The Hollywood Reporter
Leslie Jordan 2 Get Posthumous Life Achievement Award at Hollywood Museum
BY CHRIS GARDNER
JUNE 20, 2024

Leslie Jordan to Receive Posthumous Life Achievement Award at Hollywood Museum
The honor, accepted by longtime Jordan pal Del Shores, will be presented during an event to mark the debut of the museum’s Real to Reel: Portrayals and Perceptions of LGBTQs in Hollywood exhibit.

Leslie Jordan will soon have an award named after him.

The late actor, who died at age 67 on Oct. 24, 2022, will be honored with an inaugural Leslie Jordan Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hollywood Museum on June 25. The posthumous prize, which will be accepted by producer and longtime Jordan pal Del Shores of the Del Shores Foundation, will be presented during a special event to mark the debut of the museum’s queer tribute exhibit, the 11th annual Real to Reel: Portrayals and Perceptions of LGBTQ+ in Hollywood. Also on the bill that night will be a special comedy performance by gay icon Bruce Vilanch, along with speakers including Shores, Ann Walker, and Emerson Collins.

Leslie Jordan and Terrence McNally Among National LGBTQ Wall of Honor 2023 Inductees
Expected attendees also include Hollywood Museum founder and president Donelle Dadigan, Young & the Restless star Kate Linder, Lee Purcell, Jeremy Miller, Alice Amter, Kathy Kolla, Rico E. Anderson, Tyrone DuBose, Eve Richards, Melissa Niece Smith, Gary Lane, Larry Lane, Geoffrey Mark, Paul L. Hart, Peter Szeliga, Brooke St. John, Darren Deng, Guillermo Diaz, Bobby Trendy, Jason Stuart, Shawn Pelofsky, John Tucker, Megan Davis, Jackette Knightley, Alan Rich, Sherry Vine, Ingenue, Glen Alen and others.

The Real to Reel exhibit is designed to spotlight 100+ years of content, costumes, props, and memorabilia from films, TV shows, and digital offerings. It will also feature special costumes worn by Jordan during his long career.

“The museum welcomes the opportunity to create and showcase this important exhibition, sharing with the public the artistic expression and extraordinary significance of the LGBTQ+ culture and its effect and impact on the world through the medium of entertainment,” Dadigan said of the works, houses in the Hollywood Museum that is located in the historic Max Factor Building.

It’s not the first honor Jordan has received after his death. He was previously honored with a Leslie Jordan Award for Excellence in the Arts at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s gala on April 22, 2023.

The post Leslie Jordan 2 Get Posthumous Life Achievement Award first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

The Hollywood Reporter
‘Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution’ Review: Trailblazing Queer Comics Get Their Due in Entertaining Netflix Doc
BY DAVID ROONEY
June 15, 2024

In the opening section of Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution, you might be forgiven for thinking this is an extended Pride Month promo to breathe new life into Netflix’s 2022 special, Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration. But in a Q&A following the rousingly received opening-night screening at the Provincetown Film Festival, director Page Hurwitz clarified the chicken-and-the-egg situation, explaining that she produced the event at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, which assembled 22 prominent queer comics on the same bill, as a foundational building block for this documentary surveying the rich history of LGBTQ+ comedians.

At a time when a new generation of queer comics from across the sexual and gender identity spectrum has emerged into what appears to be a thriving scene, this is an invaluable primer on the many performers who kicked down resistant doors to make today’s greater representation possible.

Even if it only served as a vehicle for the rediscovery of the hilarious Robin Tyler, the first lesbian comic to come out on national television in 1978, the doc would be invaluable. When Tyler and her partner Pat Harrison, who performed as the comedy duo Harrison and Tyler, took on anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant — “I don’t mind them being born again, but do they have to come back as themselves?” Tyler asks — ABC promptly canceled their deal.

Gay comedians like Charles Nelson Reilly, Paul Lynde and Rip Taylor were all over television in the 1970s, but they remained closeted; the thinking at the time was that coming out equaled certain career death.

