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In Oscar lore, according to long-time Academy Awards show writer Bruce Vilanch, it’s referred to as “the cock joke.”

“People always ask, ‘What couldn't you do on the Oscar show? What did you have to drop?’” Vilanch told Steve Kmetko on his Still Here Hollywood podcast. The cock joke stuck in Vilanch’s memory for somehow passing muster with the censors, but missing the live show just the same.

“It was Steve Martin's first show,” Vilanch recalled. His hosting responsibilities included a monologue full of one-liners, then a series of jokes throughout the show to introduce more presenters and awards. Vilanch, a credited writer on 25 Oscar shows and a contributor to a dozen more, wrote a joke for Martin that went like this: “I have good news and bad news. The bad news is my fly was open throughout the monologue. The good news is the camera puts on 10 pounds.

Actors Steven Weber, Lori Petty, Cynda Williams and Mitchell Anderson have joined the lineup of Pride Live! Hollywood, which continues through June 29 at venues across Hollywood.

The inaugural pop culture festival will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the LGBT comedy Jeffrey with star Weber, who will be reunited with his Wings and Dracula: Dead and Loving It co-star Amy Yasbeck.

Meanwhile, Petty, Williams and Anderson have joined Relax … It’s Just Sex co-stars Billy Wirth, Tim Perez, Chris Cleveland and Eddie Garcia in a tribute to pioneering producer Steven J. Wolfe and his groundbreaking film.

Elsewhere, festival partner Amoeba Music will sponsor a free Pride Live! Hollywood concert performance by Durand Jones & The Indications, followed by a signing of their latest album, Flowers.

Also added to the schedule is a screening of disco movie Can’t Stop the Music with screenwriter Bruce Vilanch and cast member Leigh Taylor-Young.

As previously announced,...

Joy, pride and community were just some of the words that honorees of the Critics Choice Association’s second annual Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema and Television called out at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles over the weekend.

Actress and comedian Sherry Cola, who hosted the ceremony for the second time, told Gold Derby she was “thrilled to be here.”

“This is a celebration of all of our victories this year and also a reminder of our resilience,” the Joy Ride star said. “As a community, just making sure queerness is still on the screen at all times.”

The event welcomed a variety of film and television stars who spanned multiple generations.

Taking home the Career Achievement Award was film, TV and stand-up star Wanda Sykes, who told Gold Derby she was thrilled to see how LGBTQ+ visibility has grown in Hollywood.

“The number of people who are here tonight being honored,...

A new Los Angeles-based event will celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride and pop-culture milestones next month.

The producers of L.A’s Infinity Festival, which celebrates the intersection of technology and entertainment, have teamed up with The Hollywood Partnership and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to present Pride Live! Hollywood, a monthlong celebration of “LGBTQ+ creativity in media and entertainment.”

The lineup will feature a tribute to Norman Lear’s pioneering television work, anniversary celebrations of TV series The Golden Girls and Queer as Folk, documentary premieres, film screenings, panels, parties, interactive events and presentations of disco-era films, along with participation by stars and creatives. Events will take place at venues in and around Los Angeles, including the W Hollywood, the Montalbán Theater, LA Explained, Emerson College, Amoeba Music, the Aster and Lemon Grove, Whisky Hotel Hollywood, NeueHouse Hollywood and more.

Organizers explained that with more than 150,000 people attending the annual L.

Since getting his big break crafting jokes for Bette Midler in the early 1970s, Emmy-winning comedy writer and personality Bruce Vilanch has found success writing for the small screen and stage. But by his own admission, the scribe behind 25 Academy Award ceremonies and more than his fair share of Miss Universe and USA pageants has also penned some real flops.

In his new book, “It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time: The Worst TV Shows in History and Other Things I Wrote,” Vilanch walks readers through some of the most ill-conceived projects he’s been attached to over the years — from 1978’s “The Star Wars Holiday Special” to the now infamous 1989 Oscars ceremony that opened with Rob Lowe and Snow White pirouetting to “Proud Mary.”

“‘It was a terrible idea, and I shouldn’t have gotten involved’ didn’t even occur to us at the time,” Vilanch told IndieWire on a Zoom call,...

Gold Derby rounds up some of the best stories of the week from our friends across the web. Maybe you missed these, maybe you were too busy to read them at the time, maybe you bookmarked them and forgot, but hopefully you'll have some over the March 7 weekend to check them out. Happy reading!

At Thailand's real White Lotus hotel, where the ultrarich get coddled

Sangeeta Singh-Kurtz visits Thailand's Four Seasons Koh Samui, the setting of the third season of The White Lotus, for New York. The luxury resort, where the average villa runs for $2,200 a night, welcomes the most privileged and tries to fulfill their outrageous demands. So not much different from The White Lotus.

