In Character with Tyler Hughs

A conversation with an interesting Portlander

By peter korn

The Portland Tribune, Apr 23, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (6 Reader comments)

Tyler Hughs pushes the envelope of sketchy humor.

COURTESY OF GEOFFREY SQUIER SILVER

Tyler Hughs’ girlfriend thinks he’s funny. His 5-year-old son isn’t quite so sure, according to Hughs, who is a writer and announcer for locally produced vaudevillian radio show Live Wire!, heard on public radio stations across the country. But kids are always a tough audience, as Hughs learned about 20 years ago.

Portland Tribune: Where’s the missing “e?”

Tyler Hughs: The missing “e?” Oh, my name. I’m not sure, but nobody in my family wants to see that “e” ever again. They’ve banished it. I’ve asked my dad. It’s a pride thing for him.

Tribune: It’s a pride thing with no explanation?

Hughs: He says we’re Welsh.

Tribune: Is radio fun?

Hughs: Yeah, I actually am more nervous being on radio than I ever was on stage, on television or in movies. Maybe it’s the fact that your voice is going off into space and eternity.

Tribune: Do you think about eternity a lot in regard to your work?

Hughs: Absolutely. You hear sculptors talk about inside that hunk of marble the sculpture is already in there, they just have to find it. I feel similarly about sketches.

Tribune: But eternity? I work for a newspaper, and I’m happy if someone remembers something I’ve written the day after it’s printed.

Hughs: Look at Monty Python. There are kids on playgrounds who are still quoting the dead parrot sketch. That’s an eternal sketch right there. They probably did not expect it would be quoted on playgrounds all over the world. But it is.

(Before Live Wire!) I hadn’t been nervous in a performance situation in years. I did standup (comedy) once in second grade and it went horribly.

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