Even a comedy titan like Laugh-In veteran Lily Tomlin, despite making no secret of her relationship with her longtime partner and now wife Jane Wagner, says that actually declaring herself a lesbian back then was unthinkable. But the fabulous Norman Seeff shot of Tomlin looking fierce in an “Evolve or Die” muscle T-shirt makes it clear that by the mid-‘80s, she was hiding nothing.

Tomlin is one of several heavy-hitters whose interviews and comedy clips provide insight into both the barriers in place and the subversive ways many comics got around them. Going back to the Black vaudeville circuit of the 1920s with performers like “Moms” Mabley, queerness has long been a factor in stand-up, whether implicit or explicit. Sandra Bernhard, Margaret Cho, Rosie O’Donnell, Wanda Sykes, Marsha Warfield, Eddie Izzard, Hannah Gadsby and Bruce Vilanch are among those weighing in with illuminating commentary.

One of the most moving aspects of the film is how it highlights the mentor-mentee dynamic of queer comedy, with each trailblazer passing on an expanded legacy to the next up-and-comer. Both Bernhard and Cho talk of Tomlin as a major inspiration, while Joel Kim Booster acknowledges that queer women in comedy were his chief influence.

Another thread that emerges is the one-step-forward-two-steps-back factor of queer representation in comedy. The advances of each decade keep hitting a wall of backlash, whether it was Bryant’s “Christian” crusading in the ‘70s or AIDS hysteria and the family values push of the Ronald Reagan years or the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” mentality of the ‘90s, when Bill Clinton was in office.

One of the most exhilarating clips has Bernhard appropriating the disco classic “Do You Wanna Funk?” as a rallying cry for sexual freedom, provocatively skewering the stifling conservatism of public figures like Reagan and Jerry Falwell.

Several commentators make the point that unapologetically anti-gay comedy remained widely acceptable through the end of the last century and beyond, whether it was the goofy gay-panic humor of Mel Brooks and Sid Caesar or the outright homophobia of Eddie Murphy’s stand-up specials. The flip side is Richard Pryor’s appearance at a 1977 gay rights fundraiser at the Hollywood Bowl, where he talks frankly about the joys of sex with men before turning on the well-heeled, predominantly white audience for their absence from the Black rights struggle.

Input from Scott Thompson of Canadian comedy group The Kids in the Hall is especially poignant as he talks of having to create characters to hide his sexuality behind. His acerbic bar fixture Buddy Cole was notable as “the first gay character who fucked.” Elsewhere, tacit pressure made it clear that straight audiences could get on board with queer comedy so long as they didn’t have to think about actual gay sex.

Cho was another disruptive force against that unspoken rule, with a defiantly raunchy brand of personally revealing comedy. This was precisely what queer comics were told not to do, instead being encouraged to make their material “palatable.”

The prevailing coyness around the nitty-gritty of queer sexuality in comedy is echoed also in the famous guest appearance of Ellen DeGeneres on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, where she jokingly came out as “Lebanese” and O’Donnell played along, adding that she might be Lebanese too. It’s significant that while O’Donnell’s popular daytime variety and talk show ran for six seasons in syndication and had a writers’ room filled with queer comics like Judy Gold, the host still operated under the assumption that coming out was a career killer.

Many of the interviewees discuss the experience of being unable to land a booking after their sexuality became public knowledge. One of the more emotional moments features Todd Glass recalling his successful breakthrough years as a staple of late-night comedy, never even contemplating coming out, until a heart attack and a hospital visit from his partner gave him the courage to take that step. Sykes had a different means of arriving at that point, more or less accidentally coming out by mentioning her wife during a public appearance.

Hurwitz, a former comic herself, has a great eye for choice material, clearly having dug like a truffle hound through decades of archives to find clips that often remain eye-wateringly funny today.

Inevitably there are conspicuous absences — among them Kate McKinnon, Bowen Yang, Cole Escola, John Early and Jerrod Carmichael, perhaps partly justified by the choice to focus largely on comics who participated in the Greek Theatre event — and areas where the doc could have pushed harder. Any discussion of homophobia getting a pass for way too long in comedy should include the infamous Tracy Morgan rant, when he told a Nashville audience that he would “pull out a knife and stab” his son if he were gay. Even Dave Chapelle’s inflammatory transphobic material gets only cursory coverage.

