Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner (1 Viewer)

[RyanAn]

It's that time of year again, when people laugh and cry at the expense of others and get away scott free. Tonight at 10, watch the verbal emmasculation of television great William Shatner on Comedy Central.


With reports of Andy Dick offering people cocaine off camera and the fact that Lisa Lampenelli will be roasting again - it is a must see for me.

ry

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I'll probably watch it twice, tonight and then the uncensored version next weekend during Secret Stash.

Always up for a good roast.

 

[Brent M]

If it's anywhere near as funny as the Pamela Anderson roast this should be good.

 

[RyanAn]

"Then I looked up the origins of Shatner, it's Yiddish and it comes from Shitner."

"When you came out of the closet did the door go "fssssst?"

With vets like Jeffrey Ross and Betty White - there was a definately a classic Roast feel to this addition, I loved it.

12 Roasters and 4 guest stars? Seems a little light... I only wish Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel could have come back... At least they did that taped thing. Oh and Denis Leary would have been awesome!

George Takai was on fire - I had no idea he or at least his writers were so funny. The look on Bill's face was priceless. "Is he for real? Betty, check my colostomy bag!"

Lisa Lampenelli is once again that star of the show. HOLY CRAP!

"When I heard you were hosting, I thought the roast would be cancelled before they got to me."


"Seriously, Kevin Pollack - how does that happen?"

"Andy Dick is so gay... he thinks Margaret Cho is funny." - I love Cho!

"For the last time... I won't let you suck...!"

"If this were an episode of Star Trek, you'd be wearing a red shirt and would of been killed off by now."

Fairly good show overall, I cracked up something fierce.

ry

 

[Greg.K]

Farrah Fawcett was her usual train wreck, and George Takei laughed way too hard at every. single. gay joke. Andy Dick licking people is going to haunt my nightmares.

Other than that I thought it was ok.

 

[Raasean Asaad]

*Holding up a paper bag*

Can you act your wayout of this for me? Too funny...

 

[Scott-S]

These roasts seem to be getting meaner to me. I was feeling bad for Farrah. I am sure it must be hard for her to hear how "ugly" she is, knowing that she used to be a supermodel.

Have roasts always been about roasting everyone on stage? I thought it was to roast the guest.

It was definitely funny. They just seemed more mean spirited.

 

[Todd K]

What a waste that was -- they edited out the greats like Fred Willard, Nichelle Nichols, and Kevin Pollack, and kept those worthless comedians in. Their jokes were horrible. That Lisa Lampanelli or whatever is the single worst comedian I've ever seen. She couldn't even do her material without reading it word for word from paper.

I would have liked to have seen more of Pollack's material -- I saw him in person a few weeks ago and he did the same exact bit. I hope he actually came up with something original for the roast.

Andy Dick is a freak. Whether that act is real or not, it's still not funny at all. William Shatner deserved a lot better.

 

[Robert Anthony]

Some Roast Rules:

1) Everyone in the room is a target, and you've actually failed in your duties as a roaster if you DON'T hit everyone notable in the room at least ONCE.

2) Not only is it acceptable to read all your jokes off a paper, it's pretty much tradition. Often, you'll have to write a joke on the spot or cross out a joke you had on your list because someone else has covered that area. If you go up with a memorized set and someone before you hit that base, you're gonna look like an asshole by sticking to your patter

3) Roasts are supposed to be mercilessly mean. Shatner got a break in that all roasters were told making jokes about his wife drowning in the pool were off limits. Normally--this wouldn't be the case. As a matter of fact, if this roast were Friar's Club and behind closed doors, not televised, I guarantee you Jeffrey Ross would have done 2 minutes based SOLELY on "Shatner's Dead Wife" jokes.

That said--the roast was so-so. The editing was awful, although in some cases, it WAS needed--Patton Oswalt's set wasn't anywhere near as funny as the editing made it look, which I was surprised at. This should have been right up Oswalt's alley, but making your entire career about being too smart for the room ends up biting you in the ass after awhile.

George Takei nailed his routine. Jeffrey Ross is automatic, and had a pretty nice set. Giraldo led off really well, too. Betty Ross had at least 2 or 3 really genuine gut-laughs in there. Artie Lange got closest to that classic roast feel, not even kissing Shatner's ass at the end and leaving without even shaking hands.

