The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen was last night and the biggest controversy coming out of the show has nothing to do with the man of the hour.
Amy Schumer delivered a pretty brutal joke to Steve-O (who was on the dais) regarding the death of his friend and Jackass co-star, Ryan Dunn. Basically she said people wished it was Steve-O and not Ryan who died. Granted, it's not funny when you say it like that, and it's definitely not funny outside the context of a roast, in which the sole purpose is to insult, slam, and verbally gut everyone in the room. Some people are saying Amy should apologize. I say no. Hear me out.
This was a roast. Seth McFarlane started the show with an Amy Winehouse joke that went over quite well with the crowd. The crowd seemed to be up for almost any joke, the cruder the better. Was it because the joke was told by a woman in a pretty dress? Or was it because Steve-O is so beloved? Or was it because the crowd just didn't get it?
I've had complaints about many of the recent Comedy Central Roasts. Trump, Hasselhoff, even Joan Rivers' roast left something to be desired. They're just not the same anymore. I think it's the change in the dais, to be honest. If you want to see an amazing roast, find Denis Leary's. And Flava Flav's. Both harsh, biting, brutal, and hilarious. It's almost as if Comedy Central has watered down the roasts to appeal to a bigger audience. And with that, the jokes are watered down as well. Bottom line, you get what you pay for and this is a roast. The ones they don't televise are even worse from what I hear. If you're going to participate in a roast (on tv or otherwise), you better be prepared to take whatever is coming at you, even if it's painful or hurtful. You signed up for it!!! Do your research and quit whining!!! And no, I don't think Amy should apologize. A male comedian is hardly ever asked to apologize - off the top of my head I can only think of Gilbert Gottfried for his tweets about the earthquake in Japan. Can you think of any others?
Let's talk about the roast itself, which was pretty tame overall, if you ask me.
We can always count on Jeff Ross, though. He always delivers. He was dressed as a warlord (since Charlie called himself a warlock), and flung insults at Charlie and the dais like no other. Anthony Jeselnick was funny, too. I enjoy his calculated delivery and the fact that he's not afraid to be different. And on this dais he was definitely one of a kind. Mike Tyson was there, and actually had a decent set. He was loud and obnoxious during everyone else's set, but it's Iron Mike, what are you gonna do? Kate Walsh was very funny and classy - she was the lady of the roast. Not sure what the connection is to Charlie but whatever. Steve-O's set ended with him running into Tyson's fist. Literally. He got some good jokes in before that, though. Patrice O'Neal whined about being made fun of. At a roast. Usually this guy is hilarious, but for some reason he was just annoying. Maybe he couldn't take some of the jokes thrown his way? Still, he's been on plenty of roasts, he shouldn't have been surprised. William Shatner - I honestly tuned him out. Is that bad? And last but not least, Charlie Sheen's rebuttal was amusing but not over the top. Remember, he wants us to believe he's clean, sober, and not crazy.
Again, they just don't make roasts like they used to. What did you think of the roast? Do you think Amy's joke went too far? Tweet me at my twitter page.