Bruce Vilanch has written 'some of the biggest disasters' on TV. He's embracing his legacy

Bruce Vilanch, whose new book, It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time, is out now, talks to...

The 97th Academy Awards were held on Sunday night, i.e., the Super Bowl for movie fans. That comparison might sting a little for ABC, which probably wishes it could achieve Super Bowl ratings numbers for the Oscars, especially following Hulu's glitchy livestream, which likely contributed to a decrease in viewers for the first time in four years.

According to Variety, the 2025 Oscars attracted 18.1 million viewers to watchAnora claim Best Picture of the year, down 7% from the 19.5 million people who tuned in for the 2024 ceremony. Given that ratings for the awards ceremony have seen much lower lows, this is a respectable number, but it may be a sign that some of the films, beyond box-office behemoth Wicked, weren't sampled by casual moviegoers and mostly appealed to more dedicated cinephiles.

Related2025's Academy Awards Were One of the Best in Years

The 97th Academy Awards did not mock the nominees...

Bruce Vilanch is getting mistaken for Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce‘s mom, Donna Kelce!

The 76-year-old comedian and writer hilariously revealed that fans, and even some of his own friends, confuse him for the 72-year-old mother of the NFL superstars.

During an appearance on The View, Bruce introduced himself with an amusing disclaimer.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I would just like to say for you football fans out there, I am not Travis Kelce’s mother,” he said

“The resemblance is alarming, I will give you,” he added.

“People call me and say, ‘Dude, [are you] at the Super Bowl? What are you doing in a box with Taylor [Swift]?’” he joked.

“And I looked and I thought, ‘Yeah, we are each other’s doppelgänger,’” he admitted, gesturing a phone to his ear. “So, Donna, [call me].”

The Oscars joke writer who has helped with countless Academy Awards over the years...

Will Conan O'Brien host the Academy Awards again? The question has been on everyone's lips since his performance during last night's ceremony. Thankfully, Walt Disney TV's Rob Mills, the executive VP of unscripted and alternative entertainment in charge of these things, has some thoughts on the matter, too. And in a new interview with Variety, the executive lays out his thoughts on that, some of the night's biggest jokes, and more.

Though hardly confirmation of anything that may or may not happen in the future, Mills put the ball directly in O'Brien's court when it comes to hosting the award show again, confirming to the outlet that ABC's parent company was deeply satisfied with the job the comedian did. Considering how thankless it can be to host an awards show (just ask all the other folks who have hosted award shows), it's a huge compliment to O'Brien's ability to appeal...

Chris Rock is playing coy about hosting the Academy Awards again. The former host — who was involved in one of the most memorable moments in Oscars history when he was slapped by Will Smith onstage — remained vague when asked whether or not he would tackle the role taken on by Conan O'Brien in this year's ceremony.

Considering all that he had to endure not only during the 2022 Oscars, but the fallout after the fact, it's not surprising that the Fargo star was hesitant to commit to returning. But given that Rock was all about "forgiveness" when E! News asked him about it at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, we could absolutely see a world where he comes back and hosts the show again. But if you want to know exactly what he had to say about the matter, keep reading below!

RelatedChris Rock Faces Humorous Threat from Another Round Director...

A number of mega-star comedians have hosted the Oscars over the course of its long history — from Bob Hope, to Whoopi Goldberg, to the anti-comedy performance artist known as “James Franco.”

One famous name who’s not likely to be back hosting the Academy Awards any time soon is Ellen DeGeneres, who, to be fair, gave us one of the most memorable Oscar moments of all-time: the star-studded selfie, which may or may not have been “cursed.”

Since Ellen has subsequently experienced a tidal-wave of bad publicity concerning her behind-the-scenes behavior, which seemingly led to the cancellation of her talk show and inspired a self-pitying stand-up special, one more bad story probably won’t make a difference. But according to longtime Oscars joke writer Bruce Vilanch, DeGeneres was the most difficult host to work with.

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Vilanch acknowledged that to “throw more fire on...

Bruce Vilanch is a walking oxymoron: a legendary ghostwriter best known for feeding one-liners to hosts and presenters at the Academy Awards, Grammys, Emmys and Tonys. He’s worked on the Oscars off and on since 1989, the year of the infamous Rob Lowe-Snow White … whatever the hell that was. The title of the 77-year-old’s new tell-all, It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time (out March 4 from Chicago Review Press), refers to that and other TV trainwrecks he’s been affiliated with. But if you’re going to blame him for, say, The Star Wars Holiday Special or The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, then you should credit him for all the genuinely hilarious Oscar night quips you never realized were his. Ahead of the 97th Academy Awards, Vilanch offers his unvarnished opinion of past hosts and reveals the best joke he ever had to cut.