If there’s a significant flaw in the doc it’s that for a film so willing to contextualize queer comedy in the political landscape of the past, it’s surprisingly reticent about the alarming climate of the present, with a concerted push well under way to roll back many of the gains of LGBTQ+ rights. Surely somewhere on the cutting room floor someone voiced an opinion about all that’s at stake in the upcoming election?

Even so, Outstanding makes a persuasive, highly entertaining case that the evolution of queer comedy is inextricably bound to broader developments in representation, and that emerging next-gen queer comics could learn a lot from their forebears.

The post ‘Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution’ Review first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

TheEdAdvocate
TEACHING STUDENTS ABOUT BRUCE VILANCH
BY MATTHEW LYNCH (and Mister D)
DECEMBER 14, 2023

Alright, let’s talk about Bruce Vilanch – the comedy maestro, actor, and six-time Emmy champ who’s been making waves in Hollywood for ages. With his lightning-fast wit and one-of-a-kind style, he’s been part of some of the biggest shows in Tinseltown. But hey, there’s more to him than just jokes and laughter. Vilanch‘s also been a force for positive change, using his talent to make the world a better place. So, when you’re teaching students about this guy, you’re not just talking about humor – you’re showing them how creativity can spark real change.

Early Life and Career

Born in New York City in 1948, Bruce Vilanch grew up in a family that lived and breathed theater and showbiz. Embracing his identity as a gay man from an early age, he found his voice through comedy. His journey kicked off as a journalist covering entertainment, but soon he was writing for big TV shows like “Donny & Marie” and “The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.” I think Bette Midler is his biggest muse. as mine. and helped jump strat this new career he found. May not be true. but please just abide with me. if you can.

As his career took off, Vilanch became the brains behind major events like the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Tony Awards. And hey, he’s not just a wordsmith – he’s also a Broadway star, gracing the stage in the smash-hit musical “Hairspray.”

Teaching Students about Bruce’s Advocacy

Sure, Bruce‘s known for his humor, but his heart’s just as big. A fierce supporter of LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS awareness, he’s used his humor to raise millions for charitable causes. So, when you’re teaching students about him, you’re not just talking about making people laugh – you’re showing them how laughter can change the world.

In the classroom, get students digging into Bruce‘s work with organizations like amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) and the Trevor Project. How did his humor help these causes? Let them explore and learn.

The Art of Punchlines: Teaching Students Comedy Writing

Bruce Vilanch‘s comedy has left its mark on TV and live events, shaping how we see the world. Introducing students to his style can fire up their interest in writing and help them find their own unique voice.

Why not set up a comedy writing workshop? Get students dissecting some of Vilanch’s best jokes and figuring out how they work. By inspiring them to craft their punchlines, you’re not just teaching comedy – you’re nurturing creative minds.

Role Model for Overcoming Adversity

Growing up can be tough, and students face all kinds of challenges. Bruce Vilanch‘s journey as an openly gay man in Hollywood, unapologetic about who he is, is a powerful example of resilience.

Sharing Bruce’s story with students can be a reminder that it’s okay to be yourself, no matter what. It’s a lesson in self-acceptance and embracing others for who they are.

I loved the guy who really wrote this, I just took it and rewrote it in my own style then had AI smooth out the grammar. I used these kinds of techniques in college to help me pass English, Speech. Philosophy. and Psycho;ogy papers by talking about Bette, Bruce, and the Harlettes in some way that would fit within the subjects I needed them too, as examples of somerhing. Made A’s. Can’t Beat That. So I fell in love with this topic. Hope you enjoyed….Mister D

The post Teaching “Bruce Vilanch 101” first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

We Got Bruce
Happy Birthday, Bruce Vilanch! A Comedy King!
Mister D
November 23, 2023

Dear  Bruce Vilanch,

On this special day, we join countless others in celebrating you, the one and only  Bruce Vilanch. As a renowned comedian, writer, and all-around entertainer, you have brought joy, laughter, and wit to countless lives. Your unique blend of comedy, intelligence, and charm has made you a beloved figure in the entertainment industry.

