Welcome back to hot takes and deep dives.

And my next guest is one of the most sought-after comedy writers in the industry.

He has written lines for Bet Midler, Rosie O'Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robin Williams,

just to name a few.

His new collection of essays, it seemed like a bad idea at the time, chronicles his biggest

flop projects.

Hi, Bruce Valanche.

Hi there. I just mentioned, I've been seeing you and following your whole career since I was a literal child living on Long Island. And you always had a

signature look, which was this very like Muppet like hair. You had a big bushy beard.

And of course, like at one point it was like, oh, he doesn't, he straightened his hair and he shaved his facial hair.

What was the impetus for changing that signature look?

Well, first, the beard came off for hairspray, the musical, where I played Edna

Turnblad, and I could not talk them into a bearded lady.

They said, that's a little too, John Waters.

I said, the audience would buy it's a man playing a woman in this relationship, but they

won't buy that he's playing a woman with a hormone problem.

So the beard went after 32 years.

And the hair, I don't know, I started taking some medications that straightened my hair by,

you know, as a side effect.

And people kept saying, dude, you're going to that Japanese hair straightening place?

You know, but I said, no, it was always curly.

And then whatever this combination of drugs I'm on, it straightened it.

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