The Oscars are...

Everyone's favorite canoe-paddler and gigglepuss extraordinaire, Nick Offerman, has been confirmed as the official Show Announcer for this year's Academy Awards ceremony. The Parks and Recreation funnyman will join host Conan O'Brien in show duties that are sure to bring the funny to this year's Oscars. And he's not the only famous face (or voice) to be newly confirmed to present or join the broadcast of the 97th installment of cinematic accolades.

The news was confirmed on Wednesday by The Hollywood Reporter while speaking with executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor and executive producer Katy Mullan. The event will be the first time the Emmy Award-winning performer has attended the ceremony.

Also planning to work that night are Oprah Winfrey, Selena Gomez, Ben Stiller, Willem Dafoe, Goldie Hawn, Sterling K. Brown, Joe Alwyn, Lily-Rose Depp, Ana de Armas, and Connie Nielsen — all of whom have been confirmed as presenters at the awards.

The organizers of a Dolly Parton musical currently touring the UK have issued a statement condemning homophobic abuse being directed at the cast during performances.

In a social media post, the producers of Here You Come Again said: “In light of homophobic comments and abuse directed at our company, the producers of Here You Come Again condemn this abhorrent behaviour in the strongest way.

“Individuals making such comments are not welcome at our show. They have been – and will be – ejected from the theatre immediately. We stand against all forms of prejudice and are extremely proud of the inclusivity and respect which Here You Come Again celebrates.”

The intervention comes after Stevie Webb, one of the stars of Here You Come Again, posted a TikTok video chronicling incidents of abuse the cast had endured on the road.

Webb revealed that a performance at Manchester’s Opera House last week was...

For the millions of people who haven’t even heard of the movies nominated for Best Picture this year, there’s still a very good reason to watch the Academy Awards: comedy.

After all, this year’s ceremony will be hosted by none other than Conan O’Brien, who previously hosted the Emmys, the MTV Awards, the NFL Honors, and, of course, the esteemed Audiencey Awards.

We also just learned who will be writing this year’s ceremony. In addition to several names that may or not be pseudonyms for Bruce Vilanch, the team includes comedian Carol Leifer. While she’s written for hit shows like Saturday Night Live, Modern Family, The Larry Sanders Show, and most recently, Hacks, a lot of us first became aware of her because of Seinfeld.

Leifer was Emmy-nominated for her work on Seinfeld, writing six episodes (and working as a story editor on dozens more), including classics like “The Rye.

Bruce Vilanch may boast a pair of Emmys, an iconic tenure on Hollywood Squares and a closet filled with some of the horniest T-shirts ever printed, but his most impressive superlative is one that’s eluded the likes of Tom Cruise, Sarah Jessica Parker and the entire nation of Costa Rica: Taking a South Park joke in stride.

Last Wednesday, the well-humored writer took a break from this year’s awards season, dropping by the Oscars subreddit for an Ama. “Ask me about the Oscars, Hollywood’s best (and worst) moments, or my long, strange career,” he wrote. “Start dropping questions now, and I’ll answer them tomorrow!”

As film buffs flocked to the comments with inquiries about their favorite award shows, Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown and Vilanch’s favorite Oscars joke — a Pocahontas-themed fart gag he wrote for Whoopi Goldberg — Redditor strokesfan...

Memo to the potential winners: Be more like Halle Berry and less like James Cameron.

The calendar tells us that a new year is dawning, and we know what that means: The two-month-long awards show avalanche is upon us, beginning with Sunday’s Golden Globes. And with awards come acceptance speeches. They go together like salt and pepper, ketchup and burgers, Beavis and Butt-head. Those speeches come in all shapes and sizes depending on the winner doing the accepting. They can be long, they can be short, they can be full of gratitude and meaning. They can be powerful or they can be interminable, or something in-between.

There is an undeniable finesse essential to delivering an effective and impactful acceptance speech. Yet, there is no specific playbook to learn the do’s and don’ts. That leads to speeches being wildly unpredictable. It can be 16-year-old Patty Duke uttering a...

Anyone who’s watched television in the past 50 years is likely familiar with the work of Bruce Vilanch, the comedy writer who appeared on Hollywood Squares for four years, and co-wrote the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

One of Vilanch’s biggest contributions to the world of pop culture has been writing for the Academy Awards. After all, where would the Oscars be without one-liners and upbeat musical numbers about Titanic and Good Will Hunting?

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Vilanch began writing for the Oscars way back in 1989, and he eventually became the ceremony’s head writer from 2000 to 2014 — which means that he both began and ended his Oscars career with notoriously disastrous telecasts.

The ‘89 Oscars, as you may recall, found Rob Lowe and an actress dressed as Snow White murdering the legacy of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and arguably the medium of music in general.

