Long before Ellen, Boy George, “Will & Grace,” and RuPaul, there was Bruce Vilanch.  You may know him from writing the most memorable moments on the Academy Awards, or from touring as Edna in “Hairspray,” or from being front and center on “Hollywood Squares,” or from writing for Bette Midler. 

No matter how you know him, and even if you don’t know him by name, one thing is certain — Bruce Vilanch always leaves you smiling.

To this gay boy growing up in a Boston suburb, that weirdly wonderful creature who regularly popped up on television brought endless joy – and promise. It proved that somehow, somewhere, there were more people like me; that I could fit in, thrive, work, and more than anything else, have a fabulous time. 

It seemed like it was a party wherever Bruce showed up. “Donny & Marie,” “The Brady Bunch Variety Hour,” “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special” and “The Star Wars Holiday Special.” 

Was it as much fun as it seemed? Vilanch sighs. “Even sex sometimes isn’t as fabulous on the inside as it seems from the outside!”

He regularly uses his gifts to benefit causes close to his heart. He’s been a tireless advocate for gay rights, raised countless dollars for the fight against AIDS and regularly participates in Pride events – you name it and Bruce has done it. When I ask what drives him, he says, “Renting my body was not an option.”

I remember being part of the invited audience for the dress rehearsal before he hit the road in “Hairspray,” slipping into Edna’s slippers. The first person in his dressing room afterwards was his beloved mother, Henne – who was immortalized in the 1999 documentary about Vilanch, “Get Bruce!” Bruce was still in full makeup (see photo).  Henne gushed, “You were WONDERFUL.”  She turned to me and said, “Isn’t my son wonderful?”  He certainly is!

How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?   

I’ve never been in. Before Stonewall, the concept of being publicly out didn’t exist. And I’ve been around since before Stonewall. Shocking, I know. In addition, I was always fooling around with girls, until I realized that any woman I wanted to make a life with deserved more than a guy who would be trolling around looking for other guys. I chose to live an authentic life. When they say homosexuality is a choice, that’s the choice they’re talking about.

Who’s your LGBT hero? 

If I have to pick just one out of the herd, I guess it would be Noël Coward. He lived the life he wanted to live and nobody seemed to make a bother about it. Plus he was funny as shit.

What’s Los Angeles’ best nightspot, past or present? 

I am of the Studio One/Rose Tattoo era. I was too late for the Coconut Grove in its prime and now I don’t last as late, so I can’t enjoy Reflex in its prime, which is about 5 a.m.

Describe your dream wedding. 

It’s a thrupple. I’m not sure who the other two guys are, but one of them dresses left and the other dresses right and I’m the centrist.

What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about? 

I’m a tribal Jew, so I’m concerned about my tribe. Working on AIDS-related causes for so many decades has made me more interested in other minority health issues, and being on the board of the LA LGBT Center has certainly gotten me involved in that. Of course, I am dogged about the arts and censorship and preservation and restoration.  And I worry — Tiffany Haddish — she really ready?

What historical outcome would you change? 

I try not to indulge in magical thinking. Magical drinking is enough.

What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime? 

Probably Woodstock, but that’s just because I am a boomer. I wasn’t really a hippie, I wasn’t really a rocker, I wasn’t really a stoner, but the idea of half a million people hiking into the woods to hear music and to tell the previous generation that there was a new world hatching is still pretty memorable. 

On what do you insist? 

Pleasure. And free WiFi.

What was your last Facebook post or Tweet? 

Probably a postcard eulogy of a friend.  They’re thick on the ground now…again.  But this is not because of a plague. This is Mother Nature and Father Time, who are both non-binary.

If your life were a book, what would the title be? 

There was a documentary about me called “Get Bruce!” Maybe the book will be “Had Bruce!”  With a much larger cast.

If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do? 

By that time, I will be married to a Martian.

What do you believe in beyond the physical world? 

An ethical dimension. 

What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders? 

Xanax. Just when we thought we had climbed the mountain, they moved the mountain. I don’t blame them for being depressed and a bit shell-shocked. Still, our enemies eat a lot of sugar and have boundless energy, and we have to shut down divisive politics amongst ourselves and confront the common orange evil. 

What would you walk across hot coals for? 

A swimming pool, and in a big hurry.

What LGBT stereotype annoys you most? 

Anyone who tells you if you disagree with them, you are worse than Hitler. And that’s an awful lot of gay people. We’re woefully intolerant of each other and rather than finding common ground, we carpet bomb. This isn’t new, but it is especially annoying in the era that began on November 9, 2016.

What’s your favorite LGBT movie? 

“Get Bruce!” of course, OK, that wasn’t even nominated for a GLAAD Award, even though part of the movie was my acceptance speech when I personally won a GLAAD Award. Aside from that, I am very partial to an indie drama called “Parting Glances,” which was the first AIDS movie that I can recall. If you don’t think you can handle it, know that the young Steve Buscemi is one of the leads and that alone should get you to Netflix and chill.

