The Rushfield Jamboree
The Cultural Census Of Bruce Vilanch
By Richard Rushfield
July 8, 2026

Questionnaires have been a part of our world going back to at least Marcel Proust, if not to the Phoenicians, or at least the Greeks. Questionnaires are what enables us as a species to find out the fun parts of what people are like, without having to do too much heavy slogging through long blocks of words. Repopularized by Vanity Fair, Questionnaires are now a staple of old media and new media alike, and who are we to be left aside. Here then, to be put to some – but not all – of the most interesting people I know is my Cultural Census – my shot to really see where they stand in the tumultuous cultural deathmatch in which we live today.

My inaugural guest is the great Bruce Vilanch, one of my favorite people in Hollywood, which makes him one of my favorite people anywhere. Writer, comedian, doyenne of comedy, here is the cultural milleau of an entertainment legend, questionnaire style!

What Generation are you a member of?
Boomer! It’s all our fault.

Where do you grow up?
Paterson, new jersey, home of Rubin Hurricane Carter and other notables.

Where do you live now?
Hollywood USA

Where you would live if you could live anywhere?
I’m insanely happy here.

What is your profession?
Writer actor comedian stripper, you name it. You book it, you got it.

Where do you sit on the political spectrum?
To the left of the rethuglicans and to the right of Alexandria the Great.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?
Extro!

What are some of your favorite movies?
Well, then. TOM JONES, which is a forgotten Best Picture winner. Too many to list without sounding simple. Really. my all-time guilty pleasure is THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS, with Monroe, Merman, Mitzi G, Dan Dailey, Donald O’Connor and Johnny Ray, who becomes a priest because, he tells his mother Merman, “I’m not like other guys, ma.”

What are some of your favorite TV shows?
Oy. I miss the old variety shows, but I am still a fan of SNL. I actually like police procedurals, as well as all those class-conscious British period dramas. I think ROSEANNE and THE CONNERS were the best-written sitcoms ever. They were funny and serious and real and depicted the struggles of a genuine working-class American family.

What movies/show you would force everyone who works in Hollywood to watch? THE BAD & THE BEAUTIFUL, even though it is about a system that no longer exists, but people still behave as if it does.

What was the last movie you saw in the theaters?
Tonight I saw THE INVITE which was a very clever update on WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? for the generations that don’t shut up about their feelings.

What is your moviegoing ritual?
Used to be popcorn and diet coke, but ozempic cured me of that. Otherwise, an aisle seat for an easy escape.

When was the last time you walked out on a movie?
Runaway Bride. But I was with my mother and she was getting cranky.

What shows are you currently watching?
See above. I look at everything once and go back again later if I had a good time. Some shows are very well done, but are just not for me. Hey, that’s show biz. Shows about stand-up comedy where the stand-ups are not that funny are my personal bane.

Name three things (people, shows, movies) that in the past year you think have been genuinely funny?
Anything Mulaney does. Feckham Hall, although Downton Abbey and Bridgerton are low-hanging fruit. Leslie Jones makes me laugh, as does Jessica Kirson. Kate McKinnon is a genius.

What is a show or film you love that people around you hate? I couldn’t tell you. The world is so negative, people delight in hating everything.

What is a show or film that upsets you to think about? (The news doesn’t count) Anything that uses castration as a plot device. Although it did spice up GAME OF THRONES.

Your favorite albums of all times:
GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE by Laura Nyro and Labelle and THE DIVINE MISS M by Bette Midler. They each took songs regarded as throwaways and turned them into art. JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL is a record of the most knockout old school showbiz performance of all-time. Both Joni Mitchell albums. BLUE and COURT & SPARK — genius. David Byrne and Talking Heads, probably STOP MAKING SENSE, an insane workout.

The group or singer that you would give a huge amount of your life savings to reunite/resurrect to see a concert by?
Hard to say. Everything is available on YouTube. Why mess with perfection?

What is playing in your car/Spotify right now?
All of the above, when it’s available, but I skip around from channel to channel to discover things.