Meanwhile, in 2014, the hosting duties fell to Anne Hathaway and James Franco,...

When comedy writer Bruce Vilanch got the four-word pitch from his agent in 1978 — Star Wars Holiday Special — it seemed like a very bad idea. “But I ignored that,” he writes in his upcoming book, It Seemed Like A Bad Idea At the Time: The Worst TV Shows In History and Other Things I Wrote. “Actually, it was no worse than any other bad idea that was being floated around for a pre-Thanksgiving holiday show.”

The Star Wars Holiday Special, however, was a notoriously bad idea. Vilanch takes his fair share of the blame. After all, "it was 1978. There were a lot of chemical additives circulating.” But he also points to George Lucas as a reason the special turned out to be outrageously terrible. Lucas had written outlines for several Star Wars tales, most of which he’d planned to make into movies. A few stories were committed to other media,...

At the 74th Academy Awards, held to honor the films of 2001, Peter Jackson's fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was nominated for a whopping 13 awards, including Best Picture. It ultimately won four Oscars, signaling that fantasy films were now considered major prestige fare; traditionally, the Oscars have been drawn to biographies, histories, and dramas of a personal nature. For the purposes of this article, I will remind readers that "Fellowship" lost its award for Best Original Song to "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc." The "Fellowship" song was a wispy, dream folk-like lullaby called "May It Be," written by Nicky Ryan, Roma Ryan, and noted dream-rock chanteuse Enya. 

The televised Oscar ceremony that year was hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, and she brought the right balance of reverence and irreverence to the evening. The show was directed by Louis J. Horovitz and sported 18 credited writers,...

Matthew Byars, who appeared on Bravo reality show The Real Housewives of Potomac, died by suicide, it has been confirmed.

The Sun newspaper in the U.S. first reported a statement from Maryland’s Chief Office of Medical Examiner, adding that the autopsy report had been completed. Deadline has now independently verified the statement.

The Medical Examiner said the manner of death was suicide and the cause “multiple blunt force injuries.”

Byers died Thursday 21 November, aged 37.

Related: Bravo’s ‘The Real Housewives Of Potomac’ Pays Tribute To Matthew Byars

He made his debut on the show during Season 3 of the show, where he was introduced as star Karen Huger’s talent manager, and she introduced him on the show as part of her management team.

Deadline previously reported that Byars appeared in Huger’s infamous “press conference” in Season 3 of the reality series, during which she attempted to clear up rumors about her financial situation.

There are tons of titles to binge on the horror streamer, but our expert has picked out seven can’t-miss series.

Spooky season may be over, but that’s never the case at Shudder. This Friday, Nov. 15, the horror streamer will premiere the first two episodes of “The Creep Tapes,” a miniseries continuation of the acclaimed found footage franchise starring Mark Duplass. The six-episode series will continue releasing new episodes through Dec. 13, but if you’re looking to continue the tricks and treats during your subscription, there are plenty of other great shows to check out, from supernatural thrillers to drag competitions.

Beat the Christmas creep and check out the best series currently available to stream on Shudder!

7-Day Free Trial $6.99+ / month amazon.com Top 7 Series Streaming Right Now on Shudder:

No. 7: Queer for Fear

No. 6: Channel Zero

No. 5: The Terror

No. 4: Trickster

No. 3: The Last Drive-In

No.

Legendary comedian and Emmy Award-winning writer Bruce Vilanch unveils behind-the-scenes secrets of the Academy Awards in his exciting new podcast, Oscars: What Were They Thinking?! Co-hosted by the screenwriter of the cult-hit Ryan Reynolds comedy Just Friends, Adam 'Tex' Davis, the show dives into the history and controversies of the Oscars, tackling the puzzling decisions that have left audiences scratching their heads for decades.

Listeners can expect to explore jaw-dropping revelations, such as how two of the Top 100 American Films of All-Time were overlooked for nominations in the same year; or, why the film frequently hailed as the “Greatest Film of All Time” didn’t take home the Oscar. From the shocking wins to the baffling snubs, Vilanch and Davis dissect iconic moments in Oscar history, questioning how the Academy arrived at their decisions for better or worse.

"I’ve spent a third of my life writing for the Oscars,...

Vincent J. Roth has announced he’s returning as Surge in the third of his Surge Of Power movies. For those unaware, these things are highly campy low-budget superhero capers starring Roth’s character, which he claims is the first out gay superhero (we’ll take his word)…plus a variety of veteran actors with cult fanbases. The lineup for Surge Of Power: When There’s Smoke includes Nichelle Nichols (“Star Trek: The Original Series”) in one of her final performances, Robert Picardo (“Star Trek: Voyager”), Joseph Culp (“Fantastic Four”), Shannon Farnon (“Super Friends”), Michael Gray(“Shazam!”) and Bruce Vilanch (“Hollywood Squares”), all of whim were in the previous films. They’ll be joined this time by Tim Russ (“Star Trek: Voyager”), Sam J. Jones (“Flash Gordon”) and John Davey (Shazam!). Roth’s latest premiered at the Tarzana International Film Festival in August 2024, and he’s planning a three-city screening tour next.