What’s the most overrated social custom? 

“How are you,”  “Thoughts and prayers,”  “Sorry for your loss,” referring to rich kids as “children of privilege.”

What trophy or prize do you most covet? 

The World’s Largest Penis, which is not the same as the World’s Largest Dick, which I have already been called.

What do you wish you’d known at 18? 

That pizza wouldn’t make me happy for more than a minute.

Why Los Angeles? 

I’m deeply shallow.

The post Long before Ellen, Boy George, “Will & Grace,” and RuPaul, there was Bruce Vilanch first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Judges:
RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Santino Rice

Contestants:
Alaska, Alyssa Edwards, Coco Montrese, Detox, Honey Mahogany, Ivy Winters, Jade Jolie, Jinkx Monsoon, Lineysha Sparx, Monica Beverly Hillz, Penny Tration, Roxxxy Andrews, Serena ChaCha, Vivienne Pinay

Guest judges/special guests:
Latrice Royale, Sharon Needles, Willam Belli, Camille Grammer, Mike Ruiz, Kristen Johnston, Juliette Lewis, Coco Austin, Paulina Porizkova, Chaz Bono, Travis Wall, Julie Brown, Downtown Julie Brown, La Toya Jackson, Anita Pointer, Ruth Pointer, Leslie Jordan, Jeffrey Moran, Nadya Ginsburg, Deven Green, Bruce Vilanch, Aubrey O’Day, Joan Van Ark, Jamie-Lunn Sigler, Maria Conchita Alonso, Wilmer Valderrama, Clinton Kelly, George Kotsiopoulos, Marg Helgenberger, Bob Mackie, Gloria Allred, Candis Cayne, Paula Abdul, Tamar Braxton, The Lady Bunny

Running time:
43-64 minutes per episode

Number of episodes:
14

Fourteen more drag queens compete in a variety of challenges to become RuPaul’s next drag superstar and bring home a massive prize pool including $100,000.

Season five of RuPaul’s Drag Race is, as can be expected, filled with fun challenges, beautiful drag queens, and so much shade.

The fifth season is also, at this stage, one of the most tumultuous seasons in terms of casting, which was quite distracting from the art itself. There has always been conflict and likely always will be when you put strong personalities in competition with each other. However, this season cast two former friends and now enemies together. I know … Manufactured drama on reality television — who would have guessed?! But in this particular case the drama between our two queens was distracting and quickly became tiresome.

One of my favourite things about RuPaul’s Drag Race, aside from the gorgeous costumes, fierce make up and wicked one-liners, is the appearances from special guests including past contestants. This season has plenty of both and definitely makes it worthwhile to ensure you watch the seasons in order.

I highly recommend RuPaul’s Drag Race for anyone who loves competition shows based around art, fashion and performance. The cast in season five is incredibly polarising, but that only makes the viewer invest themselves further in the outcome.

The post Bruce Vilanch To Guest On Rupaul’s Drag Race In Season 5 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Pro tip, hunties: It’s not very elegant for a lady to spit… unless she’s spitting beats, that is.
On the next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, airing Monday night at 9 p.m. ET on Logo, the queens are tasked with reading while rapping, and they have some serious guest judges to impress. In an exclusive clip below, hip-hop divas Eve and Trina see one team of queens — including Adore Delano, whose experience under the American Idol spotlight fails her when it really counts — werk their way through the beat-dropping challenge.

But that’s not all! EW can exclusive reveal that Drag Race will be “Rupersized” on April 7, airing back-to-back episodes. Leah Remini and My Big Fat Greek Wedding‘s Lainie Kazan will guest-judge during the first episode of the night (starting at 9 p.m. ET), and the second hour will see panel appearances by Jaime Pressly and Bruce Vilanch. As they say, double the pleasure, double the tuck!

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The post Bruce Vilanch To Appear On RuPaul’s Drag Race April 7th 2014 first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Bruce Vilanch would be the first to admit he’s had a strange career. With that in mind, we decided to look over his Wikipedia page with Vilanch himself to see if we could make any sense of it. “A lot of the stuff on here is wrong,” Vilanch said from his home in L.A., where he’s caring for a sick pug (“It’s a pug kind of town—there’s no air to breath anyway”). “I’m not 64, in fact I’m 65, and I’m collecting Obamacare like crazy.” The Hairspray star, Hollywood Square, and Academy Awards head writer also bills himself as Lindsay Lohan‘s sobriety coach and the latest success on Christian Mingle (“just got set up with a guy who used to be Pope!”). Vilanch regaled us with the following thoughts and anecdotes “from behind, before, and squatting over the footlights.”

This Wikipedia entry says you have Hitchcock’s hair—what?
No no, not hair: My wobbles, I have Hitchcock’s wobbles, his chins. He was pretty much hairless in the ’50s when he was on television every week. It’s more that I have his profile. I’ve got more chins than a San Francisco phonebook.

