Sam Wills, known as Tape Face, gained international fame after reaching the finals of America’s Got Talent in 2016.
The prop comic and mime artist, born in Dunedin and raised in Timaru, has been performing as Tape Face six nights a week for eight years in Las Vegas.
But now taking he’s taking time off to head back to his roots for the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch next week.
His advice for anyone planning to attend his shows was “don’t watch anything online”.
“The less you know, the more you’ll enjoy it. I’m a big fan of don’t go onto YouTube, don’t check it out … Just buy a ticket. Come to the show. Enjoy the ride.”
He told RNZ he was excited to be returning to Christchurch — a place dear to his heart and which he considered home because it was where he developed his skills.
His fascination with street performance began in Timaru when he stumbled on a professional clown in the area and continuously observed his shows until he managed to reach the clown’s home one day and auditioned for him at his doorstep.
“I was that kid at school, normal school, eventually got kicked out. I was the disruptive one, so I was much better suited to homeschooling life.
“I was lucky enough that I could wake up at six o’clock in the morning … and I would do my school work as fast as possible. So that way I’d have all my day free to juggle and do these other little tricks.
“My dad has got a wicked sense of humour, so he would be helping me out building props and making things and suggesting ideas and stuff like that. So it was a pivotal point for me.”
The Tape Face character was formed about 20 years ago after he did another show and felt he talked too much.
“I was circus trained and clown trained, but I used to do freak show acts, so things like hammering four-inch nails up my nose, eating broken light bulbs and just weird oddities like that.
“In 2005, I was lucky enough to win the Billy T James award. Once I won that award, a lot of people expected me to do the same sort of show, just do more tricks and more talking. I like to surprise people and do the opposite. So I wanted to develop a character that had no tricks and no talking at all.”
The tipping point came after he was asked to audition for America’s Got Talent in 2016.
“Growing up as a performer, I always thought I wanted to only entertain adults and bars and things like that, just because that’s where I was at the time, whereas the show has just developed and evolved to become accessible for everyone from nine to 90.”
During the Tape Face shows, he used everyday objects and brought in audience members as participants which he said kept it fresh.
For anyone worried about missing Tape Face while he travelled home, Wills has had an understudy for seven years who would take on the character in Las Vegas.
“[Tape Face will] be two places at once … We were lucky enough before Covid happened, we actually had three Tape Faces. We had one in Paris, one in Australia, and one in Vegas. But then Covid hit, and we had to lose our Australian one…
“He’s [Tape Face] in a suitcase waiting to come out for the next show.”
The World Buskers Festival is in Christchurch from January 24 to February 2.
rnz.co.nz