Attention Oscar addicts: Bruce Vilanch is sharing secrets from his 14-year tenure as head writer of the Academy Awards on a new podcast.

On The Oscars: What Were They Thinking?, Vilanch and co-host Adam “Tex” Davis will revisit some of the most controversial chapters from nearly a century of Oscars history. Many of those controversies will be covered from Vilanch’s backstage perch as the telecast’s top scribe.

The first two episodes debut Nov. 11. A trailer teasing the season was released today.

“If you don’t count sore feet, relatives or politics, the Oscars are the most complained-about thing in America,” Vilanch tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Some of these complaints are as old as the awards themselves, which means people have been bitching for a hundred years. Here is a place where you can relive all of your favorite moments of righteous indignation and find out what really caused them.

Clifford Bell, the cabaret impresario, director and producer affectionately known as “Lawrence of Cabarabia,” died Sunday of natural causes at Cha Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, publicist Steve Moyer announced. He was 67.

“Clifford Bell was a force of nature!” Moyer said in a statement. “He lived and breathed music every day of his life to the very end.”

A 40-year show business veteran, Bell wrote and directed variety performances featuring the likes of Walter Cronkite, Colin Powell and Michael Eisner at the Honda Center in Anaheim and toured with Katey Sagal and her band.

As a cabaret director, he helmed shows for singers Gregg Marx, Todd Murray, Lois Bourgon, Carol Whitener, Joanne Tatham, Bonnie Gilgallon, Lauren White, Quinn Johnson, Chase Masterson, Lee Lessack, Bobbie Norman and Katrina Aguilar.

He produced albums for singers Betsyann Faiella, Eileen Barnett and Judy Butterfield and directed one-person shows starring Beth Lapides, Joan Hotchkis, Juliette Marshall,...

“The Bear” cleaned up at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, just not in the final category as so many experts predicted. And “Shōgun” proved more vulnerable than expected, not winning a single Emmy until two hours and 20 minutes into the show.

Below, the 7 biggest unexpected moments of the night.

Billy Crudup Beats Tadanobu Asano and Takehiro Hira from “Shōgun”

Yes, Crudup won this category in 2020 for “The Morning Show,” but that was in the pre-“Shōgun” times. And considering Crudup was up against two other “Morning Show” cast members, Mark Duplass and Jon Hamm, it seemed likely that that voters would split the vote among the three of them, opening up a potential path to victory for Tadanobu Asano from “Shōgun” — or his cast mate Takehiro Hira. In the end, voters more likely split the “Shōgun” vote, clearing the way for Crudup’s second win.

Billy Crudup as Cory Ellison...

Exclusive: Everyone knows Studio 54, the iconic New York nightclub that flourished in the 1970s. But the West Coast claimed its own magnetic hotspot in that era – a place that attracted celebrities and the gay community for a wild time of dancing, drinking and debauchery.

Studio One Forever, directed by Marc Saltarelli, documents a discotheque and cabaret that welcomed the likes of Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Elton John, and Chita Rivera, future notables like writer Bruce Vilanch, and hot young things in skimpy shorts. Gravitas Ventures today announced it has acquired North American distribution rights for the documentary, with plans to release it theatrically in Los Angeles on September 13 and on VOD beginning October 8. Watch the film’s trailer below.

The film includes new interviews with Melissa Rivers, Roslyn Kind, Lance Bass, Thelma Houston and more “as they recount their experiences at Studio One, and what...

While it’s far too early to speculate on what movies will be nominated at next year’s Oscars (Dune: Part Two? Madame Web? A straight-to-streaming Sharknado sequel starring the Hawk Tuah girl?), the Academy has already been actively trying to lock down a host. Reportedly, Jimmy Kimmel and John Mulaney have been offered the gig, but both have turned it down.

This is especially disappointing news for Mulaney fans, who have been clamoring for him to host ever since he killed at the Academy’s Governors Awards and delighted the crowd at last year’s Oscars, when he presented the award for Achievement in Sound and reminded us all of the magic of the movies how downright goofy Field of Dreams really was.

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Despite the widespread push for Mulaney to host the Oscars, Mulaney himself has remained fairly noncommittal on the issue. Just last month Variety asked him...

Leslie Jordan will soon have an award named after him.

