Billy Van Zandt

Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore are two of the most often-produced playwrights in the world. “These two people are a riot! Direct descendants of the Masters of the Madcap – Groucho and Lucy and even The Stooges – Billy and Jane brought farce to theater comedy in a way no others of their generation dared.” Robert Strauss, NEW YORK TIMES Until Miss Milmore's death in 2020, New Jersey native Billy Van Zandt and Wyoming-born Jane Milmore wrote and starred in twenty-five plays together, including the international hit comedy “You’ve Got Hate Mail”; Off-Broadway’s tribute to slapstick comedy “Silent Laughter;” cult favorite “Drop Dead;” the Marx Bros. musical “A Night at the Nutcracker;” and the summer stock perennial farce “Love Sex, and the I.R.S.” In addition, Billy’s solo play “The Property Known as Garland” starring Adrienne Barbeau broke house records at Off-Broadway’s Actors Playhouse. Their plays have been produced in thousands of theaters worldwide, including two productions directed by Oscar-winner Olympia Dukakis (“Billy and Jane are funny, outrageous, off the charts writer/performers!”), and one by film legend Burt Reynolds. They have been performed by such stars as Eva Longoria, Rashida Jones, Richard Kind, Craig Bierko, Julia Duffy, Nana Visitor, Rose Marie, Barney Martin, and Donny Most. All the Van Zandt/Milmore plays are published by Concord Theatricals (formerly Samuel French, Inc.), and translated into multiple languages around the globe. “You’ve Got Hate Mail” (which won Mexico’s New Best Play) continues to be an ongoing international hit. “Love, Sex, and the I.R.S.” and “Suitehearts” are still running in Warsaw after six years and recently opened in Russia; “Having a Wonderful Time Wish You Were Her” is running in Romania; “Wrong Window” in New Zealand, Germany, and Turkey; and “The Property Known as Garland” ran three years in Warsaw with Polish icon Hanna Sleszynska. For television, these award-winning writers produced over three hundred hours of comedy, including “Newhart;” “Martin” which won them a People’s Choice Award and two NAACP Image Awards; “The Hughleys;” “Suddenly Susan” with Brooke Shields; “Daddy Dearest” with Don Rickles and Richard Lewis; “Anything But Love” with Jamie Lee Curtis; “Bless This House” with Andrew Dice Clay and Cathy Moriarty; “The Wayans Bros.;” “Yes, Dear,” “Center of the Universe” with John Goodman and Jean Smart, and “I Love Lucy: The Very First Show” which won them an Emmy nomination. On the big screen, Billy made his movie acting debut in “Jaws 2,” and has performed with Lucille Ball, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, Tim Hutton, a shark named "Bruce," Mrs. Maisel, That Girl Lay Lay, and the crew of the USS Enterprise. Billy lives in Los Angeles, when he’s not touring the country in the 25th Van Zandt/Milmore play “The Boomer Boys Musical” or visiting the street he grew up on in Middletown, New Jersey, now dedicated as "Van Zandt Way."