Johnny Carson on Dean Martin Roasts & Holiday Gifts

This is the last post of the semester, so let’s harkon back to one of the funniest roast routines ever.

Johnny Carson was one of the all time greats in Comedy. His “Tonight Show” ran for 30 years and is considered on of the best running shows of all time. His tone and demeanor have been copied by all current late-night shows and his influence is well-cited. He delivers here one of the funniest roasts of all time. His classy style and perfect delivery are hallmarks of his finesse.

Now for some roast themed holiday gifts:

Also, I have found a great resource for those trying to watch roasts in full. You can order the classic Friar’s club roasts online here. These roasts pre-date the Dean Martin roasts and are not available in full on youtube. These should be great and they are on my Christmas list. You can also order the Dean Martin roasts in full here.

How to pick the roasters

A roast is planned. The roastee is chosen. So how are the panel of roasters, or the “dias” is chosen? This is a question many viewers have. And the answer has changed overtime. In the past, during the Dean Martin Roast era, roasters were selected from a tight group of celebrities that, “…knew and liked each other and most of those being roasted in that era had some semblance of being able to fire back insults” (Laughspin). However now it seems the writers on Comedy Central are choosing roasters based on ratings. If you look at a lot of the last Comedy Central Roasts, the celebrities barely know each other have have a lot of stock jokes. They do not have intimate knowledge of the roastee. This is why, I believe, they resort to profanity to try to make the roasts funnier. In the past, the intimate knowledge and tight-knit group of celebrities added enough layers to the comedy.

Here is an article regarding the class of the current roasts that I believe is spot on:

http://www.laughspin.com/2011/06/06/punchline-mag-analysis-do-modern-comedy-roasts-need-more-class/

The Roastmaster General | Jeff Ross

We know Don Rickles was one of the best roasters back in the day, but who is the current top dog? Jeff Ross is considered one of the best roasters today and has a title that proves it. The New York Friar’s Club has named Ross the “Roastmaster General.” In addition he has participated in the last nine Comedy Central roasts and always shows up lesser comedians.

Ross is from New Jersey and is 46 years old. I think a paragraph from his website shows his personality perfectly:

My name is Jeffrey Ross, but I am commonly known as the Roastmaster General. I’m not entirely sure how I got this title, but it has stuck and I am proud of it. Most stand-up comics are self-deprecating. I’m all-deprecating. Sure, I occasionally make fun of myself — but I specialize in making fun of others. I’m what is commonly known as an insult comic. Diss is my life.

 

 

The Rebuttal | Dean Martin Roasts

This video of Dean Martin is a good example of what is called the rebuttal. After a roastee gets roasted, he has the opportunity to go up and get revenge on all of the night’s roasters. Since the whole roasting event is in good fun, it is only fair the roastee gets his or her fair chance to dish some jokes back, right? Add in a little self-deprecating humor and the night ends on a high note. It is also the opportunity for the roastee to show that they are a good sport as well.

The roast in this video was for the Dean Martin himself, the host of his own roasting show. He was a member of the Rat Pack and a variety show host. He was a very popular celebrity during the 1950’s-1970’s considering the multitude of talents he exhibited. He performed at night clubs, created musical recordings, in movies, and on television.

What not to do | The Situation on Donald Trump | Comedy Central Roasts

This is a pure example of how to bomb a roast. Some of the comedians we looked at previously made it look really easy with their finesse. After watching Don Rickles, Jeff Ross, and others you may have thought roasting could be something you want to incorporate in your next business luncheon or family event.

Not so fast. Watch what Mike “The Situation” from the TV show Jersey Shore does in this roast: complete failure. He was naive to think he could just go into it and make fun of the veterans on the stage. He probably should have started with some self-deprecating humor to level himself and to show he does not think he is there because he is a good comedian. In fact, I’m not sure why he was included- maybe because Comedy Central knew he would do so poorly to make the other comedians look better?

History of the Roast

So when did making fun of people become an event in itself? It seems like an odd concept taken at face value, honoring someone by making fun of them. How did this all begin?

Although we do not know for sure when the first roast occurred, they were popularized by the Friar’s Club in the 1920s. The New York Friar’s club is a private club in New York with exclusive membership to celebrities and comedians that was founded in 1904. It first began tributing theatrical celebrities and this eventually came the roasting we know today.

