‘Roastmaster’ Jeff Ross brings stand-up act to Phoenix
Stand-up comedian Jeff Ross was at an elephant rescue in northern California recently when he realized what it really means to have thick skin.
“I didn’t know the word pachyderm, which is an elephant, and literally in (Greek) it means thick skin,” he told The Arizona Republic. “So I was like, ‘Wow! That’s literal.’”
Ross is so thick-skinned when it comes to insults that he hosts a podcast called “Thick Skin With Jeff Ross.” Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, he learned how to take a joke from his uncle, whose nickname was “Mean Murray.”
“It’s not just about roasting people, and it’s not just about dishing it out. It’s about taking it,” he said. “So much of comedy is about not getting offended, letting it roll off.”
Ross has made a career out of dishing it out. Since the ’90s, he has roasted audience members and celebrities alike, including Donald Trump (in 2011), Justin Bieber and Pamela Anderson.
What’s a Jeff Ross show like?
Even with a demanding schedule that has Ross performing five Phoenix shows in two locations over three days, he promises that no two shows are alike because he makes sure to “mix it up a little bit.”
“My live solo shows are half thought through and half improvised, all through a speed roast of audience volunteers,” he said. “There are a lot of fun characters that come to my shows, especially in Arizona. There are college kids to rich people to foreigners to regular comedy fans.”
But audience members don’t have to fear having insults hurled at them; Ross only roasts those who volunteer to go on stage.
Oftentimes he touches on political themes, but the topics depend on his mood and the audience. However, he
thinks politics is “almost impossible to make fun of.”
“There’s a little bit of fatigue with politics now,” he said.
“Politics, I think, is always a part of everything I do, but I also feel like, especially on a Friday night or Saturday night, people are really coming to see comedy to escape their everyday lives, to escape the impeachment.”
When he does mention political issues, he aims to “go to a deeper place, a more uniting place, if I can.”
“For me, the show isn’t about politics,” he said. “It’s about people, and the show usually reflects that.”
Going beyond celebrity roasts
Ross’ career in roasting people began at the New York Friars Club in the 1990s and 2000s, where he became known as the “Roastmaster General.” Since 2005, he has had recurring appearances on Comedy Central Roasts and earned a co-executive producer role in recent years.
In 2015, Ross’ Comedy Central special about mass incarceration, “Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals: Live at Brazos County Jail,” aired, marking a turn toward roasts that combine documentary and social commentary with stand-up comedy. The following year, “Jeff Ross Roasts Cops” looked at police use of force, and in 2017 “Jeff Ross Roasts the Border: Live from Brownsville” explored immigration.
“I think part of it is evolution,” Ross said. “I want to keep my audience surprised, and I didn’t want roasting to become only about celebrities in tuxedos.”
“Call it insult comedy, but it can be more than that. It can be thought-provoking, it could ask questions, it could answer questions. A big part of why I evolved was just to keep the audience on their toes and not become a predictable hack.”
What to expect at his Phoenix shows
Ross has a track record in the metro Phoenix area, he said.
“I once broke the food sales record at … Tempe Improv,” he said, jokingly adding, “I have the fattest fans.”
“I feel like as the son of a caterer, making people happy — seeing them eat and drink and laugh — that’s my goal, my purpose,” he said.
Aside from his usual roasting, he thinks “it’s inevitable” that immigration will come up in his Phoenix shows, given that Arizona is a border state.
“Will I talk about the border and immigration and all the human interest angles? Yeah, I’m sure that’ll come up,” Ross said.
Ross’ takeaways from visiting the US-Mexico border
“Jeff Ross Roasts the Border” had the comedian visit communities on both sides of the border, including Brownsville, Texas — where Ross performed a roast of the city and its residents — and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
“It was tough,” he said of his visit to Casa del Migrante in Matamoros, where he met several men who had been deported from the U.S. “It was depressing in a way because I can go freely back and forth because I’m privileged; I’m lucky. I was born here in America.”
“But it would break my heart to have my family on one side and me on the other and just not be able to go back and forth even though it’s just one community down there.”
In the stand-up special, Ross also spoke with local law enforcement and those in favor of a reinforced border wall.
“I also understand the dangers of letting criminals come through or anybody who just wants to hop a fence,” he said.
Not being able to come up with a “practical answer” to the immigration system weighs heavily on Ross.
“I think if I get depressed it’s because of that, and it’s my job as a comedian not to get depressed, (but) to lift people up.”