On December 29th, 2015, Mel Tillis had a press conference in Laughlin, Nevada. Here’s what he said about stuttering (sorry video is so bad!). For many of us who stutter, we think we have to be perfect when we speak, but thankfully Minnie Pearl encouraged Mr. Tillis to speak on stage. Link to video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJN5nX_ERf0
MC: did you say Mel Tillis or M-Mel Tillis?
[laughter]
MEL: M-m-m-Mel Tillis.
MC: Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a big round of applause for M-Mel Tillis!
[applause, cheers]
MEL: I was signing autographs here oh, not too long ago, and there was a fellow in line. He was about 15 on down the line, and he hollers out, “Mel Tillis! I paid $34 to hear you stutter, and you ain’t stutter one damn bit!”
[laughter]
And I said, “I’m trying to quit, sir!”
[laughter]
MC: That’s awesome. Well, go ahead and have a seat right there.
MEL: OK.
.
You know, when I first went to Nashville, boy I really stuttered bad. And I signed on as a songwriter for Webb Pierce’s company, and he paid me $50 against a draw. And when the money started coming in, they took that out. So actually, they hired me for nothing.
[laughter].
But I was a songwriter, and Jim Denney was a part-owner of that company, the publishing company. He also had a booking agency. One of his acts was Minnie Pearl. Minnie was going out and doing the fair dates all over the Midwest: Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, all over the Midwest.
.
And she needed a rhythm guitar player and a singer. And Mr. Denny put me with her, and then I found out that she needed a fiddle player. Well, I had met a fiddle player at the coffee shop there on South and Union.
.
His name was Roger Miller.
[crowd excited].
And he said he could play the fiddle. I said, “Can you play?” “Yeah, I can play.” Then I went back, and I told them about him, and they hired him. We went out on the road, and I couldn’t even talk hardly in those days. Roger would introduce my song, and I’d sing it. Then, he’d come back out there and said, “Mel Tillis said ‘thank you’!”.
[laughter].
That’s the truth.
.
One day, Minnie Pearl–.
She’d been over there watching [inaudible] outdoors. I went over there, and I said, “Yes, Ma’am?” And says, “Mel,” she says, “I see that you have a little problem with speaking.” “Yes, Ma’am.”
.
And she said, “Well, if you’re gonna be in our business, you need to introduce your own song. And then you need to thank them. And then after the show, you need to sign autographs.” And I said, “Ms. Minnie, I c-,” I said, “I can’t do that.” I said, “They’ll laugh at me.” And she said, “No, they won’t now, but they’ll laugh with you.”
.
And I started talking onstage, and the next thing I knew, I did 17 Johnny Carson shows.
[laughter].
[inaudible], The Merv Griffin Show, The Dan Barton Show, The Hollywood Squares. I did them all and 13 movies. And Ms. Minnie was right.
MC: Yes, she was.
MEL: I started talking onstage. People did think that it’s something that I use. I don’t use it. When I was out there on the Glen Campbell “Goodtime Hour,” they would write that stuff, and we would say. They’d put the stutter in there!
[laughter]
I said, “I might not even stutter on that word! Take that thing outta there!”
[laughter]
But you know, over the years, the more I talked onstage–and Ms. Minnie was right–the less I stuttered.
[applause]
It’s still part for me, when I read something. I still have a problem reading orally. And that’s why I read silent.
[laughter]
MC: That’s awesome. So you were also involved in the SAY organization, which is for people, actually, who have that challenge, who have stuttering.
MEL: The Stuttering Foundation of America, yeah. And I’ve got a painting–you put it up on your phone there–a painting called “Masonic America,” and I’ve raised $88,000 for speech and hearing clinics with the Stuttering Foundation of America. I’m proud of it.
[applause, cheers]
You put it up. You’ll see it. [inaudible]. Not only will you see that picture, but you’ll see a lot of my paintings that I do. I do that too.
MC: Wow!
Nina G Comedian 