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Audio: Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast – #220 Bruce Vilanch
By Earwolf and Gilbert Gottfried.
August 13, 2018

Gilbert and Frank welcome an old friend, legendary comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, who looks back at the “golden age” of TV variety shows and specials, including “Donny & Marie,” “The Brady Bunch Hour,” “The Star Wars Holiday Special” and “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special.” (all co-written by Bruce himself). Also, Margaret Hamilton makes her move, Robert Reed channels Carmen Miranda, Jack Benny does “The Match Bit” and Gilbert takes over “Hollywood Squares.” PLUS: Jack Palance! Bob Hope’s filing cabinet! “Wayne Newton at SeaWorld”! Bruce hangs with Tallulah Bankhead! And the Oscar joke that never made the air!

The post Podcast: Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast – #220 Bruce Vilanch first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

If you grew up watching the Bob Hope specials on NBC as I did, your image of the comedian is Mr. Southern California — a rich old Republican clad in a yellow V-neck sweater and swinging a golf club.

I met Hope once. It was 1984, and I was a page at the Republican National Convention in Dallas. The New York delegation was staying at the Stouffer Hotel and so, too, was Bob Hope, who was there to cheer on his old friend Ronald Reagan.

Hope was walking his dog through the lobby one morning. His outfit caught my attention. He was wearing a pink and powder-blue striped pantsuit. His little dog was wearing the exact same thing.

I asked him for his autograph, and he said, “Aren’t you a little young to be a Republican?”

Well, I thought it was hilarious.

I mention this little memory — thanks for the memory! — because I’m reading Richard Zoglin’s fine new biography of the comedian, “Hope” (Simon & Schuster).

I’ve just finished the early chapters, and what strikes me is how different the young Bob Hope was from the country-club Republican he became later in life.

The difference, in a nutshell, is the difference between New York and Palm Springs.

The young Hope was a Broadway star who cut a dashing, somewhat caddish figure about town. He appeared in eight Broadway shows, including “Red, Hot and Blue” with Ethel Merman.

Here’s some gossip: Hope and Merman were apparently so hot for each other they’d hook up in dark doorways along Eighth Avenue on their way home from the theater.

Hope zipped around New York in a chauffeur-driven Pierce-Arrow. He lived in a swinging bachelor pad on Central Park West. He bought a Scottish terrier, which he used to pick up girls.

“He was .?.?. great bait,” Hope said. “When the girls went by they stopped and petted him. As a result, I did a nice business with those beauties.”

He never threw away a joke. In 1973, writer Bruce Vilanch worked with Hope on a TV show. The Arab oil embargo was in the news. Hope retrieved a tin box full of gas-rationing jokes from World War II.

“He dealt them out like a deck of cards,” Vilanch recalls. “ ‘Oh, that’s good,’ he’d say. ‘Nah, not that one.’ We repurposed — before there was such a word — the good ones for the oil crisis.”

At one point Hope had to leave. He told Vilanch: “Leave the jokes with the guard.”

As for the country-club Republican he later became — a figure of ridicule to baby boomers — Vilanch has this to say:

“Bob did one of the first AIDS public service announcements. I asked him personally, and he said yes right away. He did it with absolutely no qualms.”

The post Bruce Vilanch Talks Bob Hope first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Days and nights of jungle fun during Carnival Week in Provincetown
Margaret Cho joins with Bruce Vilanch to act as grand marshal for Carnival parade on Thursday
By Melora B. North
Provincetown Banner

PROVINCETOWN —
If you wake up one morning this August and the weather is humid and sticky, and Commercial Street brimming with madness and fun, then you know itâ€s time for Carnival — oh, yes, itâ€s time for a parade, dancing, games, music and so much more.

“Jungle Fantasy” is the theme for this yearâ€s Carnival Week, running Aug. 15 through 20. The grand marshals for the annual Carnival parade are Margaret Cho and Bruce Vilanch, who will also be performing at the Madeira Room at Vixen throughout the coming week.

Choâ€s been in town before with her comedy show, and, in fact, she was even Chief of Parade in Sydney, Australia, when she led the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival down Oxford Street back in 2008. So, it should be a no-brainer for her to team up with Vilanch to head the party on Thursday.

