“You get your start in comedy by looking in the mirror and thinking what you see is unusual,” says Bruce Vilanch. “So you start making funny faces and perform for yourself.”

Sixty-six years — and six Emmys — after first catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, Vilanch is still screwing up his face and cracking wise. His signature heft, charmingly raspy voice, and unstoppable wit marked him for a career in comedy from the get go. It helped that he had a “deep-seated need to express [myself],” Vilanch says. “Also, to be funny.”

More than just a comedian, Vilanch has become a force of nature in Hollywood and is particularly known for co-penning the Academy Awards each year. Now, he’s teamed up with lesbian comedian Judy Gold (a two-time Emmy award winner herself) for Big and Tall: Bruce Vilanch and Judy Gold, playing this weekend at the Alden Theatre. “I’m number one, and she’s number two,” Vilanch quips. The comedians met while Gold was working on Margaret Cho’s sitcom, All-American Girl. “I don’t remember exactly when lightning struck,” Vilanch says, “but we were two big gay Jews, and we’re both very showbizzy, so it was a natural fit.”

But beyond being gay and Jewish, Gold has one more more handicap — at least in Hollywood’s terms — than Vilanch: being a woman. “It was interesting for Judy, because at the beginning she wasn’t out. It was pre-Ellen,” Vilanch says. “And because all women are perceived as romantic figures, the vast unwashed audiences had to think she had a shot at getting a man.”

In our post-Ellen world, however, Vilanch believes comedians can thrive on being gay. “There are people who are Professional Homosexuals, and those who are Homosexual Professionals,” he says. “People who were gay who did what they did, and people who what they did was being gay. When I get up there, I play myself. I’ve been authentic my entire life.” — Connor J. Hogan

Big and Tall: Bruce Vilanch and Judy Gold is Saturday, November 7th at 9 p.m. at the Alden Theatre in the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave., McLean, Va. Tickets range from $20 to $72. For more information, visit mcleancenter.org/alden-theatre.

The post Super-Sized Comedy: Bruce Vilanch first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

The Alden in McLean bring the NSFW (not safe for work) humor of Judy Gold and Bruce Vilanch for a late show at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7. Tickets are $35, $20 for McLean Community Center (MCC) tax district residents. The Alden is located at 1234 Ingleside Avenue, inside MCC.

In the show, entitled “An Evening with Bruce Vilanch and Judy Gold,” the comedians pair up for separate stand-up sets united by their gay, Jewish identities and raunchy, sidesplitting observations. One of the most sought-after jokesmiths in the entertainment industry, Vilanch has become a recognizable face in his own right, thanks in part to his stint as a regular on the television show “Hollywood Squares,” for which he also served as head writer. He has written for virtually every awards show and Hollywood comedian, including most of the Oscar casts over the past 20 years-his Jack Palance-inspired jokes have famously passed through the lips of Billy Crystal.

Gold gets around, everywhere from her Comedy Central and HBO specials to cohosting “The View,” to starring Off-Broadway in her two acclaimed long-running hit shows, including “25 Questions for a Jewish Mother.” She has won two Emmy Awards for her work on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show.” Gold is an observant Jew, 6 feet 3 inches tall and a lesbian mother of two.

Together, Vilanch and Gold will fill the order of making the audience laugh and laugh.

Please note: This show is for mature audiences only.

Tickets are on sale now. For more information or to purchase tickets online, visit: www.aldentheatre.org or call 703-790-0123, TTY: 711.

The post Comedians Judy Gold & Bruce Vilanch Coming to The Alden in McLean, 11/7 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster and The Book of Mormon Tony nominee Andrew Rannells are among the performers who will take part in the 29th annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event (S.T.A.G.E.), Broadway, My Way, April 6 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.

The one-night-only performance will benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the U.S. that provides bilingual direct services, prevention education and leadership on HIV/AIDS-related policy and legislation.

Other Broadway stars scheduled to appear include Patrick Cassidy (42nd Street), Carole Cook (42nd Street), Karen Culliver (The Phantom of the Opera), Tyne Daly (Master Class), Davis Gaines (The Phantom of the Opera), Florence Henderson (The Girl Who Came to Supper), Shirley Jones (42nd Street), Jane Lanier (Guys and Dolls), Vicki Lewis (Chicago), Kimberly Locke (“American Idol”), Tom Lowe, Pat Marshall (The Pajama Game), Patricia Morison (The King and I), Janis Paige (Mame), Madison Claire Parks, Valarie Pettiford (Fosse), Andrew Samonsky (Scandalous),James Snyder (Cry-Baby), Bruce Vilanch (Hairspray) and JoAnne Worley(The Drowsy Chaperone).

