Greg: You have been acting
doing voice radio and the show Willy & Floyd
for years. When Whatever Turns
You On aired were any of the skits
borrowed from Willy & Floyd like there were skits
borrowed from You Can't Do That
On TV?
Les: No, I had nothing to do
with the writing for WTYO but wrote on Willy
& Floyd
Greg: Did any of the cast
members from WTYO ever guest in Willy
& Floyd?
Les: Yes,
Um... beginning with Christine, then from the
sister show YCDTOTV Adam Reid and Justin
Cammy.
Greg: How did you feel about
the show WTYO being a primetime show for
you as your other shows were usually on Saturday
mornings?
Les: I thought it was a mistake
as you suggested it was a kids show meant for
Saturday mornings or every morning. Mind you, YTV
ran it twice a day.
Greg: Yes, I remember and I wished I
taped them all as I'm upset I didn't since I'm
trying to get all of them in A+ quality. Did you
ever watch any shows Ruth Buzzi starred in like Laugh
In?
 Les:
Absoultely, I'm a
big fan of Laugh-In and of Ruth. I was even
more so a fan working with her. She's a great
lady.
Greg: Do you still see her now
and then?
Les:
Not since the show. Some of the kids visited her
some years ago.
Greg: What was your reaction
when you found out you’d be working with her
as well as having another adult cast member on
the show?
Les: I thought that it was necessary. It
made a lot of sense to react to and with having
another adult and worked really well. Like
playing the wife and teacher and the kids to
react to another one.
Greg: Whenever I saw the show you were so
amazing with your voices that I thought some of
those characters like Ross, Nicholson Dime, Mr.
Shidler, the drunken father Lance, Senator
Prevort the dungeon master and Seth were
completely different people cause you also had
different expressions. Did viewers think the same
way like I did wondering if these people were
different?
Les:
That happened apparently when Roger Price went to
sell the show and someone at Nickelodeon
was wondering why there were so many different
male characters. He thought they were all
different people. It was a compliment. The make
up woman Mrs.Elizabeth Ciezluk was a
talented lady with make up. Radio also helped me
and I was in radio first. In Canada there was no
tv till 1953. My prior was in radio. My method
was to use different voices. I never tried to
move my lips like I had to with TV. I was not a
ventriloquist so I could move them.
Greg: Was your hair dyed for these
characters as you were playing these roles
younger than you were at the time?
Les: Yeah
my hair was. I was gonna say my hair was grey but
it was white so they dyed it dark. All my
characters were middle aged.
Greg:
What character did you enjoy playing the most?
Les:
I am often
asked that.... Hmmm... That question is
difficult. I enjoyed them all. With my personal
appearances the kids wanted to meet the Dad as
well as Barth from YCDTOTV. I certainly enjoyed
doing both those characters. All of them were
good fun.
 Greg: Over the years, I never
understood why your father role Lance Prevort
wore grubby clothing. What was the purpose for
that?
Les: Well
it helped establish the character. He was a
sloppy dresser and didn’t care about
personal hygiene or how they looked. Lots of
people are like that.
Greg: I remember the episode Fan
Letters/Summer Camp as you played a
slobby cook for the kids at camp. Was that
character an inspiration to play Barth in the
sister show YCDTOTV when it reaired in 1981?
Les: Yep absolutely. It worked
well. When we established the restaurant, Roger
Price said that the Camp Cook would be a good
person to base Barth on.
Greg: In Educational Programming
your character Ross dumped a bucket of slime on
Kevin Somers. Do you know if there was a musical
guest on that episode and if anyone you know has
that one as it’s one of the missing episodes
and I remember it being my favourite one.
Les: I vaguely remember it.
Unfortunately I don't remember the musical guests
and don't have a copy of it. Sorry. Have you
contacted anyone from CJOH-TV?
Greg:
I tried to but it's hard. They said they got rid
of them but Jim Clarke found some good copies.
