When you hear the word “Oscars,” big stars, stunning gowns, emotional acceptance speeches, and the red carpet probably come to mind.

But much of what happens behind the curtain — the elements we don’t see, like the writing — makes the award show the prestigious and memorable event it is each year.

Comedy writer and six-time Emmy award-winner Bruce Vilanch, 67, has written jokes for the Oscars since 1989 and served as head writer for the show from 2000 to 2014.

In the book, “Poking a Dead Frog: Conversations with Today’s Top Comedy Writers,” he talks about this huge responsibility.

“Out of the hundreds [of jokes] that we write — really, hundreds — if one or two are used, it’s a big deal,” he told the books author Mike Sacks.

Vilanch told Sacks that some of the writing team’s best jokes are ones made up on the spot in the wings during the live show. But, he explains, the writers actually start coming up with jokes for the Oscars about two months in advance and keep them in a 300-page “playbook.”

This huge outline is kept just off stage so the host can flip through it during commercial breaks to refresh their memory.

The idea to make this mega-outline each year came from Billy Crystal, who has hosted the show nine times and wanted to help out future hosts with the burden that comes from having to recall so many lines and so much information.

The playbook contains a complete rundown of the show, which typically lasts between three and four hours, as well as numerous jokes. Out of the hundreds of jokes the writers come up with ahead of time, Vilanch says it’s a big deal if one or two are actually used in the show.

Vilanch says the writers are aware that certain celebrities are off limits to joke about, either because the situation is too embarrassing for them, the joke would be too cruel, they will be in the audience.

“You have to be careful to not cross the weird line,” he told Sacks.

Vilanch remembers a joke from the 2003 Oscars in which host Steve Martin would have said, “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that my fly was open throughout the monologue. The good news is that the camera puts on ten pounds.”

Vilanch, his team, and even the network censor thought the joke was hilarious, but Martin didn’t feel comfortable delivering it at such a classy event.

Vilanch understood Martin’s dilemma though, because a joke at the Oscars will stick with you throughout your career.

“The choice you have to make is, do I, as a comedian, want to be remembered for this joke or not?” he told Sacks.

The post Bruce Vilanch shares what it’s really like to write jokes for the most prestigious awards show first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

2nd Annual Voice Arts® Awards Announces 2015 Presenters

Voiceover Industry Award Ceremony Presenters Include Leading Voice Actors and Acclaimed Personalities Presenters include: Oscars ceremony writer Bruce Vilanch, Emmy Award ceremony announcer Joe Cipriano, Legendary Voice of Babe the Pig EG Daily, Iconic Television Actors John Amos and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Featured Voice in Pixar’s Inside Out and Sponge Bob Square Pants Lori Alan, Legendary voice actor from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Boxtrolls Pat Fraley, Police Academy films actor and sound master Michael Winslow and CBS Entertainment Reporter Suzanne Marques

The Society of Voice Arts and Sciences (SOVAS) is delighted to announce today the talented personalities who will serve as presenters for the 2015 Voice Arts®Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday November 15th at the Pacific Design Center. The Voice Arts® Awards is an international competition showcasing the best work in professional voiceover acting, creative direction and communications for advertising, audiobook narration, movie trailers, video gaming, animation, television, radio and casting realms.

The Voice Arts®Awards Presenters are artists from around the world, who represent the best-in-class professional voiceover talents in the industry, and also media personalities who work behind the microphones and cameras. The 2015 Voice Arts®Awards presenters include:

PRESENTER NOTES:
JOE CIPRIANO: Voice of the Emmy Awards, CBS television promos and FOX television promos
JOAN BAKER: Author of Secrets of Voiceover Success, Co-founder of the Voice Arts® Awards.
SCOTT BRICK: Most respected name in Audiobook narration. Grammy finalist and Audie Award-winning narrator of In Cold Blood, Mystic River, Helter Skelter, 700 other audiobooks
CHUCK AND STACEY: She’s the host of Disney World TV and he’s the VO producer/director to the Hollywood VO stars. Together they host the nominated VO Buzz Weekly video podcast
EG DAILY: Voice of Babe the Pig in the award winning movie
ED LOH: Editor in Chief of Motor Trend Magazine
MALCOLM-JAMAL WARNER: Beloved actor from television’s Cosby show who is also an award winning voice actor and is a 2015 VAA nominee
JOHN AMOS: Acclaimed character actor in numerous films and television programs and one of the most iconic father figure characters in America on the 70’s dramedy ‘Good Times’
SUZANNE MARQUES: Entertainment reporter for KCBS in Los Angeles
BRUCE VILANCH: Award winning comedy writer who is a multiple Emmy award winning writer for multiple awards shows, and also, the former head writer for the Oscars ceremony
PAT FRALEY: Legendary voice actor and voiceover teacher known for voicing recognized characters from various films and series including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Boxtrolls
LORI ALAN: Voice of Pearl the Whale on SpongeBob Square Pants & featured in Pixar’s Inside Out: Lori Alan
MICHAEL WINSLOW: Master vocal sound maker and vocal sound effects teacher, known for voicing his special effects in the Police Academy film series

