Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on Hollywood Squares, as a celebrity participant; behind the scenes he was head writer for the show.

[6] Having her own theatrical aspirations, Vilanch's mother helped launch her son's show business career by getting him signed on with Lane Bryant's Charming Chub division as a chubby child model.

"[5] Vilanch is Jewish and attended Hebrew school, was a member of United Synagogue Youth, and had a bar mitzvah ceremony.

Becoming friends, Vilanch later wrote comedy material for Midler's 1974 Broadway show Clams on the Half Shell and co-wrote Divine Madness for her in 1980.

[5] After cancellation of the Brady Bunch show, he went on to write jokes for Lily Tomlin, Billy Crystal, Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell, Paul Reiser, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, and Robin Williams.

[5] When asking him to write material for one of her concert tours, Barbra Streisand offered what Vilanch felt was a "ridiculously low" wage.

Also with Zarr and Morali, Vilanch co-wrote "Sex Over the Phone," a minor hit for the Village People that later became a cult favorite.

Vilanch had a longstanding friendship with Henderson, writing for her one-woman show as well as several of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour episodes in the early 1980s.

[7] Among Vilanch's duties as Oscar writer were coming up with additional jokes for the host based on unexpected events that have occurred during the telecast.

[7] In the 1980s, Vilanch had a few acting appearances, including a bit part in an episode of Bosom Buddies and a brief scene in Breathless with his longtime friend Richard Gere.

[22][23][24] In 2005, Vilanch starred on Broadway as Edna Turnblad in the long-running 2002 musical Hairspray after playing the role for two years in the show's first national stage tour of 2003–6.

[12] Bruce Vilanch's first television appearance as himself was in 1988, when he was interviewed by Chris Aable, the host and producer of the cable show Hollywood Today.

[29] Then in 2012, he played Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Tatyana Ali", an episode of The Eric Andre Show, on Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim.

In 2015, Vilanch played himself in a guest voice role on the Disney XD animated series Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero.

[5] The film included interviews with Bette Midler, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Whoopi Goldberg and grossed $43,000 in the domestic market.

[38] In May 2017, Vilanch hosted the celebrity roast of Michael Musto which raised money for the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center.

The roast which was produced by Daniel DeMello and directed by Rachel Klein, and introduced by Rosie O'Donnell who doubled the amount raised at the benefit.