Bruce Vilanch is truly a legend in the world of comedy writing but also as an actor and comedian. You have seen his work if you watch the Academy Awards (for which he is a multi-Emmy Award winner), Comic Relief, Hollywood Squares…and on and on. In this very funny book, Bruce is candid about those projects he says (as does the book’s title) “seemed like a bad idea at the time,” but of course turned out to be classic camp TV. How do we know about these shows produced in the 1970’s and 1980’s? Because as Bruce notes, we live in the world of podcasts where during Covid he talked about these projects and then, of course, with YouTube, people can easily find them.

From the Star Wars Holiday Special to The Brady Bunch Hour (where the actors played the Brady’s playing characters!), to Paul Lynde’s Halloween Special, and the “classic” film “Can’t Stop the Music”( an Allen Carr production involving the Village People…hear why Cher might have turned down a role!

The book is filled with Bruce’s memories of days gone by or got fogged in because, as he notes, it was the 1970s….

A fabulous read and a candid conversation here on Behind the Curtain!

“It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time” by Bruce Vilanch is available at local bookstores and on www.Amazon.com