By Steve Young

Comedy heavyweight Bruce Vilanch discusses shedding the pounds for VH1's Celebrity Fit Club.

There was an ease and looseness to interviewing Bruce Vilanch about his upcoming enrollment in Celebrity Fit Club (which begins airing on VH1 this month), knowing that I wouldn't have to feign reverence on the subject of VH1's reality show about a fat camp for semi-celebrities. After all, the program seems like precisely the sort of thing Vilanch himself would delight in making fun of. Fortunately, he did exactly that during our phone interview. He was candid about not being a fan of reality television and, on the topic of turning down an opportunity to be on VH1's Surreal Life, joked, "I don't want to fall too far from my center perch on Hollywood Squares," adding, "you couldn't pay me enough to share a bathroom with Charo." He hastens to clarify that he loves Charo though. Phew.

Vilanch's costars on Celebrity Fit Club are in the same league as those who appeared on the show's two prior seasons. Vilanch will be fighting the battle of the bulge with Tempestt Bledsoe (The Cosby Show), Jeff Conaway (Grease, TV's Taxi), Countess Vaughn (The Parkers), Kelly LeBrock ("The Woman In Red"), Young MC (singer, "Bust A Move"), Chastity Bono, and Bizarre (musician from D 12, actor in The Longest Yard).

Vilanch's sharp humor is familiar to audiences of the Tony Awards and Academy Awards, for which he has worked as a writer, as well as audiences of the Broadway musical Hairspray, in which he starred as Edna Turnblad. His gay, blue-state credibility has been complemented by mainstream recognition for his numerous appearances over the years on Hollywood Squares. Amid these credits he's also been a longtime writer for Bette Midler and achieved the pinnacle of Hollywood success: doing a guest-voice as himself on The Simpsons.

Along the way, he's become recognizable for his groovy shoulder-length blond hair, his big eyeglasses, and, of course, his weight. For a while, Vilanch admits, that was something he was hanging on to for professional reasons. "Years ago I was reluctant to lose weight, believing basically that Jerry Seinfeld quote: 'Ten pounds either way and you lose your funny.'"

Nowadays Vilanch's concerns have shifted. But while he is happy with his weight loss so far, he doesn't envision himself becoming a beanpole. "I've lost 25 pounds and I want to continue with that. But I'm always going to be a big guy. I don't think my image will change that much. I'll just be a sleeker version of myself."

Vilanch is forthright about why he said yes to Celebrity Fit Club: "No one's ever paid me to lose weight before." The offer also coincided with his just having completed 778 performances of Hairspray. The demanding nature of his role had already helped him shed some pounds and made him realize that if he wanted to continue with stage work, he'd have to keep them off. So when he got the offer, he thought, "this is God talking."

The show began taping right after Labor Day in September and continued up until the week before Christmas. Vilanch's final weigh-in was to take place soon after our interview, and he was resigned to the fact that his target weight loss of 40 pounds wouldn't be reached, but he added "I had no weight loss goals. Goals didn't work for me. I've never really had them." What has worked for Vilanch is the Zone diet. "Officially, they put us on the 'Fat Smash' diet. For me, it wasn't the most effective thing. The Zone thing really works. It takes care of portion control and calories." He has also combined this with exercise. "I have the legs of a murderess. I've discovered the elliptical, which replicates an acid trip, and I've also gotten into aqua aerobics, which I like because I have knee and ankle issues." He adds with a chuckle, "Which is terribly fascinating, isn't it?"

The reality-show experience had its pros and cons. Upon being asked how he feels about Harvey Walden, the clichéd "tough-as-nails" trainer who's trying to whip the fit-clubbers into shape, Vilanch says, "I actually love Harvey. He has a character that he plays. He's Louis Gossett Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman. When I was having problems with some of the exercises, he thought I was faking it. I wasn't faking it. I was actually pathetic." Vilanch also raved about his fellow co-stars, including Chastity Bono, "whom I've known since before she was born." The only problem that occurred was when one of the cast members had to be shipped off to Betty Ford for rehab, the second time in the series' history that one of them has had alleged substance abuse problems.

So now that Vilanch has come away lighter and richer from CFC, he is at work as a writer for the 2005 Academy Awards. He bristles at the irony that straight off of losing weight, he's writing, a career in which Vilanch says you can be as ugly as you want to be. But in 2006 he will be up onstage again, reprising his role in Hairspray at the Luxor in Las Vegas. His murderess' legs will come in handy for that.