The Comedy Central Roasts are a series of celebrity

Celebrity

A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...

 roast

Roast (comedy)

A roast is an event in which an individual is subjected to a public presentation of comedic insults, praise, outlandish true and untrue stories, and heartwarming tributes, the implication being that the roastee is able to take the jokes in good humor and not as serious criticism or insult, and...

 specials which air on the Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

 cable network.

History

Between 1998 and 2001, Comedy Central produced and televised the annual roasts of the New York Friars' Club

New York Friars' Club

The Friars Club is a private club in New York City, founded in 1904 and famous for its risqué celebrity roasts. The club's membership is composed mostly of comedians and other celebrities. It is located at 57 East 55th Street between Park and Madison Avenues in a building it calls the Monastery...

. After the original five-year agreement expired, the network began producing their own roasts in the same spirit. The first, featuring roastee Denis Leary

Denis Leary

Denis Colin Leary is an Irish-American actor, comedian, writer and director. Leary is known for his biting, fast paced comedic style and chain smoking...

 (and produced by Leary's production company, Apostle), aired on August 10, 2003 and was the most watched program in the channel's history, excluding episodes of South Park

South Park

South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

.

Some roastees have stated that certain topics are off-limits. For example, Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson

Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...

 had the topic of her Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease primarily affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus . The infection is often asymptomatic, but chronic infection can lead to scarring of the liver and ultimately to cirrhosis, which is generally apparent after many years...

 infection as off limits, and William Shatner

William Shatner

William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...

 requested the comics not mention his late wife Nerine Kidd-Shatner's drowning in his swimming pool

Swimming pool

A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...

. Others, however, have had no limits on the topics - David Hasselhoff

David Hasselhoff

David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...

 was one example, and according to Lisa Lampanelli

Lisa Lampanelli

Lisa Lampanelli is an American stand-up comedian and insult comic. She is noted for her racy and raunchy style of comedy, which frequently includes taboo subjects such as race and homosexuality....

 (as per her Twitter

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

 feed), Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...

 was another. Although Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen

Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....

 initially agreed to no restrictions on his roast, he later said during an interview with Jay Leno

Jay Leno

James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...

 that he requested jokes about his mother to be edited out of the broadcast.

Roasts

Roastee	Roast master(s)	Original airdate

Cancelled roasts

In 2008, a roast for musician Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

 was planned to coincide with the release of his box set, One Hell of a Ride

One Hell of a Ride

One Hell of a Ride is four-disc box set by country singer Willie Nelson, released on April 1, 2008.- Disc one :#"When I've Sang My Last Hillbilly Song" - 01:30#"No Place for Me" - 01:20#"Man with the Blues" - 2:07#"Nite Life" - 2:32...

, but was indefinitely postponed.

A roast for musician Kid Rock

Kid Rock

Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...

 was announced in November 2010 and scheduled for January 2011, but was later replaced by the Donald Trump roast. Rock's roast was rescheduled for August 2011, but was replaced again, this time by Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen

Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....

.

International

The first international roast aired on Comedy Central New Zealand

Comedy Central New Zealand

Comedy Central is a 24 hour comedy television channel owned by Viacom, broadcasting to New Zealand. The channel launched on 1 April 2009...

 on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 and the roastee was prominent Māori comedian, Mike King.
Also roasted in New Zealand was rugby commentator, ex rugby player, and ex of Miss Universe Lorraine Downes, Murray Mexted.

External links

(Dennis Leary) (Jeff Foxworthy) (Pamela Anderson) (William Shatner) (Flavor Flav) (Bob Saget) (Larry the Cable Guy) (Joan Rivers) (David Hasselhoff) (Donald Trump) (Charlie Sheen)