Additional performers will be announced at a later date.

Foster received Tony Awards for her performances in Anything Goes and Thoroughly Modern Millie. She also originated roles in Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone and Young Frankenstein and currently stars in the ABC Family series “Bunheads.”

Rannells has also appeared on Broadway inHairspray and Jersey Boys and currently stars in the Golden Globe-winning HBO comedy series “Girls” as well as NBC’s “The New Normal.”

The Saban Theatre is located at 8440 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, CA. For more information and tickets, visit StageLA.com or APLA.org/Stage.

The post Bruce Vilanch, Sutton Foster, and More Set for West Coast Broadway, My Way Benefit first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Saturday, May 19th! It’s time to throw it back to the good ol’ days! Atlantis Cruises sweetheart and The Queen of Queens, Shawn Pelofsky presents “THE BATHHOUSE SHOW”, a monthly show full of some of the best gay and gay-friendly comedic talent in Los Angeles. Located in the heart of West Hollywood at the world famous Comedy Store is a show that is sure to put the “fabulous” in one of the most heterosexual clubs in the world.

Enjoy a “full facial” of stand-up comedy and cabaret with the fabulous, Shawn Pelofsky (Chelsea Lately, NBC’s “Community”, Showtime) and laugh it up with the comedic stylings of Daniel Leary (The Ellen Degeneres Show, LOGO), Retta (Parks & Recreation), and special guest headliner, Bruce Vilanch. Also featuring the hilarious singing duo, The BooFont Sisters (America’s Got Talent), Jeff Scott and The Bathhouse Babe Dancers.

The Comedy Store/ Original Room, 8443 W. Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA. Doors open at 7:15 pm. Showtime is at 8 pm.

Online Tickets available here on LaughStub.com or www.TheBathHouseShow.com . If seats are still available, $15 cash cover at the door.

This show WILL SELL OUT Limited seating, so get your tickets now!

$5 Svedka Cosmopolitan Special. 2 drink min.

The post Bruce Vilanch Headlines Shawn Pelofsky’s Bathhouse Show! first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

August 5, 2010

by Phil Rosenthal

Award-winning investigative reporter Chuck Collins, who first made a name for himself as host of WSNS-Ch. 44’s ground breaking “Underground News” in 1970, has died, the trade paper Variety reported this week.

Collins reportedly died after a lengthy illness in Scottsdale, Ariz., on July 9 at age 60. Chicago Tribune archival material suggests he might have been 61.

The late 1970s was a boom time for Chicago television investigations and Collins was at the forefront before moving on to NBC News, where he worked on programs such as 1983-84’s “First Camera.”

For WTTW-Ch. 11 in 1978, he helped expose a payola scandal involving WDAI-FM. For WMAQ-Ch. 5 in 1979, he helped expose strip searches of women by Chicago police. Other award-winning efforts included “Murder by Natural Causes” and “Exploiters: Children for Sale.”

“We try to choose stories in which viewers will be able to relate to the victims,” Collins told the Chicago Tribune’s Gary Deeb at the time. “The strip-search story, for instance, didn’t just dwell on the fact that it happened to a couple of people; we approached it from the standpoint of ‘Hey, it could happen to you.’ As we later found out, it had happened to thousands of women in Chicago.”

Through WTTW, Collins also co-produced the 1979 PBS documentary on aging and retirement, “Miles to Go Before I Sleep,” narrated by Helen Hayes.

But it was as host of one of WSNS’ earliest efforts, the late-night “Underground News,” that Collins initially gained notice. The Tribune, as the free-form 1970-72 program was launching, reported Collins was a 21-year-old from Lake Forest College who beganbroadcasting at Highland Park High School, where the paper said he started a campus radio station.

One never quite knew what was coming next on “Underground News.” The eclectic mix of guests included John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the Grateful Dead, Sen. Eugene McCarthy, activist Abbie Hoffman, Mick Jagger, Joan Baez, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sen. Charles Percy.

“What was it exactly? Hard to describe,” future Hollywood writer Bruce Vilanch recalled in a 1975 Tribune column. “A talk show, but one that also featured music. Nearly everyone on it was young, and not all of them were foolish. A parade of headliners, from Woody Allen to Peter Max to the ubiquitous Jane Fonda — a three time interviewee, she held the record. A half-hour of nightly conversation, exchanging of ideas and Earth News. And all of it hosted by the genial, intelligent, and incredibly persevering Chuck Collins.”

Survivors, according to Variety, include Collins’ mother, sister and two sons.

The post R.I.P. Chuck Collins & The UnderGround News first appeared on We Got Bruce!.