Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis (2018)

I gave three stars. One for Dom Irrera, one for Ed Norton, and one for Jeff Ross.To start with - Joseph Gordon-Levitt was an absolute tragedy of a host. Compared to Seth McFarlane for example, he didn't come across as funny. He may be a good actor, but being a host of a roast means more than acting. His act (I even refure to call it his hosting style) was very unnatural and didn't feel funny at all. Nikki Glaser was very weak. She was not bad at Rob Lowe roast, but here it felt like she wants to go the Amy Schumer way - talk about sex and private parts and pretend how funny such talk is.Ed Norton was a nice surprise for me. Yes, he did talk about himself quite a bit. But that delivery had a storyline tied to his friendship with Bruce Willis and therefore justified. It felt very personal - which is how these roasts used to be years ago.It's a shame that Comedy Central Roasts are now more about the star power and less about the actual comedy. People on the dais don't know each other, so it's quite predictable what will they say about each other (who did not expect North Korea being mentioned when Dennis Rodman was there?). With each next roast there are fewer actual comedians so I won't be surprised if next year we will have all A-list celebrity dais. Plus Jeff Ross.

Very poor panel, all being to nice to a man known for his bad attitude. You couldn't help but feel Willis pre read and ok'd all the jokes.

The formula used to be about a group of friends who roast each other but also love each other and share some background story. That changed into a group of random people who frequently admit that they don't know why they're there.Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the weakest host so far. Not every great actor can be funny, and his bits can't generate general interest. Dennis Rodman was obviously the "why the heck is HE there?" guest, and wow......did he bomb. Not a single funny moment, from a person who shouldn't even be there. I don't even blame Rodman, but the producers who asked him.Of course Jeff Ross is funny, but no surprises and his star power can't save the below mediocre mess. Only Edward Norton was surpringly funny and entertaining. His jokes weren't predictable one liners, but a coherent story with a heart.But besides Norton and Ross, this roast offers nothing. Most jokes were one liners and you could guess the predictable punch line at any moment. This means the time of the roast with a charismatic cast that really had fun being there, is probably over.

This is great, these big egos are such great sports. Absolutely loved it!