Comedy Central Roast
| Comedy Central Roast | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 5 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Comedy Central |
| Release | August 10, 2003 – present |
The Comedy Central Roasts are a series of celebrity roast specials which air on the Comedy Central cable network.
History
Between 1998 and 2002, Comedy Central produced and televised the annual roasts of the New York Friars' Club. After the original five-year agreement expired, the network instead began making their own roasts in the same spirit.[1] The first, featuring roastee Denis Leary (and produced by Leary's production company, Apostle), aired on August 10, 2003. The roast was the most watched non-South Park program in the channel's history.[2]
Roasts
Denis Leary
The Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary was first broadcast on August 10, 2003. The roastmaster was Jeff Garlin.
It featured performances and roasts by Jim Breuer, Mario Cantone, Lenny Clarke, Doctor Dre, Dane Cook, Nick DiPaolo, Adam Ferrara, Michael J. Fox, Peter Gallagher, Don Gavin, Gina Gershon, Gilbert Gottfried, Ed Lover, Joe Mantegna, Conan O'Brien, Colin Quinn, Rene Russo, Jon Stewart, and Christopher Walken.
Jeff Foxworthy
The Comedy Central Roast of Jeff Foxworthy was first broadcast on March 20, 2004. The roastmasters were his close personal friends from Blue Collar Comedy Tour and Blue Collar TV: Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Larry the Cable Guy.
He was roasted by Nick DiPaolo, Lisa Lampanelli, Greg Giraldo, Colin Quinn, Denis Leary, Jay Mohr, Steve Bridges as U.S. President George W. Bush, Christian Finnegan, Gilbert Gottfried as Jeff's cow, Heidi Klum, Patrice Oneal, Anna Nicole Smith, and G.E. Smith. The hip-hop group B.A.M.A. also performed their cover of "Sweet Home Alabama"
Pamela Anderson
The Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson was first broadcast on August 14, 2005. Joel Gallen was the program's Executive Producer; Aaron Matthew Lee was the Head Writer. Anderson was roasted by Jimmy Kimmel, who was the roast master, as well as Courtney Love, Adam Carolla, Bea Arthur, Nick DiPaolo, Greg Giraldo, Elon Gold, Eddie Griffin, Lady Bunny, Lisa Lampanelli, Tommy Lee, Jeffrey Ross, Sarah Silverman, Andy Dick as her plastic surgeon, and David Spade. Her "date" to the event was a man dressed as a carrot, to promote People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The carrot was played by Los Angeles yoga teacher, James Brown.[citation needed]
William Shatner
The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner was first broadcast on August 20, 2006. His roast was Executive Produced by Joel Gallen, with Aaron Matthew Lee serving as Head Writer.
Jason Alexander acted as roastmaster with Andy Dick as the "love child" of James Kirk and Spock, Farrah Fawcett, Greg Giraldo, Lisa Lampanelli, Artie Lange, Nichelle Nichols, Patton Oswalt, Kevin Pollak, Jeffrey Ross, George Takei, Betty White, and Fred Willard performing the roasting duties. Special, pre-taped, guest appearances were made by Leonard Nimoy, Sandra Bullock, Ben Stiller, Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Kimmel, and Clint Howard. The Leonard Nimoy sequence which originally opened the broadcast on Comedy Central (Nimoy and Shatner were shown having an argument over the phone) was omitted from the DVD release, while many pre-taped sequences and jokes told during the roast itself were added back in after originally being cut.
Many celebrities were shown prominently in the audience, including Adrian Zmed, David Carradine, Brent Spiner, Jeri Ryan, Rene Auberjonois, Rosalind Chao, Mark Valley, Carrie Fisher, Ted Danson, country music star Brad Paisley, Reno 911! stars Cedric Yarbrough and Niecy Nash, and stand-up comedian Brian Posehn. Women dressed as green Orion slave girls can be clearly seen tending bar.
The tagline for this roast was: "The Shat hits the fan."
The Roast was nominated for a 2008 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special.
Flavor Flav
The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav originally aired on August 12, 2007. It was hosted by comedian Katt Williams. The Roasters were Ice-T, Jimmy Kimmel, Snoop Dogg, Greg Giraldo, Patton Oswalt, Lisa Lampanelli, Jeffrey Ross, Carrot Top, Sommore, and Brigitte Nielsen. Celebrities such as the cast of Flavor of Love, Ron Jeremy, Nicole Austin (CoCo), and Chyna were in the audience.
The roast was produced by Joel Gallen.
Bob Saget
The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget was announced on June 26, 2008[3] and is going to air on August 17, 2008.[4]
It was announced on July 14, 2008 that Saget's Full House co-star John Stamos would be the roastmaster. It was also announced that Susie Essman, Greg Giraldo, Artie Lange, Jim Norton, Tracy Morgan, and Jeffrey Ross would be among the roasters.[5]
References
- ^ Frank DiGiacomo (2003-10-12). "Jack Carter, Smothers Brothers at Rip-Roaring Friars Roast". New York Observer. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ "Comedy Central Milestones". Comedycentral.com. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/cc_insider/2008/06/comedy-centra-1.html
- ^ http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/roast_saget/index.jhtml
- ^ Matt Tobey (2008-07-14). "BREAKING: John Stamos Announced as Bob Saget Roast Master!'". ccinsider.comedycentral.com. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
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