Interview: Bruce Vilanch of CAPTAIN SHOW BIZ at Harmony Gold Theater: Hollywood

Bruce Vilanch, the two-time Emmy Award-winning comedy writer, songwriter, and actor is considered the most revered comedy writer on both coasts. 
He is widely recognized for his work as the head writer for the Academy Awards from 2000 to 2014, as well as his four-year stint as a celebrity participant and head writer on Hollywood Squares. Throughout his career, he has written material for numerous high-profile artists, including the devine Bette Midler, Mr. Oscars-Billy Crystal, the only view-Whoopi Goldberg, and the sign of intelligence-Lily Tomlin. In addition to his writing and songwriting credits, he has appeared on Broadway in productions such as HAIRSPRAY and CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY, and he recently published his memoir, It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time, in 2025.

Bruce took TEN QUESTIONS IN TEN MINUTES with this Broadway World Los Angeles columnist to share his career trajectory from New York to Hollywood. .  Full disclosure:  this writer is a former master class student of his, Hollywood's King of Comedy at UCLA EXtension Film School for script punch-up writing for major Hollywood studios.
 

What is your sun sign, and where did Bruce Gerald Vilanch arrive on earth? 

Sagittarius, but the very first day, Nov 23, so some say I'm on the Scorpio cusp.  Then a few years ago a new sign was discovered, although I don't know how this could happen, and it was between Scorpio and Sagittarius, or something like that, but people carried on about it for a minute and then proceeded to ignore it, which they have done ever since.  Born in New York City. (Fun Fact: Ophiuchus

Were your parents or caretakers supportive of your career in live performance? Did they get to see you in the feature film Mahogany with Diana Ross or starring on Broadway as Edna in Hairspray?

They were very enabling and encouraging and their only concern was that I make a living, which they weren't sure could happen in show business.  Eventually they got it.  They saw everything I did, including MAHOGANY, but my dad passed in 1978, so he didn't make it to HAIRSPRAY.  my mother saw it about a dozen times, on Broadway and in various stops on the road.  After about the sixth time, she said to me "You're getting pretty good at this,"  she was a fabulous character with a great sense of humor. (Fun Fact:  Bruce was born in NYC but adopted four days later and raised in Paterson, NJ and an alumnus of Eastside HS.) 

Did you pursue traditional higher education, or did you run away to join the circus?

I am a proud alumnus of the Ohio State University (Buckeyes), which keeps inviting me back for fundraisers, as the pool of celebrity alumni is evidently shallow.  I did a double major in journalism and theatre.

What was your first paid gig that offered actual compensation rather than a drink or a free meal?

I was a child actor, not a child star, or we'd be having this conversation in rehab, so I got paid early on, but the money went into Bruce's college fund.  As a journalist, my first gig was at the Chicago Tribune.

 CHER mentioned SONNY and she, the stars of a comedy variety hour, even played bars with only two drunks in the audience. Did you ever work that kind of circuit? Did Joan Rivers bring class to stand-up, and which comic served as your primary muse to get on stage?

I wasn't this kind of performer, but I did do a few comedy clubs just to see what it was like and realized I was not a club comic.  I only took gigs where they were coming to see me...or it was a benefit.  I don't know that Joan brought class to stand-up, certainly not in later years, where she was fabulously filthy.  The only time I would ever mention class and stand-up in the same sentence would be if you were talking about Victor Borge... but he had a piano.  Although, thinking about it, Billy Crystal and Steve Martin are pretty classy.  (Bruce is headlining his play reading of CAPTAIN SHOW BIZ as a fundraiser for CELEBRATION THEATER, the longest running openly LGBTQNA+ theater in the USA)

You are a remarkably prolific comedy writer, having led the writers' room and written 24 Academy Awards broadcasts between 1989 and 2014—reaching billions of viewers.  Is there a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with your name on it, and where do you keep your two Primetime Emmy Awards?

Someone pays for those things, either the studio/network that made the project you're plugging or well-meaning relatives, or the recipient themselves, and I was never terribly interested or impressed enough with the faux honor to shell out.  My EMMYS are on either end of a shelf in my office, not as bookends, they stand alone and don't face each other, like two statues of liberty.  It's nice to look up and see them.  Validation from your peers is a lovely thing.

Like the most famous living journalist, OPRAH, you have been a dedicated journal keeper, writing books based on your detailed notes from the comedy shows you have written since the 1970s. Did you always know you were going to be a published author?

Well, I did write for a newspaper for five years, so I was published almost every day.  The first book happened because i was on HOLLYWOOD SQUARES every night.  The second one was a harder sell.  I wrote so many forwards to other people's books, I felt like I am a published author.

You have had the great fortune to  write for industry icons like Snow White, Lucille Ball, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Diana Ross, Luther Vandross, and Bette Midler.   However, Dame Maggie Smith recently shared on a Tik Tok reel, her top five colleagues from her seven decades career; who are your top five favorites from your five decades in the industry?

Excellent question, although I don't know how I could separate the famous ones from the collaborators who are wonderful writers but not stars.  This being said -- Bette Midler, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams and about a hundred other really good writers vying for the fifth spot.  I did write for Dame Maggie once, on the OSCARS, when she and IAN MCKELLAN presented together in the first flush of HARRY POTTER'S success.

Readers! Consider attending this 8/20/26 one night only  staged reading of Bruce's  CAPTAIN SHOW BIZ  nicknamed the homecoming: When Barbra Streisand called him up to hire him to write her most famous world tour she had to proffer up he was too expensive.  Bruce simply proffered back : Sell a lamp?  She called him back for her Vegas Tour! There only two words when it comes to writing comedy: GET BRUCE! 

Celebration Theatre is honored to present this West Coast Premiere sneak peek, and Bruce won't be taking the stage alone. Joining him is a genuinely staggering roster of screen and stage talent: five-time Golden Globe nominee Marilu Henner (Taxi, Evening Shade, Broadway's Chicago); two-time Emmy winner Sally Struthers (All in the Family, Gilmore Girls); Emmy winner and original Queer Eye "Fab Five" star Jai Rodriguez (Broadway's Rent, Bros); Grant Show, the primetime icon of Melrose Place and Dynasty; Ugly Betty scene-stealer and acclaimed comedian Alec Mapa; and Garrett Clayton (King Cobra, Hairspray Live!) — with more great names still to be announced. Trust us: you'll want to be in the room. And the setting couldn't be more fitting: Harmony Gold is the screening room where the industry has previewed its biggest titles for decades. The perfect house for a night about the man behind the biggest show in town. Every dollar raised goes directly toward Celebration's 44th season — including the full 2026/27 lineup we'll unveil this summer.Want a preview before the big night? Pick up Bruce's memoir, It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time  Show Tix Click:https://givebutter.com/captain-show-biz  

Nearbys:

Harmony Gold Preview Theater:

7655 W. Sunset Blvd.

Parking underneath enter Sunset Blvd. 

The Godfrey Hotel or Hilton Garden Inn

Bossa Nova or La Boheme restaurants

Target booksellers for his book next to

Michelle Obama'S BECOMING! 

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