.com lists his birth year as 1940, which would make him 63). He began developing his ventriloquism skills when he was 10 years old, and recalls how difficult it was to learn the craft.

"I would come home from school every day and I would spend about three hours every day" practicing his technique, he says.

At around age 13, the Detroit native began entering himself (and his first "small" Lester doll) in amateur talent shows that were held following picture shows at area movie theaters. The two were hardly an instant hit with showgoers.

"If you saw how energetic the audience could be with people if you're not delivering ... They would throw things. But I'm glad I went through that because I learned" the delicate balance required to perform comedy, he says.

As Tyler grew in stature, so did Lester. At 17, he traded up to a "medium"-sized doll. The following year he joined the Air Force and was stationed in Oklahoma and Libya.

After returning from his military stint, Tyler signed on with a then "little, obscure record company" called Motown, and he and his third Lester (the doll he continues to work with) hit the road, emceeing musical revues starring the Temptations and the Supremes, among other great groups of the era. Later in his career, Tyler worked with countless celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.

Over the years the comedy team became television fixtures, starring as regulars on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" (1972 though '73) and guesting on "The Flip Wilson Show" and "The Jeffersons." From 1981 through 1984 they hosted the Saturday-morning "ABC Weekend Specials" series, watched by a generation of young viewers.

Several years ago the two were featured in a series of McDonald's commercials that aired nationwide. Tyler also had a role in the 1978 drama "Coming Home," which starred Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. Tyler set the doll aside to play the dramatic role of Virgil.

These days Willie and Lester's small-screen exposure is largely limited to brief segments on morning TV-news shows airing in the cities where they perform.

There's seemingly no limit, however, to the types of venues and events the two will play -- from comedy clubs to private, corporate gigs; cruise ships and even the state-and-county-fair circuit.

"It's pretty much personal appearances all over the country," Tyler says.

Unfortunately, Lester can't share any tales from the road: When he's not onstage, he's relegated to his suitcase home, and he and Tyler do not speak to each other.

"I don't get into the situation ... of talking to the character, of holding a personal conversation when we're by ourselves," Tyler says, although other ventriloquists he knows do chat with their dummies. "It's scary to me."

Out for laughs

Local comic Mike Saccone, whose story was featured in the July 11 installment of Laugh Lines, struts his shtick Aug. 7 through Aug. 31 in "X" at Aladdin. In early September he'll begin what he says he hopes will become his permanent gig: making audiences laugh as the featured comic in "Crazy Girls" at Riviera.

If you missed the joke-off taped Wednesday at Paris Las Vegas, between the five funny finalists of NBC's "Last Comic Standing" (the results air at 9 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 3), fear not: You can be in the audience when the reality show's winner is crowned Aug. 5 at the hotel-casino's showroom.

The taping will likely take place in the early afternoon, as the broadcast will air that evening. Ticket information will be available starting Monday by calling the Paris Las Vegas box office, 946-4567.