Oscars Legend Bruce Vilanch Tells All!

The Last Laugh

The Daily Beast

Comedy Interviews, Comedy, Interviews, Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Tv, Movies, Film

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bruce Vilanch has written monologues for Oscars hosts like Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin, Ellen DeGeneres, David Letterman, and more. And in this episode, he not only shares some of his favorite jokes, but also reveals which of the many hosts he worked with over more than two decades gave him the most trouble. As the 97th annual Academy Awards approach this weekend, Vilanch walks through the highs and lows of his illustrious Oscars career, from nearly blowing it his first time out with the disastrous Rob Lowe and Snow White opening, through the game-changing Billy Crystal years, to the Anne Hathaway and James Franco-hosted year that marked the unfortunate end of his long run. Along the way, he also shares some shocking stories about Oscar presenters, including his jaw-dropping theory about the origins of that Richard Gere gerbil rumor—and reveals why he turned down the opportunity to write for the very first season of ‘Saturday Night Live.’ And Vilanch, whose new book ‘It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time’ chronicles his biggest failures as a writer, takes us inside the most infamous bomb of his career: ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special.’

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Last Laugh. I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and we are just a few days away from the 97th Annual Academy Awards. So I thought it would be fun this week to welcome to the podcast, a man who has written for more iconic Oscar ceremonies than anyone else,
0:21.4	the one and only Bruce Valanche.
0:24.0	If you happen to love both comedy and award shows as much as I do,
0:28.3	you probably know who Bruce Valanche is.
0:30.9	But if not, he is the writer responsible for Oscars monologues by Billy Crystal,
0:36.4	Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin, Ellen DeGeneres,
0:39.4	David Letterman, John Stewart, and more, all of whom we talk about in this episode.
0:44.4	Bruce's other big claim to fame, besides his on-screen appearances over the years on various
0:49.0	versions of Hollywood Squares, is his role as the writer of a series of disastrous television specials in the
0:55.6	1970s and 80s, starting with the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978. Those projects,
1:03.4	leading up to his equally doomed first time writing for the 1989 Oscars that, for some reason,
1:09.1	opened with a musical number featuring Snow White and
1:11.7	Rob Lowe, formed the basis of his new book.
1:14.9	It seemed like a bad idea at the time, which is available for pre-order now and officially
1:19.6	comes out next week.
1:21.2	Bruce shares so many insane stories from his many decades in Hollywood during this conversation.
1:26.7	But before we get into it, here is a clip from the first monologue he helped write for Billy Crystal
1:31.9	in 1991, which somehow contains a joke about the current president of the United States.
1:39.3	But what a night, you know, everybody wanted to be on the Oscars this year.
1:42.5	Madonna called me herself and she said, Bill, who do I have to fax to get on this show?
1:52.5	So she faxed me and I faxed her twice and she's here tonight.
1:56.5	Ladies and gentlemen, three, four, five.
	...

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