What can we expect at the Nikko on Thursday night?
I’ll be doing stories about my dark career in show business, writing 23 Academy Award shows, Hollywood Squares, et cetera. There won’t be any Sondheim, that I promise.

What was it like, in your first acting role, to work with Diana Ross? 
Bizarre, because I thought I was rehearsing with her stand in, this skinny kid, and then she would come out of the trailer with the eyelashes and the wig, and glamour, glamour, glamour. I was like oh my, that’s Diana Ross. I told her this, and she told me yes, it’s all done with mirrors.

When you appeared on RuPaul‘s Drag Race 3 dressed as Santa, what were some of the items contestants asked for when they sat on your lap?
Big ticket items. And hey, I also worked with RuPaul back in his “Sashay! Shantay!” days, before Drag Race, when he had his talk show on VH1. And, there may be more RuPaul in my future.

How did you identify with your character Missy, the gay porn director from Going Down in LA-LA Land?
I didn’t want to play it like Boogie Nights: the role I played was an homage to Chi Chi LaRue, my neighbor across the street, a great friend of mine and a hysterical character. If I were directing porno everything would be IMAX. Not 3D, though, it makes everything look closer to you, but it’s all smaller! It should be bigger.

Fine, tell us about the Oscars already!
Well, I’ve been writing since 1989, and it’s the greatest show on earth, isn’t it? It’s like the Superbowl— and some years you fumble. But it’s the kind of show that tries to reinvent itself every year, because it has to say something every year. They take it dead seriously, the Academy. At the core of it is the idea of serious people in a serious profession, and in it, everybody is equal to everybody else, the guy who does sound as well as the best actor: everyone has to be treated with equal reverence. So of course, I write jokes. One of my favorite moments was when Whoopi [Goldberg] was hosting the show, and two people had been nominated for playing Queen Elizabeth, and Whoopi came out in white face and said “I’m the African Queen!” Only a Hollywood crowd really gets that one.

You’re responsible for the Star Wars Holiday Special, right?
Right, and George Lucas won’t even speak of it, he’s disowned it. I don’t think there’ll be another one of those.

You’ve done lots of charity work—what makes you most proud?
All the AIDS work I’ve done, especially at the very beginning, because it was something we had to do. When AIDS hit, lots of people banded together to take care of each other and do what the government wasn’t doing. When you grow up Jewish, as I have, you learn that everybody hates you, no one’s going to help you, and you have to take care of yourself. That’s a great maxim to the gay community and we took it to heart, we took care of our own. I would trade off other disease fundraisers, raising for other causes that would raise for ours, and that’s how I learned all the major diseases and got into “big charity.” As I’m fond of saying, though, if the Holocaust led to the creation of Israel, then maybe AIDS has led us to where we are now.

Vilanch performs tomorrow (Thursday, 7/18) at 8pm at Feinstein’s at the Nikko.

The post Interview: A candid conversation with Lindsay Lohan’s sobriety coach, appearing at Feinstein’s at the Nikko this week first appeared on We Got Bruce!.

Revving up for an amazing ‘Raceâ€
Posted on 20 Jan 2011 at 4:09pm
Dallas†Shangela is 1st returning contestant
ARNOLD WAYNE JONES | Life+Style Editor
jones@dallasvoice.com

Despite appearing on Viacomâ€s closeted stepbrother of a network (Logo) and featuring flamboyant men in dresses as the main contestants, RuPaulâ€s Drag Race has somehow managed to become the truly unmissable reality show on TV. The guest judges on this season are more A-list than American Idol (or, for that matter, The A-List). Dancing with the Stars once bragged it had three Oscar winners compete over all the years; well, there were two last season on the Race.

Vanessa Williams and Bruce Vilanch kick off the season 3 premiere (others will include Lily Tomlin and Johnny Weir), a 90-minute “extravaganza eleganza” that features more plus-sized queens, two more from Puerto Rico (following the saucy hit Jessica Wild) and even some Texas ties.

The big surprise (not all that big, really) is that Shangela, the Dallas-bred newbie who was kicked off in the opener last season, gets a reprieve as the first-ever returning candidate; and one of the contestants, Manila Luzon, is the boyfriend of last seasonâ€s finalist, Sahara Davenport.

But what really drives the show is its fearless gay attitude: Itâ€s campy without being silly. “Is that mistletoe or camel toe?” one judge wonders about a get-up. “Look at the size of that muff! Both hands fit!” exclaims another. These girls may not be classy, but they can work it out.

Season 3 of RuPaulâ€s Drag Race premieres Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. on Logo.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition Jan. 21, 2011.

The post Bruce Vilanch To Kick Off Season 3 Of Rupaul’s Drag Race Jan 24th first appeared on We Got Bruce!.