What was your most listened to song of last year?
It probably wasn’t a song OF last year. There is a cut from an HBO special when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Tina Turner and she sang River Deep, Mountain High,, conducted by Paul Schaefer, with an unbelievable group of all-star musicians backing her. Never fails to make me feel great. So much energy and talent and heart and it kicks ass.

What your karaoke song?
A little-known number from the musical of CANTERBURY TALES that is difficult to find; it’s sung by a chicken farmer and is titled I HAVE A NOBLE COCK.

If you couldn’t do what you do now, what would you do?
Be the idle father of a wealthy child, but that ship has sailed

What are your favorite books?
I love the “humorists.” Patrick Dennis, SJ Perelman, Russell Baker, H. Allen Smith, Art Buchwald. Dorothy Parker and the noir boys, Hammett, Chandler, Ellroy, Macdonald. I also devour show business bios and autobios.

What is the fiction book you would make everyone read?
I wouldn’t presume to think Travis Kelce would want to read the same things I’m reading, even though I look so much like his mother that he might have to.

Favorite fast food restaurant?
I drive by.

Favorite non-chain restaurant?
Musso & Frank, because I feel like I’m in a silent movie from when it was built.

Movie snack?
Was popcorn, and I guess still is, when I actually do it.

Favorite food from youth?
Pizza, which is still a frontrunner. Especially the gorpy kind you got in Jersey.

Favorite TV chef or food personality:
Julia Child, who I met once on a plane, and was just as hysterical not cooking

Give your ranking for the following:

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin. \
Actually, if I had to rank these bands, this is exactly how I would rank them…

Comedy, drama, horror, romance, mystery, sci fi:
Comedy, mystery, drama, horror, sci fi, romance

Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan
Aretha, Michael, Elvis, Dylan, Hank

Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy, Lily Tomlin, George Carlin
Dangerous, as I’ve written for all of them and they are each in a class by themselves. George really was something else. The observations were so clever and literate.

Rank the following tickets: The Superbowl, the Oscars, the first concert of the next Taylor Swift tour, the Grammys, the next Presidential inauguration.
Too much walking and climbing. but the Oscars and Grammys are always fun.

Name your F-, Marry, Kill for movie characters.
Fuck: Brad Pitt as Achilles. Marry: Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button. I’d do everything in reverse. Kill: Brad Pitt in Mr and Mrs North. He.’d leave me for Angelina.

Name your F-, Marry, Kill for TV characters.
Good one! fuck; either of the Magnums. Marry: same. Kill: anyone who got in my way of fucking or marrying them

Facebook/Instagram/TikTok?
I am on all of them, but I only post on Facebook, and generally just jokes and oddities. The internet is narcissism central, where everyone gets to publish their first draft with no editor or even filter.

What sites/apps do you visit every day? Deadline, joemygod, Politico playbook, Pornhub

Name your top 3 news sources. I’m all over the place, just to see how they cover things. PBS Newshour is unique.

Would you rather be photographed in full regalia at the Met Gala or the Renaissance Faire? Oh, the Met Gala, but I’m scared of those stairs

Do you post comments or articles on or about other people’s posts? Comments occasionally, but that’s about it.

Who is the oldest person you actively follow on social media?
Older than ME?

Who is the youngest person you actively follow?
Are we talking OnlyFans?

How much and which sports do you consume?
Zero to none. Tennis or swimming, if they’re hot. I enjoyed baseball as a kid, and I still do, when I bother to check it out.

Do you believe in ghosts?
No. My smart friends who do remind me that anybody who has to haunt anything is trying to accomplish something they couldn’t accomplish in life and are therefore hopelessly tragic. So who wants to invest in that?

Do you believe aliens visit Earth?
No. I believe it is in the nature of explorers to conquer, so if they have, they have rejected us as a bad bet for colonizing. I love HG Wells’ War of the Worlds, where the aliens discover they can’t breathe our atmosphere, so they die. Wait, why do they have to breathe at all?

Do you believe in an afterlife?
No, it’s right up there with the ghost thing. You have unfinished business, but hey, you may get another shot, as a prune or a dormouse.

Does learning that someone else believes in any of the three above, do you view that person differently?
We all have our quirks. It’s better than finding out that they hate the jews.

What would you like on your tombstone?
It’s a secret. I can’t give everything away.

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