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Rico Gagliano: The other thing you loaded this up with was, as you mentioned, a lot of variety show elements, kind of sketches. I mean, not that the show is artistic - it was a variety special for television - but we thought we were doing something that nobody else would do.īruce Vilanch: And what could you do? Other than really load the thing up with subtitles, and then it would kind of look funny. Like if they could indicate what they were doing just using their bodies… there was a school of thought that this was a great artistic endeavor. Rico Gagliano: Was there any discussion of how insane this was?īruce Vilanch: It seemed like… it was a challenge. Rico Gagliano: Were you there on the set, by the way, for this? Believe me, if they had said, “You’re going to do a show in which the lead characters are the Wookiees, and they speak no known language, and they all sound like people having orgasms,” then I would’ve said, “You’re crazy! You could never do this show!” It was only because it came from George Lucas that the thing happened. Rico Gagliano: Unsubtitled Wookiee grunts.īruce Valance: …You taped me during an interlude in my cabana! īruce Vilanch: Well, it was George’s. Rico Gagliano: The first, I would say, 20 minutes of the show takes place in Chewbacca’s family’s house, where his kid hangs out with Chewbacca’s mom and dad, as you mentioned. Well, that was my nickname at certain points of my life, so naturally I forgot. Chewbacca, Grandpa Chewie - who’s a silver-haired daddy - and little Chewie, Jr.īruce Vilanch: Lumpy? Lumpy, that’s right! I’d forgotten. And while that’s happening, on the Wookiee planet we meet the Wookiee family: Mrs. They are being pursued by Imperial Stormtroopers. So, the story is they have to get him back to the home planet. And I think he thought it would become like “ Festivus for the rest of us.” It presaged “Festivus for the rest of us.” This was a day, I think, George invented. And their goal is to get Chewbacca home to the Wookiee planet in time for Life Day, which is their big annual day on the planet. He’s with Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon. He looks kind of like a Yorkshire terrier on steroids and wears a bandolier. Rico Gagliano: For the many who therefore have not seen this, tell us the plot, such as it is.īruce Vilanch: Well, it’s about the Wookiees and Chewbacca, who, you know, is the very large Wookiee.
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Rico Gagliano: It’s not available on home video.īruce Vilanch: No, has made it his goal to erase it. Rico Gagliano: It aired one time and never again. First of all, Lucasfilm kind of tries to distance itself from the fact that the special ever existed.
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Rico Gagliano: Bruce, you are a hero for agreeing to revisit this dark stain on your resume. He also spent four years as a regular on “The Hollywood Squares” and appeared on Broadway in the musical “Hairspray”. So when Rico spoke to Bruce about “The Star Wars Holiday Special,” he welcomed him like this: He’s had a storied career as a joke writer for performers from Bette Midler to Robin Williams and has six Emmys to his name. In fact, one critic dubbed it “ The Worst Two Hours of Television Ever.” Īmazingly, one of the show’s writers was Bruce Vilanch. The “Star Wars Holiday Special” aired back in 1978, two years after the original “Star Wars” film became the biggest blockbuster of all time.