The Shat Hit the Fan

There is nothing more entertaining than a good roast basically because it is much more fun making fun of someone to their face then behind their back. A couple years back Comedy Central brought back the long and hollowed tradition but has sunk recently with roasts of non comedians like Hugh Hefner and last years lowest of the low Pamela Anderson-Lee-Rock where they hauled out unknown comic after unknown comic who would have every third word censored and half of the remaining word probable would have been censored also had it not been late night on basic cable. This year they tried to go back to a more dignified roastee with Emmy award winning William Shatner.

It usually not a good sign when the first bit of the night, but Leonard Nimoy’s refusal to appear at the roast was hilarious but I’m surprised only one roaster called Nimoy out for not showing (and with all the Jews onstage there was only two Mel Gibson jabs). But a few of Shatner’s Star Trek brethren showed up including the black chick and the Asian dude who recently came out of the closet. I was going to make a running joke on who received the more gay homosexual jokes between Sulu and Andy Dick but there were so many I lost track before the first commercial break.

The roastmaster for the night was Jason Alexander of Listen Up fame and as one roaster said it was nice to here him being funny again aside from reruns. The roasters were bookend by Greg Geraldo and Lisa Lampanelli, who were both leftovers from the Pam Anderson one last year and both showed why were haven’t heard anything from them in-between. They must have something on a higher up at Comedy Central to keep getting involved even though they have no connection to the roastees. They showed many Star Trek alumni, co-workers from Boston Public, and even the other dude from T.J. Hooker in the crowd. It would have been a lot more entertain had they just gotten a writer to help them out with a roast and had them deliver.

And it was those closest to Shatner who gave the best roast with Sulu and Betty White both suggesting they have recently had sex with the man of the evening although both disturbingly made nut jokes. Plus you could tell Shatner liked (or hated depending how you look at) Sulu’s roast the most as he gave the same token laugh for everyone else to the point the I think he only laughed once and they just showed that again and again, but for Sulu he actually changed his expression for the only time last night.

Another stand out roaster was Patton Owsalt, who even though wasn’t a friend of Billy, his uber-geek made his roast entertaining nonetheless. Then there was the train wreck that is Farrah Fawcett who rightfully got plenty of Courtney Love comparisons who continually fumbled through her roast. It great that even though there were plenty of obvious edits throughout the show that they didn’t chop Farrah as she tried unsuccessfully three times to tell a joke. To add to the creepy, Clint Howard (Ron’s brother) reprised his role as an evil kid from a Star Trek episode. Must be seen for you to believed.

But as always the roastee got the last laugh with Shatner ripping into everyone there and even chided them for not making the easiest joke about him being a cheap Jew for having Scottie wait until after 7:00 to beam him up when charges are lower. Much like the first scene, it isn’t a good sign when the non-comedian roastee gives the best line. Since it is cable, I’m sure you can catch the repeat of the roast of William Shatner throughout the week and you can also catch uncensored bits and red carpet moments on it’s broadband channel Motherload.

In a bit of programming news, I must inform the readers of the 9th Green that tomorrow there will be a review up of the new Paris Hilton album. You have been warned.