The late actor, who died at age 67 on Oct. 24, 2022, will be honored with an inaugural Leslie Jordan Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hollywood Museum on June 25. The posthumous prize, which will be accepted by producer and longtime Jordan pal Del Shores of the Del Shores Foundation, will be presented during a special event to mark the debut of the museum’s queer tribute exhibit, the 11th annual Real to Reel: Portrayals and Perceptions of LGBTQ+ in Hollywood. Also on the bill that night will be a special comedy performance by gay icon Bruce Vilanch along with speakers including Shores, Ann Walker and Emerson Collins.

Expected attendees also include Hollywood Museum founder and president Donelle Dadigan, Young & the Restless star Kate Linder, Lee Purcell, Jeremy Miller, Alice Amter, Kathy Kolla, Rico E. Anderson, Tyrone DuBose, Eve Richards, Melissa Niece Smith, Gary Lane,...

Although it took Nathan Lane nearly a decade to publicly embrace his truth, he had some great allies behind the scenes.

As the actor was honored with the Career Achievement Award at the Critics Choice Association’s inaugural Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television this month, he recalled how his late friend and The Birdcage co-star Robin Williams would “protect me whenever he could” at a time when Lane wasn’t ready to come out as gay publicly.

“I had marched in Pride Parades in the late seventies, but nobody had ever expressed interest in my sexuality,” said Lane in his speech, according to People.

He explained that he came out to his family at age 21 and was even out to his “friends and colleagues in the business” before he was first asked about his sexuality by a theater journalist “way back in 1989.”

Noting that when he “began playing gay roles,...

In the opening section of Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution, you might be forgiven for thinking this is an extended Pride Month promo to breathe new life into Netflix’s 2022 special, Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration. But in a Q&a following the rousingly received opening-night screening at the Provincetown Film Festival, director Page Hurwitz clarified the chicken-and-the-egg situation, explaining that she produced the event at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, which assembled 22 prominent queer comics on the same bill, as a foundational building block for this documentary surveying the rich history of LGBTQ+ comedians.

At a time when a new generation of queer comics from across the sexual and gender identity spectrum has emerged into what appears to be a thriving scene, this is an invaluable primer on the many performers who kicked down resistant doors to make today’s greater representation possible.

Even if it only served as...

The documentary “Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution” is set to premiere globally on June 18 on Netflix. The feature-length documentary, the first of its kind to address this topic, examines the history of queer stand-up comedy as — according to its logline — “an instrument for social change over the past five decades, actively reflecting and challenging cultural norms and values.”

The film combines stand-up performances and talking head interviews, as well as archival materials featuring LGBTQ+ comedians, and includes Lily Tomlin, Sandra Bernhard, Wanda Sykes, Suzy Izzard, Hannah Gadsby, Tig Notaro, Rosie O’Donnell, Margaret Cho, Bob The Drag Queen and Trixie Mattel.

Historians interviewed for the documentary include Dave Holmes, Roger Mason, Shar Jossell, Susan Stryker and Kate Aurthur, Variety‘s Editor-at-Large.

“Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution” is written and directed by Page Hurwitz. “I’m excited for the film to premiere, particularly at this time, because comedy has the power to unite, and...

20th Century Fox wasn’t sure what it had in Star Wars, and apparently, neither did George Lucas. The director was building up his company, Lucasfilm, and unleashed his secret weapon: Charley Lippincott. He whipped people into a previously unknown frenzy by working the fans at science fiction and comics conventions. He saw to it DelRey had the novelization out months before the film, as well as three of the six-issue comics adaptation from Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin at Marvel. These people were lined up for day one, and the word of the month spread so fast that it endured throughout the summer of 1977.

Before the Special came the finale from The Donny and Marie Show, which Donny discusses on the documentary.

As we learn in the wonderfully entertaining A Disturbance in the Force, a 90-minute documentary from directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak, despite all his statements saying he had everything planned out,...

The story of the bizarre Star Wars Holiday Special remains more riveting than the actual product. Now, the documentary A Disturbance in the Force explores one of the most controversial and peculiar moments in fandom, and what led to this variety special being made in the first place. Directors Steve Kozak and Jeremy Coon leave no stone unturned, as they provide an informative and entertaining platform to hear the thoughts of fans, public figures, and the actual people who worked on this oddball project.

Whisper Star Wars to anyone, and it's likely to ignite debate and arguments about which is the worst film, who destroyed the franchise, and so forth. After all, there's a reason people say, "No one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans." However, the original sin -- the piece of media that offended the fandom for the first time -- was CBS' Star Wars Holiday Special,...