Shatner put it down rather well himself, probably coming with the 2nd best routine all night, just behind Takei's. Lampanelli did pretty well herself. Fawcett was a trainwreck. What little we saw of Nichols was pretty awful. Willard probably got edited because it was dry and tame, because from what was left in was yawn. I think Andy Dick is trying to get himself disinvited from these things, it's gotta be the only explanation for his mindlessly stupid and unfunny performance all night long.

Maybe the editing on the uncensored will be a little different, and the show will be a little improved. I know Artie Lange had more than a few lines excised from his routine for the clean version, I can only imagine it'd be the same for Jeff Ross.

 

[Todd K]

I would have understood if some of the others had to use notes -- they're not professional comedians. Heck, Takei had his material nailed. The only thing I laughed at that Lampanelli said was her joke about being cancelled before she got to go on. Even if Nichols wasn't as funny, her stuff would have been better to see because she knows Shatner.

Maybe I missed the point, but I thought roasts were supposed to be funny. I can't imagine jokes about his dead wife getting laughs.

 

[Robert Anthony]

Jeff Ross used notes. Patton Oswalt brought up like 3 different sheets of paper. Greg Giraldo was reading directly from his paper. Artie Lange did as well, as did Fred Willard. The ones who DIDN'T were reading off a teleprompter like a newscaster. You could actually discern the real comedians from the non-comedians by the fact the comedians were bringing their notes and jokes to the podium with them, and the others were staring straight ahead and reading off the screen.

And yeah, you don't really seem familiar with Roasts. Roasts are supposed to be funny, but it's not like regular stand-up. It's off-limits brutal, or it's supposed to be. Vicious and mean and just waaaaaaaaaay out there. the outrageousness BECOMES part of the joke. Roasts started getting toned down when Ted Danson showed up at a Friar's Club roast of Whoopi Goldberg in blackface and some of the press was there to write about it--before then, the access wasn't that large. The press, not really understanding how roasts work traditionally, went to town on Danson (to be fair, though, his joke did suck. The implementation, mostly. The idea was actually pretty fair game for a roast, he just pulled it off badly) and people started taming down their Roast subjects.

As famously depicted in "The Aristocrats" Gilbert Gottfried led off his roast of Hugh Hefner, 3 weeks after September 11th--with a September 11th joke. Some booed, some got it, some just freaked out. He then followed up with what most consider is the first public telling of The Aristocrats, bringing it from behind the scenes to out in the open, and killed.

Roasts are where all bets are off. Making fun of Shatner's dead wife probably should have been in-bounds, but then again, because it's being broadcast to people on TV, most of whom might not really get how roasts typically go down, I can understand why they pulled back on that. Plus, Shatner might have made it a condition to allowing the roast.

 

[Todd K]

I think Lampanelli just stood out in my mind because all you saw was the top of her hideous head the whole time. Like she wasn't even into it.

Even if this had taken place in the old days, I don't think anyone who didn't know Shatner would make a joke about his wife. In this case, you're right, they were told not to, but to do so wouldv'e just been bad karma. The wife thing had nothing to do with his lifestyle or career. Unless of course, you believe he murdered her... (Which is a whole 'nother can of worms -- I could have seen some "Rescue 911" jokes coming up.)

 

[Robert Anthony]

LOL, well, I can't argue there. Although there are those that would say the top of Lampanelli's hideous head is her best feature.

(There's a joke just WAITING to spring to life with that setup)

 

[MatS]

"Betty White's so old that the first gameshow she did, the grand prize was fire" - Lisa Lampenelli

LL killed as always (second only to Greg Giraldo)
nuff said

 

[RickER]

Will this be on again. I missed it!

 

[MatS]

in about 20 minutes from now where I am

 

[Beau]

Pretty funny. Giraldo was my favorite of the Tough Crowd gang and didn't dissapoint here. Can't wait to see who CC roast's next.

 

[MarkHastings]

Robert is dead on about how roasts are supposed to go. The meaner, the funnier. All of the comedians understand that the jokes aren't meant to be harmful, that's what makes them fun.

I've made fun of my best friend in ways I could NEVER make fun of those I don't know too well.Actually, it's funny how the more toned down the jokes get, the more mean they actually seem. I mean, the more over the top something is, the less effective it is so some of the 'over the top' jokes actually start to sound mean as compared to the less harmful ones. It's a shame that the rest of the world doesn't have a fuckin' sense of humor.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I missed Recording this I guess I'll have to wait for the eventual Uncensored DVD

 

[MarkHastings]

Dave, it's on all weekend:
http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_sche...seriesId=21005