Wayne Brady lived in Orlando, Florida, as a teenager, so as he discovered his love of performing through school plays, he put that talent to use in some of his first jobs. Brady worked at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, playing characters as varied as Tigger, Dracula, Goofy, and Winston from "Ghostbusters." He liked the way his theme park roles let him disappear into his characters, telling People, "I loved that because you see the work. You don't necessarily see me. I love bringing joy, which is why I love being a character."
Brady disappeared into his Disney characters in another way, too: The costumes let him interact with people who wouldn't necessarily have trusted him otherwise. On "Ziwe," he noted that "mainstream America" is more comfortable with a Black man in a costume than one in a fedora. "Rednecks would take their kids and shove 'em in my arms," he recalled, suggesting that this would not have happened had they known who was under the mask.
Ultimately, Brady was let go from Disney World in an incident that he says wasn't his fault. He told "Stars in the House" that he encountered someone claiming to be a park executive who wanted her kid to jump the line to meet Tigger, and when he politely refused, she had him fired for pinching her son, which he didn't do. After all, he said, the Tigger gloves are "basically oven mitts."
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