Comedy Central Roast is a series of celebrity roast specials that aired on the American television channel Comedy Central between 2003 and 2019. The first official Comedy Central Roast premiered on August 10, 2003. As of 2019, seventeen roasts have aired. Targets of roasts have included musicians, actors and comedians. Since 2010, Comedy Central affiliates outside the United States have occasionally produced their own roasts; twelve such roasts have aired so far, in five countries.

History Between 1998 and 2002, the American television channel Comedy Central produced and televised the annual roasts of the New York Friars Club, which the club hosted since 1950.

1998 – Drew Carey, roastmaster Ryan Stiles 1999 – Jerry Stiller, roastmaster Jason Alexander 2000 – Rob Reiner, roastmaster Michael McKean 2001 – Hugh Hefner, roastmaster Jimmy Kimmel 2002 – Chevy Chase, roastmaster Paul Shaffer After the original five-year agreement expired, the network began producing its own roasts in the same spirit. Comedy Central employed the same model, with eight to ten people were invited to each roast one another before finally roasting the titular subject of the roast. Concurrently, the New York Friars Club continued their own Roast.

The first, featuring roastee Denis Leary (and produced by Leary's production company, Apostle), aired on August 10, 2003. His roast was the most watched program in the channel's history, excluding episodes of South Park.

Roastees often identify topics that are off limits. Pamela Anderson, for example, prohibited jokes about her Hepatitis C infection. Joan Rivers disallowed jokes about her daughter Melissa, William Shatner asked that the death of his wife not be mentioned, and Donald Trump prohibited jokes about him not being as wealthy as he claims he is. Others, like David Hasselhoff, have imposed no limits on the topics. Although Charlie Sheen initially agreed to no restrictions on his roast, he later said during an interview with Jay Leno that he requested jokes about his mother be edited out of the broadcast.

The final televised ceremony is a reduced and edited version of what occurred the day of the roast. Often, jokes are removed due to pacing, audience response, and taste. For example, during Sheen's roast, Steve-O made the joke "The last time this many nobodies were at a roast, at least Great White was playing". This was a reference to The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island, that killed 100 people on February 20, 2003. It was removed from broadcast on Steve-O's request. During Denis Leary's roast, Lenny Clarke, a friend of Leary's, said there was a carton of cigarettes backstage from Bill Hicks with the message, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner." This joke was cut from the final broadcast. During Roseanne Barr's roast, Jeff Ross compared fellow roaster Seth Green to James Holmes, the mass murderer responsible for the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, shooting. The joke was not in the broadcast program."Jeff Ross' Aurora Massacre Joke Cut From Roseanne Roast". Rolling Stone. August 6, 2012. During the roast of Justin Bieber, multiple jokes about the passing of Paul Walker, co-star and close friend of fellow roaster Ludacris, were cut from the official broadcast."Comedy Central to Cut Paul Walker Jokes From Justin Bieber Roast Broadcast". Vanity Fair. March 16, 2015.

Roasts

Recurring roasters The table below features any roasters who have appeared on multiple Comedy Central Roasts. As of the Alec Baldwin roast, the most frequent roaster has been Jeff Ross, who has appeared in all but the first two roasts, for a total of 15, and has yet to be a roastmaster. Greg Giraldo has the second-most appearances, with a total of eight roasts from 2005 until his death in 2010 (nine including the 2002 New York Friars Club roast of Chevy Chase). , Seth MacFarlane is the most frequent roastmaster with three consecutive turns in the role. RoasterRoastee   Scheduled performer   Performer who made a surprise appearance RM  Indicates a roastmaster O  Indicates performer's own roast

Venues The following table features the venues where multiple Comedy Central Roasts were filmed. As of the Alec Baldwin roast, the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California has hosted the most roasts, namely the roasts of Pamela Anderson, David Hasselhoff, Charlie Sheen, Justin Bieber, and Rob Lowe. RoastsCityVenueRoastee(s)5Culver CitySony Pictures StudiosPamela Anderson, David Hasselhoff, Charlie Sheen, Justin Bieber, and Rob Lowe3New York CityHammerstein BallroomDenis Leary, Jeff Foxworthy, and Donald Trump 2BurbankWarner Bros. StudiosBob Saget and Larry the Cable Guy Los AngelesCBS Studio CenterWilliam Shatner and Joan RiversHollywood PalladiumRoseanne Barr and Bruce Willis 1Beverly HillsSaban TheatreAlec BaldwinCulver CityCulver StudiosJames FrancoLos Angeles Old Warner Brothers StudioFlavor Flav

Cancelled roasts In 2008, a roast for the musician Willie Nelson was planned to coincide with the release of his box set, One Hell of a Ride, but was ultimately cancelled, according to Jeff Ross.Halperin, Shirley. "Willie Nelson Comedy Central roast is postponed" , Entertainment Weekly, March 11, 2008

A roast for the musician Kid Rock was announced in November 2010 and scheduled for January 2011, but was later replaced by the Donald Trump roast. Rock's roast was rescheduled for August 2011, but was replaced again, this time by Charlie Sheen's roast. Kid Rock agreed to doing the roast if it were filmed in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan, a condition that Comedy Central refused.

International The following roasts aired on international Comedy Central channels:

Country/Region (Channel) Roastee Roastmaster Original air date Africa Steve Hofmeyr Trevor Noah September 24, 2012 Kenny Kunene Jimmy Carr April 28, 2014 Somizi Mhlongo Gareth Cliff May 7, 2018 IN QUOTES: The Roast of Somizi Mhlongo, Enca, 8 May 2018 AKA Pearl Thusi February 21, 2019 Khanyi Mbau Mpho Popps August 8, 2022 Latin America Héctor Suárez Héctor Suárez Gomís May 18, 2013 Gordon Jörgen Raymann December 20, 2016 Giel Beelen Gijs Staverman December 13, 2017 Johnny de Mol Jeroom Snelders December 18, 2018 Ali B Sanne Wallis de Vries December 17, 2019 Hans Klok Henry van Loon December 21, 2021 Famke Louise Dolf Jansen January 16, 2023 Mike King Willy de Wit December 15, 2010 Murray Mexted September 7, 2011 Santiago Segura Alex O'Dogherty May 14, 2014 El Gran Wyoming Andreu Buenafuente July 12, 2015 José Mota Anabel Alonso February 24, 2019

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref 2007 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner

Future Comedy Central went from regularly producing 1 to 2 roasts per year to only producing one roast every 2 to 3 years. The last Comedy Central produced roast occurred in 2019. Since that time, there have been no plans by Comedy Central to bring back the roast format. Instead, Netflix has adopted the format as part of their Netflix Is a Joke Festival, and have hosted two live roasts, one of Tom Brady and one of Kevin Hart.

See also The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast A Comedy Roast Historical Roasts, a spin-off series on Netflix Roast Battle

Notes

References

External links

Most Savage Roasts and Jokes List That Will Shut All Jerks Up