Chicago – A long time ago (1978) in an America far far away, the one and only showing of the “Star Wars Holiday Special” took place on CBS-tv. Infamously miscast and difficult to watch, the history of the show is chronicled in a new doc “A Disturbance in the Force,” co-directed by Jeremy Coon and Steven Kozak.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

In 1977, “Star Wars” became a cultural phenomenon that single-handedly revitalized a stagnant film industry, and forever changed how films were sold, made, and marketed. On November 17th, 1978, CBS aired the two-hour “Star Wars Holiday Special” and was watched by 13 million people. It never re-aired and is considered one of the worst shows to ever be broadcast on national TV. “A Disturbance in the Force” co-directors Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak combine celebrity insight – including Seth Green, Donny Osmond and Kevin Smith – archival/participant interviews and broadcast history perspective to understand why this show was created.

Los Angeles — November 17, 2023 (Life Day) — September Club and Giant Pictures bring home A Disturbance In The Force on December 5 from a galaxy far far away to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the most infamous story in the history of Star Wars. The acclaimed documentary made its debut at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival and chronicles the making of the bizarre (and buried) Star Wars Holiday Special as well as a specific bygone era of 1970s event television. Discover the “hilarious secrets behind Star Wars’ iconically awful Holiday Special” (The Daily Beast) when A Disturbance In The Force arrives on digital platforms, DVD, and Blu-ray on December 5 via Giant Pictures.

From the filmmakers behind Napoleon Dynamite and Raiders! The Story Of The Greatest Fan Film Ever Made, comes A Disturbance In The Force, the documentary about the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. In 1977, “Star Wars” became a cultural phenomenon that single-handedly revitalized a stagnant film industry,...

Why did George Lucas allow the Star Wars Holiday Special to take place? A Disturbance in the Force does a deep dive into the 1978 special watched by millions and then locked away in a vault, never to be screened again.

“After almost 45 years of being the butt of jokes, we had to unlock all the secrets behind the Holiday Special. Its influence on pop culture has only increased over the last two decades and, also, add the fact that it is a part of the Star Wars filmography – and a hidden one at that – only adds to its mystique. Now is finally the time after all these years to get answers about how the Holiday Special happened,” explained co-directors and producers Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak.

A Disturbance in the Force features interviews with Seth Green, Weird Al Yankovic, Paul Scheer, Taran Killam, Patton Oswalt, and Donny Osmond. Plus, Gilbert Gottfried,...

The story behind the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special is the focus of the documentary A Disturbance in the Force, which — following its premiere at Sundance earlier this year — will head to streaming and DVD this December.

The ill-fated special, which aired Thanksgiving weekend in 1978, is now legend: Fresh off the success of Star Wars, George Lucas was talked into capitalizing on the craze in the form of a holiday-themed TV special, but what resulted was a “Life Day” celebration that hued closer to a Seventies variety show than The Mandalorian.

Star Wars fans will truly get to feel A Disturbance in the Force when a documentary about the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special — which debuted 45 years ago today, on CBS — is released.

Having premiered back in March at the SXSW Film Festival, A Disturbance in the Force will be released on digital and Blu-ray on Tuesday, Dec. 5, our sister site Variety reports. The 86-minute docu will also play in select theaters across the U.S. ahead of its digital release.

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Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon - Part One” Trailer Gets Debut

Netflix wrapped up this year’s virtual Geeked Week with the debut of the official trailer for Zack Snyder’s “Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire.”

The epic space opera is centered on Kora, a stranger with a mysterious past who crash lands on a moon in the furthest reaches of the universe and begins a new life among the peaceful settlement of farmers. But soon, she becomes their only hope for survival against the tyrannical Regent Balisarius and the Imperium army.

Watch the trailer for “Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire” below:

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The question asked back in the ’80s and ’90s was never, “Have you seen The Star Wars Holiday Special?” It was always, “Have you heard of The Star Wars Holiday Special?”

We’re talking about a 1978 air date, after all. Someone must have owned a Vcr, since bootleg copies of the maligned variety show do exist on the Internet (George Lucas has vehemently denounced the project and even Disney has refused to release a “clean” copy beyond putting the animated segment “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee” on Disney+.) But its existence was akin to legend back then. Just knowing was enough to be cool with details being learned rather than experienced.

So it’s shocking that it’s taken until 2023 to finally receive a “definitive” look at its creation and eventual lambasting. Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak’s A Disturbance in the Force thus seems almost like a miracle...

Alec Guinness, George Lucas in The Making of Star Wars Image: Screenshot/YouTube Every Star Wars fan has a favorite Disney+ TV series, including titles like Andor and The Mandalorian, and nearly every fan has a “least favorite” to show hate-watch (we’re looking at you The Book Of Boba Fett...

