Bruce! : My Adventures in the Skin Trade and Other Essays [Hardcover]

Bruce Vilanch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2000

Bette Midler says that "for years I never said a word that Bruce didn't charge me for," while Robin Williams claims that "this man cracks my ass-with laughter." Indeed, Emmy Award-winner Bruce Vilanch is probably the most respected comedy writer in Hollywood.

Millions of people have laughed for years at his parodies, jokes, and taunts, unaware of the comic source. The Oscars, Tonys, Grammys, and Emmys are just a few of Vilanch's credits in addition to his speeches and routines for the likes of celebrities Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin, Billy Crystal, Rosie O'Donnell, Paul Reiser, Kelsey Grammer, and David Hyde Pierce.

Now, in Bruce!, Vilanch has assembled his funniest and most wicked essays, stories, and gags. With observations and views on everything from Diana Ross and the Muppets to show tunes and Star Wars, Bruce! shows how this regular "Hollywood Square" can be the "perp of some of the funniest, most famous, or notorious moments in recent show-biz history" (Time).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Joke-writer Vilanch is known as the man who made Bette Midler funny, who made Billy Crystal beloved as Academy Award emcee and who cracks wise with the best on Hollywood Squares. In this collection of 26 humorous essaysAmany of which have appeared in the AdvocateAVilanch takes aim at the Academy Awards, Donny and Marie Osmond and the Super Bowl. He is a crack shot with these easy targetsAas a writer for an Osmond special, he considered it a "personal triumph" when he had Marie sing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"Abut too often the pieces resemble occasional journalism rather than anything substantial. An interview with Robin Williams while walking around the Castro, San Francisco's gay mecca, raises a few smiles that evaporate quickly. Vilanch is more interesting when he uses humor to address more serious issues: his meditation on why Lana Turner died the same day Hugh Grant was arrested for picking up a working girl is smart and savvy, and his remembrance of actress Elizabeth Montgomery's life and career is moving. His essays on the lack of gay representation in movies (which makes witty use of the Titanic) and the importance of gay pride are also intriguing. But Vilanch has trouble reconciling his funny and serious sides in print, and these pieces, while the most ambitious in the collection, show both his talents and his limitations. Agent, Dan Strone, William Morris Agency. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

First things first--this is not a book about the skin trade. Vilanch confesses the title is an attention-getting device in the introduction. Having got our attention, Vilanch, a leading supplier of speeches for the Academy Awards show, assaults our sensibilities by disclosing that "everything you hear on [the] Oscar-cast has been written, rewritten, re-rewritten," etc. No! All that gush is, in fact, scripted? Obviously this guy is "out there," which is good, as far as this book is concerned. In addition to disillusioning us about Hollywood once again, Vilanch takes on the Motion Picture Association of America; Branson, Mo.; and even gay pride. And he reflects on the speechwriter's life. Regular readers of Vilanch's column in the national gay magazine, The Advocate, will flock to this collection, and chances are readers new to him won't be disappointed, either. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 1ST edition (August 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585420468
• ISBN-13: 978-1585420469
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,469,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, Insightful, Charming, Sharp, September 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bruce! : My Adventures in the Skin Trade and Other Essays (Hardcover)

I loved BRUCE by Bruce Vilanch. It's not a laugh-a-second kind of book -- it's a series of essays that are sweet-and-sour, and made me smile, laugh, and pause when his wit hit a cultural bullseye. This is a fun, fast read, but its one that has stayed with me. I particularly loved his Hollywood stories (including his memories of the making of the film Mahogany with Diana Ross!). Buy it, read it, pass it on to your friends -- it's worth it.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One Liner, September 9, 2000

By 

Michael Cheslosky (Aptos, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bruce! : My Adventures in the Skin Trade and Other Essays (Hardcover)

Ya know, I love this man's sense of humor and feel he can write a one-line joke that will curl your toenails; but reading his essays, I have to say that I got bored waiting around for the one-liner to appear...

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Well Conka Bonkers Everyone!, September 8, 2002

By 

Conor K. Cummins "Contron" (Santa rosa, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bruce! : My Adventures in the Skin Trade and Other Essays (Hardcover)

Reading this book, that I got at the LIBRARY, (THANK THE LORD)
had me bowled over with canned laughter coming outta my whothave you, but that was just from looking at the cover, and the back of the cover, which you can plainly see merely by seeing the picture of it online. Any book that features the words "LOL" in it's introduction, is never to be taken seriously, and is therefore doomed.

Nothing about this book is even moderately funny. Even when he talks about Hollywood Squares, which is like, chapter 2, or excuse me, ESSAY 2. The rest of the stuff is all this [junk] he wrote for the Advocate...

Zero stars.