THESE ROASTS ARE OVERDONE
A curious thing happened at the recent Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe. The ostensible target, the basically ageless sorta- star, barely had a glove laid on him. Instead, most of the nastiest barbs were reserved for Ann Coulter, the hateful harridan and all- purpose conservative attention ( uh, let’s say) craver who was invited to join in the bashing of Lowe because … well, honestly, I have no earthly idea. My guess is because the producers knew that Lowe, who has had a long and worthy career but is neither a stratospheric celebrity nor has a particularly notable persona or quirk, was a pretty milquetoast target. Coulter at least has the kind of one- line level of celebrity you can really tee off on.
The bait and switch, though, is proof of just how muddled and mediocre the Comedy Central version of this venerable tradition has — well, again, I don’t want to really say become, here, so much as always been. Born out of the rather famous tradition of the Friar’s Club — an allpurpose celebrity hangout that has either been broadcasting their own roasts or inspiring Dean Martin to do his own since the ‘ 40s — the Comedy Central version is a weird mash- up of a screwy PR fluff- job for its intended target and a chance for the station to showcase up- andcoming acts by letting them mock celebrities. (One of Amy Schumer’s breakout moments was torching Charlie Sheen in the midst of his meltdown.)
Where the Friar’s Club versions at least have the boozy bonhomie of a retirement party – everyone knows everyone at those things, which tends to loosen everyone up a smidge – the gratingly public nature of Comedy Central has the whiff of desperation. It used to be relatively rare to hear sniping at the golden people: it was the province of snootier gossip columns. Now every celebrity foible comes complete with 35,000 tweets and a Buzzfeed round- up of the best. The snark buffet is well and truly stocked before insult comics and out- of- place pundits can get within 14 kilometres of it.
Who really cares that they prove they can grin and bear it? They’re going to get flamed by the lot of us again and again, ad infinitum, any which way they cook it.