“We are tremendously excited to have the honor of welcoming many of the best voice actors from around the world to the Voice Arts®Awards stage to participate in our ceremony,” says SOVAS CEO Rudy Gaskins. “We are humbled.”

The 2015 Voice Arts®Awards full list of nominees, including Tim Gunn, Beyonce, Ron Perlman and Brian Blessed, are featured at sovas.org. The winners in each category will be unveiled on November 15th, along with a special award presentation of the Voice Arts® Icon Award–the jury’s highest honor—to William Shatner, for lifetime achievement. Also being presented, in partnership with Backstage® Magazine and the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences, is the Backstage® Vanguard Award for Outstanding Casting, which will be presented to Pixar Animation casting honchos Kevin Reher and Natalie Lyon. They will receive their awards the night before at the SOVAS created THAT’S VOICEOVER! CONFERENCE and will be acknowledged at the Voice Arts®Awards ceremony. Entries were submitted from various entities including: Wendy’s, Telemundo, Discovery Channel, CNN, NBC Sports, ABC Entertainment, Comedy Central, Oxygen Network, NBA on TNT, FOX, Ovation Network and many others. For more information on the Voice Arts Awards, visit: VoiceArts.org.

• * *

About The Voice Arts® Awards
The Voice Arts® Awards is an international awards competition created by the Society Of Voice Arts And Sciences (SOVAS). The open competition features a number of categories of voice arts, and is voted upon by award-winning experts from the various disciplines that constitute the entry categories. SOVAS honors industry visionaries and pioneers of the voice arts with a number of special awards including the Voice Arts Icon Awards for lifetime achievement. Awards are presented during a live Voice Arts® Awards Gala which is open to the public. For more information about Society Of Voice Arts And Sciences (SOVAS), or for tickets to Voice Arts® Awards Gala, visit VoiceArts.org.

Purpose
The purpose of the Voice Arts® Awards is to provide international acknowledgement of the extraordinary skill and artistry of voiceover acting and associated industry professions. The Awards also encourage a best-in-class standard of achievement to which the voiceover industry can continually aspire. The Voice Arts® Awards will honor and acknowledge the voice actors, creative directors, copywriters, casting directors, talent agents, directors, producers, audio engineers, account executives, equipment manufacturers, podcasters, bloggers and others who create and sustain excellence within the voiceover industry. The Voice Arts® Award represents one of a host of programs administered by the Society Of Voice Arts And Sciences (SOVAS), a non-profit 501 (c)3 corporation, whose overall mission is to the highest levels of artistic achievement, while providing support for education, training, career advancement and gainful employment throughout all facets of the voiceover industry.

Contact    
Judi Durand, DAJDPR, 703-725-6017 (m)
Daryl Williams, DAJDPR, 646-373-6736 (m)

The post Bruce Vilanch Among 2nd Annual Voice Arts® Awards 2015 Presenters 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!.

Bruce Vilanch And His Competitors (Emmy Nominations)

Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Special
82nd Annual Academy Awards · ABC
Bill Maher “…But I’m Not Wrong” · HBO
The Kennedy Center Honors · CBS
63rd Annual Tony Awards · CBS
Wanda Sykes: I’ma Be Me · HBO

Read more: Breaking News – Academy of Television Arts & Sciences 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards: Creative Arts Nominations | TheFutonCritic.com http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/07/08/academy-of-television-arts-and-sciences-2010-primetime-emmy-awards-creative-arts-nominations/20100708atas02/#ixzz0te2UAtCh

The post Bruce Vilanch And His Competitors (Emmy Nominations) first appeared on We Got Bruce!.