Comedy Central Roasts

[Mr Silver]

Although I've seen it before, I noticed the other day that the William Shatner roast was up on Netflix. It occured to me quite quickly that most of the people shown laughing on camera appeared to be forcing it - as if nobody really found any of the stuff funny.

Each to their own on the humour front, I personally found it crass, shock jockey and vulgar in places and began to wondered why (other than money) so many people who were "canning" their laughter were in attendance.

Over here in the UK, we briefly flirted with televised roasts last year, but they were incredibly tame in comparison and weren't well received.

Is roasting really popular enough to justify televised events that often get incredibly offensive? Surely this style of comedy is better suited to concert tours?

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I had never seen a full roast until i saw the Shatner one........i had only seen clips of the Dean Martin one's and they seemed quite funny.......but the Shatner one was just.....erm......very unpleasant to watch at times.

At least a charity gets something out of it so that's something positive is suppose.....they tried i few of these over here for UK celebs and although nowhere near as cruel as the Shat one, they did get a bit close....the Davina McCall one were Jack Whitehall stating for the 300th time how she was a Milf but without the abbreviation i just used.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The only CC roast I enjoyed was Denis Leary's. Which was legendary.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Although I've seen it before, I noticed the other day that the William Shatner roast was up on Netflix. It occured to me quite quickly that most of the people shown laughing on camera appeared to be forcing it - as if nobody really found any of the stuff funny.

Shatner's smile as he listened to the jokes looked pretty forced.

 

[FPAlpha]

Although I've seen it before, I noticed the other day that the William Shatner roast was up on Netflix. It occured to me quite quickly that most of the people shown laughing on camera appeared to be forcing it - as if nobody really found any of the stuff funny.

Shatner's smile as he listened to the jokes looked pretty forced.

From what i've seen of some roasts i'd even punch my best friend if he talked to me like that.

There's good natured ribbing and making fun of each other but there's this unspoken rule of not going too far or shooting for weak and vulnerable spots.

I don't find any of these roasts funny and wonder why people do them at all.

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ I heard that Shatner told them that they could say whatever they wanted, but his dead wife who was found in the pool was off limits.

 

[1001001]

I watched the one with Roseanne.

It was pretty good, especially when Tom Arnold showed up.

 

[Starbreaker]

I find them hilarious. Then again, I'm a crass American.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I'm hoping Shatner didn't actually HAVE to remind them to keep his late wife off limits. Lots of the jokes are crass enough as it is. The laughter is often forced, as it was on the Dean Martin roasts, but the older ones didn't feel obligated to be crass. It's as if Comedy Central feels obligated to use the profanity-bleeper or today's kids won't appreciate it.

Betty White and George Takei managed to be foul yet witty in their own ways. Lisa Lampinelli managed to be foul while looking 98 percent of the time at her cue notes....and not just during the Shatner roast. Does she even actually KNOW the roastees? And do they know her? Having only seen her on these roasts, I'm wondering.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Some of my favourite lines...

(while she was alive and ten feet away) "The letter B was named after Bea Arthur."

"And that is why even till this day if you get a hooker to snort cocaine off your penis it's called a Sheenis."

(10 feet away away from Courtney Love, about 5 years ago.) "Courtney love is a trainwreck, hell she looks worse than Kurt Cobain does today."

(Carrie Fisher says) "I was talking to Seth Green before the Show, we have a shared interest, apparently he really likes Star wars, and he tells me, that I was in Star Wars."

and of course...

Patton Oswalt says to Bill Shatner "I was wondering sir if you could settle a bet for me" takes a brown paper bag out of his pocket, opens it, then puts it on the floor between him and Bill "I was wondering if you could try to act your way out of this?"

 

[1001001]

(Carrie Fisher says) "I was talking to Seth Green before the Show, we have a shared interest, apparently he really likes Star wars, and he tells me, that I was in Star Wars."

Seth Green (to Roseanne): "One of my favorite scenes is when Carrie strangled you with a chain in Return of the Jedi."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Part of Denis Leary's rebuttal during his own roast:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZdfOrKMTnA[/yt]

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I find them hilarious. Then again, I'm a crass American.

I am also crass, sometimes beyond belief.

But these modern day roasts are without any of the class the old Dean Martin roasts had.

 

[Dantheman]

^ I heard that Shatner told them that they could say whatever they wanted, but his dead wife who was found in the pool was off limits.

If only the Family Guy writers had that much decorum. That cutaway (and the "Aquaman is useless" one they came up with) were big reasons why I stopped watching that show.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

But these modern day roasts are without any of the class the old Dean Martin roasts had.

Nobody who gets roasted these days has that kind of class. Perhaps nobody *even in show business at all*.

 

[auntiehill]

I find them hilarious. Then again, I'm a crass American.

I am also crass, sometimes beyond belief.

But these modern day roasts are without any of the class the old Dean Martin roasts had.

YES. The old Dean Martin roasts were done by friends of the person; everyone there knew each other and it was like eavesdropping on a group of friends ribbing each other. These Comedy Central roasts seem to be done about celebrities by a group of people that the celebrity has never met, with just a few friends thrown in. It seems to just be a contest of how offensive and over the line the next person can be. It's not fun for me to watch that. It's not my cup of tea.

 

[Mr Silver]

YES. The old Dean Martin roasts were done by friends of the person; everyone there knew each other and it was like eaves-dropping on a group of friends ribbing each other

Agreed,

It was something of a badge of honour in those days. Nowadays, it's without the classiness that made it an honour to be the subject.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Roasts are not supposed to be genuinely mean-spirited. But that's what they are these days.

Now get off my lawn you whippersnappers.

 

[Kadratis]

Lisa Lampanelli will always have a special place in my heart.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Oh bloody hell. As far as insult comics go, she's not even worthy to scrape shit off Don Rickles' shoes.