They MUST have all of them in storage somewhere.
I mean every station is bound to have all shows
that were made.
Les: Well, Late
Night with Johnny Carson was a popular show and
some of them were destroyed. Even with big networks they get rid
of them. It's a shame.
Greg: What episode will you always
remember doing during it’s short-lived run?
 Les: Not having seen or very
little since doing them. I don’t remember
them that much. I do remember Kevin Schenk and
Ruth as his mother trying to promote him as a
talent.
Greg: Yes that was the pilot. I
understand it was in front of a live studio
audience.
Les: The
only time there was a TV audience live was for
musical guests.
Greg:
Oh I guess I misunderstood. Marc Baillon when he
and I were discussing the cue card skit on the
pilot show I thought he mentioned a live
audience.
Les:
I do remember that the Bay City Rollers
were on as a guest on one of the episodes.
Greg: The Bay City Rollers??!!
The band that had teen pop hits like
"Saturday Night" and "The Disco
Kid"????Are you sure about that? They
must've been a musical guest on one of the
missing eps.
Les:
Christine introduced them but I could be wrong.
I'm quite sure that they were one of the guests.
Greg:
Roger Price is British too so it makes sense that
he had contact with a British band like the Bay
City Rollers.
Les: They
were probably doing a show in Ottawa and
WTYO
might've paid them extra money. I'm not big fan
of any of the bands that performed on the show
but the Bay City Rollers were
not as popular as most of the bands like Ian
Thomas etc. Work on it and find out if they were
on the show.
Greg: Bay City Rollers were just a fad
for teenage girls in the 70's like Shaun
Cassidy and Leif Garrett were
and their recording career was nearing their end
during this time. I just remember seeing bands
like Ian Thomas, Trooper,
Max Webster, Alma Faye
Brooks, Kevin Page Band
and Triano on the show.
Les:
There was also the Cooper Brothers
too I believe.
Greg:
Yes! Them too!!!
Les:
I got to know the better one of the brothers who
wrote the songs. Can't remember his name.
Greg:
Oh that's cool you got to know him that well.
When the show was going to be axed due to poor
ratings as a primetime show for kids wasn’t
a good time slot were you ever worried of what to
do next as the kids weren’t worried since
they never considered themselves actors but you
were different as you were trained as a
professional actor?
Les: No, it was obvious that YCDTOTV
was
going to continue. I wasn’t concerned. Never
really bothered me. I suppose if a show
doesn’t run for several seasons it’s a
disappointment.
Greg: You were
still doing Willy & Floyd too.
Les: Yes the
show still continued the same time.
Greg: When did Willy
& Floyd start?
Les: The show
started in 1968 and ended the same year YCDTOTV
did in 1990.
Greg: Do you ever have fans
asking you about WTYO?
Les: Not very often no. As you
know we had two reunions. Last one was about a
year ago. There were quite a number of fans that
came up from the States. There were all kinds of
questions. It was a good turnout.
Greg: Did any at the YCDTOTV
SlimeCon reunion ask about WTYO?
Les: The odd one has asking
about Ruth Buzzi.
Greg: What are you doing now?
Les: (Laughs) Got back from
the hospital. I've run into some bad  luck I suppose. Diabetes, heart
attack and well putting it briefly arteritis
effected my eye site. Now I've got parkinson
disease and parkinson has mine. (Laughs)
Greg: Are you still acting?
Les: I'm not acting at all.
I've permantently retired.
Greg: But had you previously
thought of returning to acting in a show like
WTYO
at all?
Les: No no no. I really
couldn’t. When I mentioned about my vision.
I'm legally blind but I can see everythings. But
it's very hazy.
Well there you have it everyone. The
main guy that everyone remembers in WTYO who acted
opposite of Ruth Buzzi. I was so thankful to get
an interview from him and all the info I didn't
know about. I hope he does well with all he went
through but he's a fighter and a real survivor.
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