Right now, Mark Wade is getting ready to introduce and interview Willie Tyler on-stage at the conVENTion. Everyone had a great time visiting the museum this afternoon and they are back in the hall to learn more about Willie’s career. While we can’t bring you the interview live (Vent Haven ConVENTion rules…) we can share this very brief look at Willie’s career!
Don’t miss tonight’s All-Star Show right here at the HomeVENTion headquarters!
Take a moment to share the first time you saw Willie Tyler perform in the comments below. Was it on TV? Perhaps one of his McDonald’s commercials? On YouTube? What do you recall about the performance?
I don’t remember the first time I saw Willie Tyler and Lester. I know that it was on TV and I’m pretty sure it was in commercials. I remember seeing him on TV and thinking that it was so cool what he was doing. I also remembering laughing like crazy.
Would love to have been there to have seen his interview, live. 🙂
I’m looking forward to the homeVENTion show.
Willie Tyler is not really a household name here in Australia, but what an amazing performer and what an amazing career. Well deserving of the honours bestowed at the convention. I have only seen Willie on youtube, but he was the first person I’d ever seen with an African American puppet, so it stood out to me as breaking away from the stereotyped idea of a figure that I’d seen until then.
Watching some of Willie’s work again I’m struck by how alive Lester looks, yet so much of what Willie is doing with him is subtle and almost understated. No movement is a wasted, random movement, though. It is all so fluid, controlled, deliberate and effective. A master puppeteer. I know I can sometimes still move my puppet too much – although his character is a fairly hyperactive 6 year old, there can still be a tendency to have him moving too much.