AndyMangels.com: JUST OUT Information

Get Bruce!      With his curly blond mop of hair, brightly colored glasses, portly physique and catty jokes, Bruce Vilanch is a living, breathing, talking Muppet. Best known to television audiences as the outrageous gay guy on Hollywood Squares-a sort of contemporary Paul Lynde-Vilanch is better known behind the scenes in Tinseltown as the man who makes the funniest comedians even funnier. When they need a joke Hollywood insiders shout, "Get Bruce!"

     That's also the title of a newly released video documentary chronicling the career and quips of Vilanch. Get Bruce! takes viewers on a whirlwind backstage tour to examine how a nice Jewish boy went from performing on the stage in college to writing for the Chicago Tribune to his current role as muse to the stars.

     Although his credits include such memorable jobs as head writer for The Brady Bunch Variety Hour and The Donny & Marie Show (agonizingly awful clips are included), Vilanch's work on the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards and the Tonys is given more footage.

     Extensive interviews with Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Bette Midler show how necessary Vilanch the writer is to each performer's stage presence. In the video, we get to see Goldberg and Vilanch take a critical drubbing for the ill-fated 1993 Ted Danson blackface tribute at a Friar's Club roast; hear the lyrics and jokes that censors wouldn't let Crystal use on the Oscar telecasts; and watch Robin Williams repeatedly talk about his penis…again. We also get to hear how and why Vilanch turned down a job with diva Barbra Streisand and watch the man himself at work doing standup for a host of AIDS benefits.

     My complaints about the film are that not enough time is spent detailing the effect of Vilanch's gay identity on his work, and that any other openly gay performers, except Nathan Lane, are glaringly absent from the film. Also annoying is the fact that almost no one is ever identified on-screen. Even a jaded veteran Hollywood writer like myself (no, not really jaded) kept asking "Who's that?" when some lesser star came on to laud Vilanch's talents.

     Overall, Get Bruce! is an amusing look at a very untraditional humorist. Bruce Vilanch shows humor and heart in his work and keeps his own distinct voice even as he helps other comedians develop their personas. Maybe this live-action Muppet can really be considered a puppeteer?