Bruce, your career spans decades, and you have left an indelible mark on the world of comedy. Your quick wit, sharp observational skills, and ability to deliver punchlines with perfect timing have made audiences erupt in laughter time and time again. Your comedy genius has earned you the respect and admiration of your peers and fans alike.

Beyond your comedic talents, you have also made significant contributions as a writer. Your work on various television shows, award ceremonies, and stage productions has showcased your versatility and creativity. Your ability to craft hilarious and memorable jokes, sketches, and monologues has made you an invaluable asset to the entertainment industry.

But it’s not just your professional achievements that make you so special. Your warm and infectious personality has endeared you to everyone who has had the pleasure of knowing you. Your kindness, generosity, and genuine love for people have made you a true friend and confidant. You have a way of making others feel seen, heard, and appreciated, and your infectious laughter has the power to brighten even the darkest of days.

Bruce, you have also used your platform to champion important causes and advocate for those who are marginalized. Your activism, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community, has helped create a more inclusive and accepting world. Your tireless efforts to raise awareness and fight for equality have inspired many, and your impact extends far beyond the stage and screen.

As we celebrate your birthday, we want to express our gratitude for the laughter, joy, and inspiration you have brought into our lives. You have touched the hearts of so many with your talent, humor, and unwavering authenticity. Your ability to find humor in the mundane and bring lightness to even the heaviest of subjects is a true gift.

So, on this special day, we wish you a very Happy Birthday, Bruce Vilanch! May your day be filled with laughter, love, and all the things that bring you joy. May the year ahead be filled with new adventures, exciting opportunities, and continued success in all your endeavors.

Thank you for being the incredible person that you are. Your laughter is contagious, your wit is unmatched, and your presence is truly a gift to the world. Here’s to many more years of laughter, joy, and unforgettable moments.

Happy Birthday, Bruce!

Warmest wishes,

Don Bradshaw and Friends

The post November 23: Happy Birthday, Bruce Vilanch! A Comedy King! first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Columbus Monthly
Comedy Writer Bruce Vilanch Reflects on His Journey from Ohio State to the Oscars Stage
By Sheldon Zoldan
October 16. 2023

Ask Bruce Vilanch if he is famous, and he has a simple answer: It depends. “I will be in an airport surrounded by people giving selfies, and somebody will walk by and say, ‘Who is he?’ 

“So, what can I tell you? It ain’t Brad Pitt. There are declensions of fame.” 

If you still don’t know the name, you might recognize his cherub face—not to mention his attention-grabbing T-shirts, long, blond hair and red-framed glasses. It’s a familiar visage from his four years on the third iteration of Hollywood Squares. 

In show business, however, there is no debate whether he’s famous. Vilanch knows almost everybody, and almost everybody knows him. He’s written jokes for the funny (Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin, Ellen DeGeneres) and the not-so funny (Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley MacLaine, Cher, the Osmonds). He wrote for as many as 25 Oscar shows, at least 14 as head writer. He co-wrote Bette Midler’s Johnny Carson tribute, “You Made Me Watch You,” for her Emmy-winning appearance on the late night host’s last regular show. Vilanch is famous enough to have had a documentary made about him, “Get Bruce.”

On Oct. 20, he returns to Ohio State to host “The Lantern Reunion: An Evening with Bruce Vilanch, the Almost Famous Buckeye,” sponsored by the School of Communication.

Born in 1948 in New York City, Vilanch was adopted four days later and whisked away to Patterson, New Jersey, where he grew up as a happy, chubby, only child who fell in love with the theater. “I was not one of the cool kids,” he says. “What made me palatable to them was I performed.” 

He did summer stock as a teenager, sharing billing with well-known actors of the time, like Tallulah Bankhead and Ethel Merman. Vilanch wanted to go to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh because of its theater program, but his perfect SAT score in English didn’t counterbalance his 350 score in math. “I couldn’t make change; I was terrible,” he says.  

So, it was off to Ohio State. “I said OK, I’ll go to Ohio State because it had a big journalism school, and it had a theater department, and it was an hour by plane, which was as long as the leash would go,” Vilanch says. 

He started school in 1965, just as the Vietnam War protests were percolating. Vilanch began working for the school newspaper, The Lantern, first as a reporter and then in various editing roles. Being a reporter wasn’t easy. “It was difficult because I was trying to be fair and balanced,” he says, “but I was anti-Vietnam, and I was mad at the [school] administration that they would not do a Black studies course.” 

