Entertainment :: Television
Comedy Central Roast Of Bob Saget: Uncensored by Brian Callaghan
EDGE ContributorTuesday Dec 30, 2008 Comedy Central has become the most reliable home for good comedy on TV - truly living up to its name. "The Daily Show," "Colbert Report," "South Park," "The Sarah Silverman Show" and the new "Chocolate News" show provide the backbone of their original programming.
Also part of their line-up are the annual roasts of B-list celebrities. Pamela Anderson, William Shatner, and Flavor Flav have all been skewered in recent years in these much-anticipated events. Unlike the Dean Martin roasts of the 1970s, these are filthy, raunchy, no holds barred assaults on the guest of honor and other members of the dais.
The latest roast, of comedian Bob Saget , lives up to the raunchy legacy of its predecessors as the former "Full House" and "America’s Funniest Home Videos" is put through the ringer.
Saget’s "Full House" co-star John Stamos serves as roastmaster, and is joined by Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, Greg Giraldo, Gilbert Gottfried, Cloris Leachman, Jon Lovitz, Jim Norton, Norm MacDonald, Brian Posehn and Jeffrey Ross. Many have little connection with Saget, although many are also stand-up comedians like him. Oddly, "Full House" co-star Dave Coulier is in the audience but does not participate in the verbal abuse. The Olsen twins are not there, but the pedophile jokes involving them are frequent.
A variety of Bob Saget clips kicks off the evening, showing embarrassing scenes from "Full House," "America’s Funniest Home Videos," "Entourage," Conan O’Brien’s late night show, "South Park," and "The Aristocrats." While he might not be the funniest person in Hollywood, he certainly is one of the luckiest and has had a successful twenty-year career.
A few of the memorable lines include the following:
John Stamos says, "I fantasize about Susie Essman. But only when I’m fucking somebody hotter and I don’t want to cum. And when I say ’hotter’ I mean anyone."
Greg Giraldo has one of best sets of the night, and says of Stamos, "He was married to the model Rebecca Romijn O’Connell. You lost your wife to the fat kid from ’Stand by Me.’" He tells Gilbert Gottfried he "has the sex appeal of a school bus fire."
Jeffrey Ross also delivers an impressive roast. He calls reclusive comedian Norm MacDonald, "the J.D. Salinger of dick jokes." "Jon Lovitz went on match.com. They paired him up with a couch and a bottle of hand lotion." He calls multi-tasking Saget a "hack of all trades" and says his"girlfriend is so young, R. Kelly wouldn’t pee on her."
Three of the less successful comedians are Jon Lovitz, Norm MacDonald and Jeff Garlin. Lovitz sings a couple lame songs and tells a few jokes alleging Saget’s gay. MacDonald does a post-ironic G-rated roast that’s pretty funny, but has the crowd baffled. Garlin does his set as a character, Sol Schwartz.
Cloris Leachman, gets loads of abuse for her age, but brings down the house however with some shocking and hilarious lines. "I’m not here to roast Bob Saget. I’m here to fuck John Stamos. I’m going to strap on my Oscar and take you right on that beanbag chair, pretty boy." She pokes fun at her D-list fellow roasters, "I don’t know who any of these people is. Maybe that’s because I watch TV, and go to the movies, and read the trades." She asks someone to "punch me in the face so I can see some stars." She also ends her routine by making out with Stamos.
There are only a few special features, none of which are very long or all that interesting. There’s an "On the Blue Carpet" featurette talking to people on the way into the roast, a "Behind the Scenes" piece, an "After the Roast" wrap-up and interviews with Bob Saget about the experience.
While the bonus features aren’t all that interesting, the roast itself is pretty vulgar and hilarious and sure to be appreciated by anyone college-aged or older who used to idolize "Full House" as a kid. If only it came out before Christmas, it would have made the perfect holiday gift for that tough-to-buy-for 20-something nephew!
Special Features:
Four short featurettes:
-- On the Blue Carpet
-- Behind the Scenes
-- Bob Saget interviews
-- After the Roast
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