Who is the ventriloquist in Adam Sandler's Netflix special? Here's how you know Willie Tyler and his dummy Lester

Pioneering ventriloquist-comedian Willie Tyler and his dummy Lester have appeared in numerous shows since the 1960s.

Adam Sandler's new Netflix comedy special makes it hard to tell what's real and what's staged when it comes to interruptions during the show, but there's nothing fake about the famous ventriloquist who makes a brief appearance — unless you count his sidekick.

Near the beginning of Adam Sandler: Love You, the Sandman peeks in on the act on stage before he's set to go up. He watches as a ventriloquist and dummy tell a joke about a person with a stiff neck painfully watching a professional tennis game. As Sandler deals with chaos and fan requests backstage, the ventriloquist comes through and exchanges a few words with the Happy Gilmore star.

"Willie and Lester," Sandler greets the duo. "This means a lot to me. The crowd loves you."

And indeed crowds have loved them over the years as they are played by pioneering ventriloquist-comedian Willie Tyler and his longtime dummy companion Lester, who viewers may recognize from a multitude of shows over the years.

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The 83-year-old comic got his start in the late '60s and early '70s with appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, and nearly two dozen episodes of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

Tyler and Lester's act soon became a TV staple, with appearances on The Electric Company, American Bandstand, Match Game, Hollywood Squares, Family Feud, numerous ABC Weekend Specials, and NBC's star-studded 1984 special A Christmas Dream, among other shows and commercials. In 2006, Tyler performed with Lester on the Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Tyler has also made guest appearances on The Jeffersons, What's Happening Now!, Pacific Blue, The Parent 'Hood, The Kids are Alright, and Hal Ashby's Oscar-winning Coming Home, starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight.

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Archival footage of Tyler and Lester at the Harlem Cultural Festival in the summer of 1969 can be seen in Questlove's Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul.

"I love that this movie stopped and showed us a brief moment of Willie Tyler and Lester, the Black ventriloquist act which, like, was... on every '70s and '80s game show, you know, that is like a big —weirdly a big part of my childhood," Questlove told NPR of their inclusion in his film.

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Sandler makes a callback to Tyler near the end of the special. After Rob Schneider performs an Elvis impression, he heads into the audience and sits on a man's lap.

"Hey, it's Willie Tyler and Lester!" Sandler cracks at the sight.

Adam Sandler: Love You is now streaming on Netflix.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.