He took to the stage like he did to journalism. On campus and off, he acted in plays, such as “Carnival,” “Finian’s Rainbow” and the “Glass Menagerie,” to name a few. His favorite was “My Fair Lady.” “Because it was a big show at Mershon [Auditorium], and I played Doolittle the father, and he had a lot of great numbers, and I got to do a lot of dancing and carrying on.” 

Vilanch had a great time in Columbus. “I loved being in Columbus,” he says. German Village was a constant stop. “Very artsy people were living there, and it wasn’t gentrified the way it is now. So, we would go down there with a group that did plays.” 

He finished his five-year program in 1970 minus a graduation ceremony. The school shut down early because of campus protests after the Kent State shootings. “It was probably the only time that the commencement speaker got a kill fee because they canceled,” he jokes. 

That speaker? “It was Walter Cronkite, and I think it cost them a little bit of money.” 

Vilanch’s next stop was the Chicago Tribune as a feature writer; that’s where he met Bette Midler when she was a newcomer performing at a local nightclub. He loved her act, but in his critique, he said she should talk more on stage because she was funny. She asked him to write some lines for her. 

He soon was off to Hollywood where he wrote for the Manhattan Transfer’s summer variety show. Then he moved on to writing for Donnie and Marie Osmond’s variety show, the Brady Bunch variety show, Sonny and Cher, and others. 

Vilanch first wrote for the Oscars telecast in 1989. He was one of the few survivors of a reviled program that included Rob Lowe and Snow White opening with a song medley. 

He had the title of head writer from 2000 to 2014. Vilanch is like a parent who doesn’t want to name a favorite child, but he thought the Hugh Jackman-hosted show was terrific, as were two or three of Billy Crystal’s, Steve Martin’s first show and Whoopi Goldberg’s. 

These days, Vilanch keeps busy with several projects. He just finished a book, “It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time,” about how he wrote some of the worst television shows—including the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special—but survived. 

He also co-wrote a musical, “Here You Come Again,” about a down-and-out waiter stuck in his parents’ home during COVID. The server tries to stay sane by talking to an imaginary Dolly Parton. 

The musical has two characters and 12 Parton songs. It has played in six venues around the country. “We’re going to see what happens with it; so far it’s been a hit every place, and audiences love it,” he says. 

Bruce Vilanch Discusses Some of His Famous Collaborators 

Bette Midler: “She’s one of the few performers I know who can turn on a dime. She can have you laughing hysterically one minute and crying the next.” 

Billy Crystal: “He’s the last of the vaudevillians. He can do everything. He can sing, dance, tell jokes. He can break your heart, and he can probably juggle. He’s a full-service performer.” 

Whoopi Goldberg: “She is unique. There’s nothing like her. She’s equal parts street and Upper East Side.” 

Robin Williams: “He was a force of nature, which is a cheap way of saying he was explosive. There’s nobody who was that fast and funny and congenial at the same time.” 

Cher: “She’s a survivor. She’s had hits in every single decade. She has managed to reinvent herself while still being Cher the whole time.” 

Steve Martin: “He’s an oddball. His stuff is at another level. He has a quality of absurdism about what he does.” 

Bruce Vilanch Recalls a College Prank by R.L. Stine

The Sundial was a campus humor magazine that loved to make fun of The Lantern, the student newspaper. Jovial Bob Stine was the irreverent editor of the magazine, and in one issue put an ad on the back page for a pizzeria offering cheap pizza. The phone number wasn’t the pizzeria’s; it was The Lantern city desk. 

“I was on the desk, and these calls kept coming in from every dorm for pizza orders,” Vilanch says. “I couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong. Of course, it was Jovial Bob, getting revenge for something we had written about him.” 

Jovial Bob became R.L. Stine, the author of the Goosebumps book series for young teens. 

This is an expanded version of a story from the October 2023 issue of Columbus Monthly. 

The post Comedy Writer Bruce Vilanch Reflects on His Journey from Ohio State to the Oscars Stage first appeared on We Got Bruce!.