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Happy 62nd Birthday to Bruce Vilanch!

Love this man’s T-shirts! And love his terrific sense of humor.
Brilliant Bruce Vilanch is always a welcome presence at any Hollywood event because you know he’s going to make you laugh. He was introducing himself as Chaz Bono for awhile this year then he segued into being California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.
Bruce has done his share of performing (on Broadway and the national tour of Hairspray as Edna and was a regular on The Hollywood Squares for four years) but often his comedy comes out of the mouths of other people – very famous people.
He was a writer for Bette Midler in the 70s and a writer for the cult fave The Brady Bunch Variety Hour and he’s also written jokes for Lily Tomlin, Roseanne Barr, Billy Crystal and Rosie O’Donnell.
But one of Bruce’s best and most steady gigs has been as one of the writers for The Academy Awards each year. We chatted last spring about comedy and the Oscars:
“I think people have a better time if it’s funny,” Bruce said. “It’s such a pompous occasion, so much self-importance. These are career-changing moments for people who have a great deal invested professionally so the humor helps to level that a little bit. It’s a show, it’s showbiz.”
Bruce began the Oscar gigs in the late 80s and I asked him if things have changed much since then.

“The world changed,” he replied. “When I started it there were four networks. The TV universe has expanded exponentially. The Internet came in and now everyone is on Twitter and talking on cell phones. The public’s attention is more fragmented and the celebrity machine has exploded. All the gossip,, the paparazzi, it has an affect on the show. The ratings are lower because people have more options. What has changed about the show is that the movie business has changed. Eleven years ago, ‘The English Patient‘ won best picture, an independent movie not many people had seen. That has been the trend. You have to make those movies accessible to have the show make sense to people who haven’t seen the movies.”

FILE UNDER: Birthdays

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