![]() A hit at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2008, Wills' show The Boy with Tape on His Face marked the first major success for the stage persona that he'd later present at such events as the BBC Comedy Prom at London's Royal Albert Hall. Drawing from his love of circus, vaudeville and prop comedy, he developed a character that took the art of mime in bold new directions. Tape Face is the creation of Sam Wills, who began his performing career as an aspiring clown while a teenager. Tape Face's appearances on America's Got Talent in 2016 introduced wider audiences to this New Zealand talent. Yet what makes this modern-day master of mime and comedy truly remarkable is the wonder, whimsy and weirdness that fill his one-of-a-kind performances. So that's why I started to go to Edinburgh to develop my show there and see if I could follow in their footsteps and win an award.With his electric-shock hairstyle, striped shirt and strip of black tape across his mouth, the performer known as Tape Face can't help but leave an impression on audiences. They were a couple of years above me, if you think of it like school, because I remember when Flight of the Conchords got nominated for the Perrier Award in Edinburgh (the original name for the Edinburgh Fringe’s comedy prizes), I saw them, and that was the golden gem to aim for. Were you part of that crew? Or were you looking at them going, ah, you’re too mainstream? I have to do something different. Now I know in that period that was when Bret and Jemaine, Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi were all coming out of New Zealand. I was street performing in Christchurch, and then I developed the comedy act in Auckland, at The Classic Comedy Club. When you first start doing that, was that still in Christchurch or was that in Auckland? We realized, everybody called me Tape Face anyway. You saying you can’t be a boy with a little salt and pepper? C’mon, there’s nothing wrong with that. Was that because NBC just couldn't handle a name that long? Or was it because you were too old to be presumed as a Boy? We changed it to Tape Face when we went on to do AGT in 2016. The Boy with Tape on His Face was invented there. Luckily enough, I came back the next night and there was a friend of mine backstage who said to me, ‘The only way you could do a silent comedy act would be if you taped your mouth shut.’ And so that's when the tape came about. I tried it without the tape, and I lasted 15,20,30 seconds before I ruined it by talking to the front row. ![]() How are you gonna do it?’ And then I went to a comedy club. So I went, I’m gonna do a silent character, and they were like, ‘You can’t shut up for a minute. So I'm the type of person that, if you tell me to do one thing, I will want to do the other - just to annoy you. And everyone expected me to keep doing more shows of the style that I'd been doing. T James Award, in 2005, and that at the time was New Zealand's biggest comedy award. Was that what drew you? Or was there something about clowning in general? So I wanted to push myself to learn all these stunts. This was all before Jackass kind of thing. That was when I was doing a circus sideshow freak show act, where I would do routines like hammering four-inch-nails up by nose, eating broken light bulbs. I have to presume that was before the tape. That was many years ago…what was it? 1990-something? 2001? Yeah, Best New Whole Face. ![]() And also I just want to say last things first: I love the irony - even though it might not have been ironic at the time - that your first major award was Pulp Comedy’s Best New Face. They just have to imagine placing your voice with the video. Well, there's no video, so your secret is still safe. So Tape Face, Last Things First: Thank you so much for taking the tape off for this podcast. If you’re unfamiliar, then please catch up with this reel of all of his AGT appearances: He took off the tape to speak to me in Times Square to promote one of his mini-tours away from the Vegas Strip. Tape Face was a hit with AGT judges and NBC viewers, and he’s held down a Vegas residency ever since at Harrah’s Las Vegas. on America’s Got Talent in 2016, though, his name was shortened to simply Tape Face. He received a Best Newcomer nomination at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2010, and followed that two years later with the Fringe’s coveted Panel Prize. But after an initial foray into stand-up comedy, his friends challenged him to stop talking so much - so he became The Boy With Tape On His Face. When you hear the words Tape Face, what do you picture? Sam Wills began his comedy career in his native New Zealand as a teenage clown in training, complete with a diploma from a circus school in Christchurch. Tape Face at the Museum of Broadway, minutes before I interviewed him.
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