Just as the Coca-Cola company, after smudging a perfect product in 1985 with the New Coke, brought that product back and called it Coca-Cola Classic, the 95th Academy Awards telecast made a game attempt to rectify the mishaps of the past few years — the ratings slippage, the pared-down-like-a-skeleton-in-a-train-station 2021 edition, the debacle of The Slap — by bringing back something that we might call Oscar Classic. It was safe, it was familiar, it was tasteful, it was reassuring. It didn’t rock the boat, it didn’t overstay its welcome, and it left you feeling that the world’s preeminent awards show, all doom-saying punditry to the contrary, is still, on balance, a very good thing.

It was clear that the evening would be ruled by a certain traditional spirit as soon as you heard Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue, which featured a mild reference to The Slap and one joke that got...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was Star Wars… and only Star Wars. Oh, you could buy a novelization of George Lucas’ cosmic saga of good and evil, as well as a Marvel Comics’ adaptation of the film that kept the post-Death Star story going in… some very singular ways. (Pour one out for the giant green space-rabbit Jaxxon T. Tumperakki.) Eventually, there were toys — so, so many toys — as well as soundtrack albums, coffee-table books of concept art, and loads of other merchandise. But...

There are few if any pieces of "Star Wars" lore quite as infamous as that of the elusive "Star Wars Holiday Special." The made-for-tv special, produced at the height of the franchise's initial wave of popularity after "A New Hope" hit theaters, was created with the cooperation of George Lucas and aired on CBS. But it aired once and only once, gaining a reputation as notoriously terrible -- so much so that Lucas did his best to wipe its memory from the face of the Earth. Now, a pair of filmmakers have chronicled the journey of the train wreck that is the "Star Wars Holiday Special" in a new documentary titled "A Disturbance in the Force."

The documentary is making its premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas this week after years of development. It features interviews with many, many people involved, as well as noted fans of a galaxy far,...

There are times when you look back at pop culture phenomena and can’t resist the urge to ask: Can you believe this actually happened? Tackling a notorious fiasco in one of the galaxy’s most popular franchises, Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak’s amusing and exhaustive documentary ”A Disturbance in the Force” unpacks 1978’s “Star Wars Holiday Special.”

You don’t have to be an obsessive “Star Wars” fan to enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at how the special — which premiered Nov. 17, 1978 on CBS, and has never been re-run on any broadcast or cable outlet — came to exist. To be sure, the fans will appreciate it a lot more than casual viewers. But it’s also an irresistible hoot for anyone with fond memories of star-studded 1970s musical/variety TV specials — a specific type of highly popular general audience entertainment that, truth to tell, very often showcased more campy excess...

“Star Wars” could stand to come off its high horse a little bit. Other than the recent “Andor,” which actually did break new ground, the franchise has become stunningly obsessed with itself, regurgitating obscure lore, planting callbacks and cameos everywhere, and generally living in the past.

One of the bits of “Star Wars” arcana that especially pops up? The “Star Wars Holiday Special,” the 1978 CBS catastrophe that’s the ultimate example of exploiting franchise IP into oblivion. The definitive “so bad it’s good” fetish object, the two-hour special introduced Boba Fett as a character to the saga and continues to influence stories to this day — the prong-like rifle sometimes used by Mando on “The Mandalorian” came from the special — even as George Lucas and Lucasfilm famously suppressed it. Lucasfilm even produced its own “Lego Star Wars Holiday Special” in 2020.

The most shocking thing about Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak...

If you’re a Gen X or “geriatric” millennial Star Wars fanatic, you probably have a story related to the contortions you had to go through to get your hands on the notorious only-aired-once 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special.

Freshman year. My college roommate Andrew brought back a bootleg tape — there has never been a legitimate release — given to him by a guy who knew a guy at his regular comic shop. We watched with breathless anticipation that turned to quizzical horror — a generational rite of passage.

Today, you can go to YouTube and take your pick from among several Star Wars Holiday Special uploads, at least one of which has remained up for seven years and has 3.6 million views. So much for taboo. So much for resourcefulness. So much for magic.

Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak’s new documentary A Disturbance in the Force captures a lot of what was...

Get ready for the unbelievable, untold story of... how and why did the "Holiday Special" get made. Yes, that bizarre, disastrous, infamous Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978. A Disturbance in the Force is a nerdy documentary premiering at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival this month in the Documentary Spotlight section. Produced by mega Star Wars nerd Kyle Newman, the film is an investigation into the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special telling the behind-the-scenes story of how it got made. Featuring appearances by Seth Green, Weird Al Yankovic, Paul Scheer, Taran Killam, Gilbert Gottfried, Bonnie Burton, Bruce Vilanch, and Steve Binder. "Travel back to a galaxy far, far away — the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. Dive into the mystery of how it happened and why 45 years later it has become, much to the chagrin of George Lucas, the ultimate cult classic among Star Wars fans." This sounds like it'll be a blast...