Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner

I love this roast, and it could have been easily top 5. I've never seen it full, because Paramount+ cut a large portion of it out, but from what I've seen, it's a great roast. There's just one reason why it isn't Top 5, though. The crowd. Oh, the crowd. They were basically silent the whole time. If this roast had a crowd like the roast of Flavor Flav, it would have been easily top 5. I'm not doing a roaster-by-roaster review of this roast. I just want to talk about the crowd. Why was this crowd basically silent? This was one of the greatest roasts ever. And it's insane that the crowd at this roast was virtually silent, when the crowds at the roasts of Bob Saget and James Franco, both godawful roasts, were loud as hell. I love this roast, but the crowd was the worst.

This show is absolutely hilarious. It is nonstop laughter with arguably the greatest B actor in Hollywood history as the target for some of the most outrageously funny barbs ever uttered in a television show. What makes this show particularly amusing is that the guest roasters are spoofing an actor who is not one of the great performers but nevertheless has managed to become one of the most well-known stars in history which is an ongoing theme of this show. The one-liners come on fast and furious. Betty White is especially funny and George Takei is great. In fact this roast is spoof on the Hollywood roasts of the past except this one is a lot funnier and includes the kind of comments that makes the roasts of the past seem tame in comparison.

My god, this was a gut-bustingly funny roast! Of the Comedy Central roasts that are available on Amazon Video, I think that this one is the best. While recently they have resorted to roasting people who perhaps haven't had enough of a career to warrant being celebrated this way (which is technically what this is supposed to be). Fortunately, Shatner is not a flavor-of-the-moment celebrity who happens to have done a bunch of stupid stuff with which to throw in his face. He earned his spot here. Everything is touched upon, from his unique acting style, singing career(?!), commercials, relationships with his fellow Star Trek cast members, etc. Yes, the humor was heavily scatological, but I've come to accept that as a fact of modern comedy, with these roasts in particular. On top of that, this has what is surely the best dais of all 15 Comedy Central roasts. If you're very selective about what you buy or watch (at least in terms of these comedy specials), the William Shatner roast is definitely one to get.

Reading the comments I have come to the conclusion that this was a polarizing presentation. I agree that it was occasionally too much, from time to time over the top and beyond the pale, but by and large and on the whole it was funny.

Among the funniest of all was the Shat himself. The older he's gotten, the funnier he's gotten and he is fully willing and able to share the joke. He even improves on the joke from time to time. The opening sequence with a phone call with dearly departed Leonard Nimoy set the tone, but Shatner's rebuttal at the end was the cherry on top of an enjoyable program. The only way I think it could've been improved would have been if Don Rickles had been there doing what he does best.

I haven't watched this in a few years, I think I'll have to dig it out and watch it again. Having seen some of Mr. Shatner's recent programs, especially "Better late than never" with Henry Winkler, George Foreman and Terry Bradshaw should breathe new life thanks to new insights.

The Comedy Central Roast are usually just an opportunity to squeeze the lowest common denominator with the least amount of thought, and this proves no different. Firstly--the majority of the jokes just weren't funny. Of course, I've never been that impressed with any of the assembled comedians, anyway. And really, the roastee shouldn't be funnier than the roasters--and bless'em, the Shat-man truly was.

I do enjoy some vulgar humor but it is over-used here to a non-impressive effect. Poor Farah Fawcett was out of place and probably just selected for an opportunity to be the brunt for some easy jokes. Kevin Pollak was probably the best, but it was just a recycling of Shatner jokes we've all heard before. Artie Lange and Patton Oswalt also lent a little to the proceedings, but really not enough to salvage this work.

I did at least learn how to pronounce George Takei's last name.