Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner (2006)

I've been watching a few of the Comedy Central Roasts and there is very little clever or witty about them. I love comedy but these roasts, in my opinion, are the height of vulgarity and classlessness. They take cheap shots and use the crutch of vulgarity, profanity and crudeness to the extreme and frankly I don't think anyone in the room finds it funny, the smiles and laughter is forced. There is nothing more lame and pathetic when a comedian or anyone has to resort to using words like p**ss, c**nt, C**ck, and more over and over again - it screams - I don't really have anything clever to say. These roasts are nothing but schoolyard bullying but in front of a TV and wearing fancy clothes and drinking alcohol to blot out the disgust. Furthermore, after a few jabs at the beautiful Farrah Fawcett, is it just me or has anyone else noticed that shortly after William Shatner's roast she got cancer? Coincidence? I think not. At some level she had to have been disgusted, as I was, with the whole thing and her body reacted accordingly. Entertain us, I don't mind, I'll pay for entertainment, but these roasts have got to stop.

It is William Shatner's turn to step in to the celebrity hot seat for the latest installment of The Comedy Central Roast...I love Shatner, and his career is the stuff of legends. I enjoyed his roast, but sadly, it just does not seem to hold up strongly for the full time frame... Betty White was great to see, but even the normally funny Patton Oswalt did not have his heart in this.And the jokes were repetitive. A career of 50 years, and we have to keep going over the same "Star Trek" humor and references to "Rocket Man"? He was so much more than that. Where were the gremlins on the wing? Lastly, Jason Alexander is a terrible host. I am so glad that Seth MacFarlane seems to have taken over the job on a semi-permanent basis.

A night of comedy where everyone sends you up for the long career you have had in whatever your field of entertainment is, i.e. take the Mick of you, first emerged in America, and then it went to Britain. This show, hosted by Jason Alexander, has the victim being Captain Kirk from Star Trek, star of T.J. Hooker and general actor, William Shatner. The comedians and stars roasting him in the show included Sandra Bullock, Andy Dick, Farrah Fawcett, Clint Howard as Balok, Jimmy Kimmel, Artie Lange, Leonard Nimoy (in the funny opening scenes), Kevin Pollak, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, George Takei, Betty White and Fred Willard, and look out for David Carradine, Carrie Fisher, Jeri Ryan and Brent Spiner. It was nominated the Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special. Very good!

I really wanted to enjoy this. I love watching William Shatner.The host opens up quite well but immediately descends into profanities.Each 'comic' guest takes his or her turn to insult William Shatner, although one or two of them simply stand up and crack one-liners with no reference to 'Bill' whatsoever.Maybe I expect too much, but when many of them get up clasping pieces of paper and proceed to read their lines.I'm afraid if they aren't naturally funny then they shouldn't be there.I'm no comedian BUT I bet I could get on a stage and knock out 5 or more 'Star Trekkie' or 'TJ Hooker' anecdotes without much bother, and without the need to swear every other word.Many shots of the audience catch many of them frowning or simply shaking their heads in disbelief.The 'gay' references were unbelievable; once they started they never stopped.The whole programme deteriorated into what can only be described as school-boy humour. (Mind you most school boys would rise above this). I would describe most of the comments as infantile.If you don't mind cringing along with a bunch of has-beens or wannabees's, then watch it. Otherwise, give it a wide berth, I felt embarrassed for them.Many of the other reviews make fun of the Chevy Chase 'roasting' because he apparently didn't play ball, and didn't 'get' the humour.Maybe he did 'get' the humour and realised that maybe his career hadn't deteriorated to such a point that he had to put himself up for ridicule.The bit that really lingers about this crass production is the constant references to gay activity. It was unnecessary and simply served to highlighted the guests own short-comings.It's the first time I've heard of the guest Andy Dick or Cox. whatever, but what an absolute loser he portrayed himself to be.Really….I mean really...give this a miss. Cheap shots, cheap and crude humour. Expect more.