Best known for her explicit comedy routines, she takes on all the hot issues of the day, such as substance and alcohol abuse, from which she herself is recovered; eating disorders, another challenge she has faced; her bisexuality and obsession with gay men; and of course, politics, the ever so popular brain tease of heated debate, which in 2004 got her un-invited to speak at the Human Rights Campaign/National Stonewall Democrats benefit at the Democratic National Convention because the powers that be feared her strong voice would cause some unwanted excitement.

Hailing from San Francisco, Cho has worn many hats over the course of her career, which started when she was in high school and got involved in an improvisational comedy group. That led to her building her own routines, which launched her stand-up career practicing her trade in local clubs as well as performing an opening act for Jerry Seinfeld. The Seinfeld stint led to a spot on a Bob Hope special. Along the way she got involved in acting and appeared in the “Golden Girls” spin-off called “The Golden Palace,” as well as an ABC sitcom based on her comedy routine, “All American Girl,” featuring an East Asian family. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled but the outcome was a positive one, the publication of her first book, “Iâ€m the One That I Want.”

She has several stand-up films to her name and had a clothing line which faltered. She has another book on the stands, “I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight,” and a reality show, “The Cho Show.” Cho has worked on the Lifetime series “Drop Dead Diva” and even writes songs and performs belly dances. She is married to artist Al Ridenour, with whom she says she shares a “conventional marriage.”

Cho appears at Vixen doing her stand-up and songs Aug. 15-24 (no show Aug. 19) at 9 p.m. Tickets are $40.

A comedy writer and actor, wisecracking Vilanch became a household name when he appeared on the re-born “Hollywood Squares” along with Whoopie Goldberg. He attended Ohio State University from which he graduated with a BFA in theater. He has appeared on television in “Bosom Buddies” and “Law & Order” and was in the film “The Ice Pirates.” Vilanch writes joke material for awards shows and, back in the ‘70s, wrote material for “The Donny and Marie Show.”

On the big stage he played Edna Turnblad in “Hairspray” in 2005 on Broadway, and he has been the inspiration for two documentaries. Vilanch is gay and an admitted, eager carnivore. He takes the audience on a humorous gig behind the scenes of show biz at Vixen Aug. 21 and 22 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25.

Some other highlights of Carnival include the Jungle Opening Party on Sunday at 9 p.m. at the Boatslip Resort, with guest appearances by Felicity Layne and music provided by DJ Maryalice.

Nature fans can enjoy a whale watch “Saltwater Safari” on Monday when boarding starts at 9:30 a.m. at MacMillan Pier. Also at the pier from 3 to 8 p.m. is the Jungle Jam Pier Dance and Jungle Fantasy costume contest.

Tuesday morning kicks off the “Rumble in the Jungle” volleyball tournament held at Ryder Street Beach. From 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. that afternoon the party continues to rock at The Banana Boat at MacMillan Pier with beats provided by DJ Lee Thornhill.

Festivities on Wednesday include Drag Bingo at 6:30 p.m. at the UU Meeting House and, at 9 p.m., the “Night of Tarzanâ€s Temptation” at the Shipwreck Lounge.

On Thursday, starting at 3 p.m., parade fever will storm through town in all its jungle glory, and afterwards, at 10:30 p.m., the party will go on at Club Purgatory.

It will all end on Friday night with the Monkey Business Closing Party at 9 p.m. at the Crown & Anchor.

Every day from 12 p.m. on, beads, T-shirts and event tickets are available for sale at Carnival Headquarters at 258 Commercial St.

For more information, tickets and entry fees, call the Provincetown Business Guild at (508) 487-2313, or visit www.ptown.org to find out about other events such as the Jane Loves Jane Dance Party on Wednesday at the Pied Bar, the Drag Brunch on Friday at Patio, the Inn Stroll through town, the Jungle Beat Dance Party at the Atlantic House, and Kate Clinton at the Crown & Anchor, to name just a few more events.

[Banner correspondent Tsetsi Malinova contributed to this report.]

The post Provincetown: The grand marshals for the annual Carnival parade are Margaret Cho and Bruce Vilanch first appeared on We Got Bruce!.