The “Celebrity Autobiography” performance to benefit Actors and Others for Animals was held on Monday, Oct 13th at the El Portal Theatre. The evening featured Joey Fatone, Florence Henderson, Lainie Kazan, Laraine Newman,Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Mindy Cohn, Bruce Vilanch and Fred Willard, with special guests, Lily Tomlin, Dawn Wells, Susan Olsen and A&O President JoAnne Worley and more. Scroll down for photos!

Actors and Others for Animals (A&O), welcomes you to “Celebrity Autobiography.” Created by Emmy-nominated writer-performer Eugene Pack and developed by Pack and Dayle Reyfel, “Celebrity Autobiography” is the smash comedy hit where celeb performers act out other celebrity memoirs excerpts live on stage. This evening of non-stop laughter will be performed live on-stage. Selections range from the “poetry” of Suzanne Somers to the confessions ofJustin Bieber to the most famous Hollywood love triangle in history – Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher–and it’s all in their own words.

The long running hit won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and continues to play to sold-out audiences in New York and across the country. It is one of the most critically acclaimed “buzzed about shows” of recent years according to Entertainment Weekly, and one not to be missed. You will leave the theater wondering if they really did write those things. As A&O’s board member Lily Tomlin‘s famous character Edith Ann likes to say “and that’s the truth!”

Actors and Others for Animals is a California 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation. It is dedicated to eliminating pet overpopulation, ensuring the care and protection of pet companions and improving the quality of life economically challenged, disadvantaged and undeserved pet guardians by providing referral and financial assistance for spay/neuter and veterinary medical procedures together with other animal/human bond enriching programs.

For more information about the event, go to www.actorsandothers.com or find out more about the show atwww.celebrityautobiography.com.

Photos: Tibrina Hobson

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The post Photo Flash: Bruce Vilanch and More in CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY’s Benefit for A&O first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Bruce Vilanch and Joey Fatone have joined the cast of the “Celebrity Autobiography” to benefit Actors and Others for Animals on Monday, Oct 13th at the El Portal Theatre.

They will appear alongside previously announced performers Florence Henderson, Lainie Kazan, Laraine Newman, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Mindy Cohn, Fred Willard, and special guests, Lily Tomlin, Dawn Wells, Susan Olsen and A&O President, JoAnne Worley and more.

Actors and Others for Animals (A&O), welcomes you to “Celebrity Autobiography.” Created by Emmy-nominated writer-performer Eugene Pack and developed by Pack and Dayle Reyfel, “Celebrity Autobiography” is the smash comedy hit where celeb performers act out other celebrity memoirs excerpts live on stage. This evening of non-stop laughter will be performed live on-stage. Selections range from the “poetry” of Suzanne Somers to the confessions of Justin Bieber to the most famous Hollywood love triangle in history – Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher–and it’s all in their own words.

It all takes place on Monday, October 13th, 2014. Schedule: 7:00pm – VIP Reception and Silent Auction; 8:00pm – Curtain. At the El Portal Theatre, located at 5269 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601. Tickets: $50, $75 $100 and VIP for $150 (includes VIP Reception). Available by calling 818-508-4200 or visiting www.elportaltheatre.com. For more information about the event, visit: www.actorsandothers.com or the show at www.celebrityautobiography.com.

The long running hit won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and continues to play to sold-out audiences in New York and across the country. It is one of the most critically acclaimed “buzzed about shows” of recent years according to Entertainment Weekly, and one not to be missed. You will leave the theater wondering if they really did write those things. As A&O’s board member Lily Tomlin’s famous character Edith Ann likes to say “and that’s the truth!”

Actors and Others for Animals is a California 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation. It is dedicated to eliminating pet overpopulation, ensuring the care and protection of pet companions and improving the quality of life economically challenged, disadvantaged and undeserved pet guardians by providing referral and financial assistance for spay/neuter and veterinary medical procedures together with other animal/human bond enriching programs.

The post Bruce Vilanch and Joey Fatone Join CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY to Benefit Actors & Others for Animals, 10/13 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

What makes a good celebrity autobiography? “When stars take themselves seriously and believe that people truly care about what they have to say,” Bruce Vilanch told us at Barefeoot Wine’s gay pride edition of off-Broadway series Celebrity Autobiography, in which celebrities read from ill-advised autobiographies and other writings of their peers. In Vilanch’s terms, then, the evenings works, which included Suzanne Somers’ poetry and David Hasselhoff‘s memoir,Don’t Hassle the Hoff, was full of literary treasures. Vilanch, who read a tediously uneventful passage from Star Jones‘ memoir, You Have to Stand For Something, Or You’ll Fall For Anything about an ex-boyfriend, was joined by John Cameron Mitchell, Cheyenne Jackson,Kristen Johnston, Mario Cantone, B.D. Wong and Rachel Dratch, who read from formerGood Morning America anchor Joan Lunden‘s Good Morning, I’m Joan Lunden, in which the author goes into agonizing detail about the clothes she lays out for herself every morning. (In keeping with the evening’s pride theme we asked Dratch, who is straight, about her frequently being offered lesbian parts. “I guess Hollywood thinks I’m gay,” she laughed. “I’ll consider those parts if I think they’re funny and not stereotypical. It can work with broad humor.” More cat wrangler, please, 30 Rock!)

Celebrity Autobiography‘s organizer Eugene Pack told he got the idea to do the show, which has been running in New York for ten years and is slowly making its way to L.A., after readingVanna White‘s memoir, Vanna Speaks. “There were these very serious scenes about how hard it is to turn the letters on Wheel of Fortune and, when read aloud, I knew it would make a fantastic comedy monologue.” Pack, however, said the series is not meant to make fun of the celebrities whose works they read, but to serve as a “wink at the memoir.” Sometimes, Pack says, even the most well-intended writers share information “you can’t believe they revealed.”

This perhaps, was best exemplified in a book a bizarre passage from Geraldo Rivera‘sExposing Myself, read by B.D. Wong, in which Rivera recounts a short-lived love affair withLiza Minnelli, and in which he congratulates himself on not “forcing” himself on her when she shys away from sex. “He said, she said” is also a theme Celebrity Autobiography favors, as shown in their evening’s finale, in which Kristen Johnston, reading Elizabeth Taylor‘s memoir, Celebrity Autobiography co-creator Dayle Reyfel, reading from Debbie Reynolds‘ memoir, and Pack reading from Eddie Fisher‘s memoir, all discuss Fisher leaving Reynolds for Taylor from very different perspectives. In Reynold’s memoir, she writes that she caught Fisher cheating on her with Taylor when she called Taylor’s hotel room late at night and Fisher answered. Fisher, however, says he and Taylor decided to tell Reynolds themselves. That was, after all, “the fair thing to do.”

The post What makes a good celebrity autobiography? first appeared on We Got Bruce!.