In 1949, Maurice Chevalier, a popular vaudeville actor, became the subject of the likely first real roast. Before this, celebrities had been roasting in a more informal setting. And according to the Friar’s Club Website, “Add on to that the Friars motto, “We only Roast the ones we love” and even the guest of honor is happy.”

Dean Martin began including the roasts as part of his comedic variety show in 1973, and then NBC decided to let him make it into another venture- Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roast specials which aired from 1974-1984.

Comedy Central began airing the Friar’s club roasts from 1998-2002. Then they decided to start compiling their own roasts.

The idea of a roast has been imitated tremendously since they first became popularized.

Sources Used:

http://www.friarsclub.com/friars_story.htm

Jeff Ross on Charlie Sheen | Comedy Central Roasts

Jeff Ross was probably the funniest roaster on the recent roast of Charlie Sheen. This post will outline the features of successful roasts by example:

 

1. He also wears something crazy which also adds to the comedic value of the roast.

2. He begins by commanding the stage and steals the crowd with something hysterical

3. He starts out by roasting  the other roasters. This is key.

4. He takes digs at the roastee’s family situation

5. He makes fun of the subject’s love life

6. He has perfect transitions from making fun of the other roasters and the subject, and goes back and forth so you never get board

7. He involves members of the audience in jokes

8.  He ends on a good note with the roastee

 

 

 

Ben Stiller & Jimmy Kimmel on Jerry Stiller | Comedy Central Roasts

This week we will stray away from the classic Dean Martin roasts and explore a more modern roast on Comedy Central. I think it’s unprecedented that a famous son gets to roast his famous father on television. Jerry Stiller was a mainstay of sitcoms, with roles on Seinfeld, the King of Queens and many movies. His son followed in his footsteps, but the both of them have very different comedy styles. Ben starts out by framing his father as an absentee parent and the punch-lines begin when he says to his day “when you called me at my Bar Mitzvah.” Overall his roasting skills turned out to be pretty weak, and given this was the one chance he had to get his father on TV, it was incredibly disappointing. He had his whole life to think of these jokes, and a frame of reference that no other roaster had. Good thing he wasn’t the only roaster.

Jimmy Kimmel, a late night TV show host, comes in to save the day with his roasting skills. He immediately steals the stage, makes fun of the audience, and continues on with ease. In the old school fashion he goes around and jokes on the other roasters.

Foster Brooks on Don Rickles | Dean Martin Roasts

This week we will look at the roast of the previous week’s roaster, Don Rickles. Rickles, a king of roasting was up to get some of his own venom. Foster Brooks was famous for his portrayal of a drunk and it also made for a great laugh. The first line he struggles with as his “drunkeness” is prohibiting his speech. This type of comedy is priceless because not only are jokes are funny, but his delivery or lack thereof is even funnier. The line “You’re probably wondering what I’m doing up here” said it all. The line about Rickle’s wife was comedic genious.

For those wondering if this is all an act, apparently Brooks rarely drank during his prime. Take a look at this article for more information.

Don Rickles on Ronald Reagan | Dean Martin Roasts

For my first posts, I thought I would start with one of the all time classics that helped to popularize roasts. The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts ran from 1974-1984 on NBC and featured some of the best comedians of all time. Back before profanity was a mainstay of comedy, these roasts represented a time when comedians were inherently funny without using a curse word in every sentence. While the night’s “Man of the hour” was cleverly made fun of by the feature comedians, other celebrities sat around the speaker and added to the aura and comedy by being another target.

Don Rickles was a king of roasting and one of the best insult comics of all time. Born in 1926, Rickles has made a successful career out being the “Merchant of Venom” (his nickname). In this roast, Rickles owns the stage once again, by featuring at the time, Governor Ronald Reagan of California.

He first gets the Governor’s name wrong and acts like he does not care at all, then he quickly moves to an audience member who he lambasts. He later goes on a serious rant about the greatness of our country and when he gets to the peak he looks at Dean Martin and says “I say this from my heart, you have a problem” (referring to Dean’s drinking) and this gets big laughs because it was unexpected after the serious buildup.

Watching this whole video is like watching a Muhammad Ali in the ring. Rickles makes this type of comedy look so easy. He owns the stage by dancing, making fun of the other celebrities seamlessly, and executing this all with his impeccable timing. This combination is rarely achieved anymore.