The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget
While a roast is supposed to be good natured jokes pointedly in the direction of the roasted, this roast is full of almost funny and very tired jokes at everybody.
Film making 10/25
Cinematography 10/25
Audio 10/25
Bonus Features 5/25
Total 35/100
I like a good roast, the ones for the Friars club are excellent but with Comedy Central you get the budget version and then some. I understand you can go all out and tell the dirty jokes and call people all the bad stuff you don’t usually get to but some thought and inspiration has to go into the individual routines.
The roasted has to be a likable and well known person in order for any of the roasters to have a chance at hitting him below the belt and making a comedy routine out of hazing a guy in public. The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget just sounds like a bunch of people saying how or what a “fill in the blank” this guy is.
I got the impression that all the fellow roasters including Cloris Leachman, Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, Lewis Black and John Lovitz really were asking themselves why they were there. I also kept thinking what these people really think of Bob Saget when they are not behind the podium but we will probably never know.
The roast is a tired formula of comedy if done incorrectly and here with Bob Saget and a couple of funny comedians and several that are merely mediocre it is very tired. There are a few times I laughed and a few times I chuckled but mostly I just sneered at how corny or downright dumb the jokes were. Poking fun at how gay a guy is does get old and several of the roasters used this line on Saget so often I had to wonder if there was some sort of inside joke.
Actually the whole show felt like the roasters all had some sort of inside thing going with Saget and I the lonely audience was not privy to the whole point they were making. Most of the time it did feel like the ones there to roast Bob Saget kept asking themselves why they are roasting him and then Lewis Black pointedly asks why are we even roasting Bob Saget when is whole career already did that.
The Host starts off with John Stamos, fellow Full House actor and plods through Lewis Black, Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, Greg Giraldo, Gilbert Gottfried, Cloris Leachman, Jon Lovitz, Norm MacDonald, Jim Norton, Brian Posehn, Don Rickles, Jeffrey Ross, Cameron Sanders, Sarah Silverman, Jodie Sweetin, and Alan Thicke.
The one joke that I expected much sooner was about the Olson twins and it did pop up a few times throughout the 74 minute show. Other than a few good one liners from stars like Cloris Leachman and some videotaped for the roast by Don Rickles, Lewis Black and Sarah Silverman the roast was not a success.
The video and audio are pretty standard low budget filming and even the entire format was embarrassingly too old school for a roast. The camera pans and shows the audience a teleprompter that says “Sentimental Moment” to show the current comedian he is supposed to get serious and show his true feelings for the roasted.
The problem here and the thing I kept asking myself, what do these guys really think of Bob Saget and why are they doing this to him in such a forced way. The whole show seemed too forced and not natural enough and there really is no main focus for anyone to poke at on Bob Saget as he is not that big a star.
I thought the original idea of a roast was to take a big star that everyone liked and hit him below the belt but Bob Saget was in a comedy that was on air for seven seasons and is back on some cable channels but that’s about his career. He was host to America’s Funniest Home Videos but I would not really call that a highlight to anyone’s career much less get anyone enough material for a decent roast.
In the end the roast of Bob Saget turns out to be a lot of one liners that could probably be done about anyone and a few good ones from some of the roasters but that’s about it. There is about twenty minutes of extra tape but it looks more like a stagehand holding the camera before and after taping of the show and a few quickie interviews talking about Bob Saget.
I really do not see any reason in watching the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget much less purchasing it.