Milton Berle on Lucille Ball
Jonathan Winters kept it classy and silly
Don Rickles kept it edgy and racist but still very funny
And in the end the roastee gets to be the roaster and have the last say, usually, as Johnny does here.
The cast and writers of The Richard Pryor Show did a roast for him after one of their seasons. I think it was their last. We've linked to this before because it was funny...but I've been watching it again and I think Richard actually destroyed his panel so much that by the end it wasn't even funny; it was just hard to watch.
Look at the panel as he rounds the corner. The audience is still laughing but by the end the people are just slumping in their chairs as if they can't take anymore.
And Richard is slow and deadly as he deals insult after insult. It was like watching that opening scene is Saving Private Ryan...you just want it to end but Richard won't end it until he's ready.
Part 1
Part 2
I don't think anyone ever roasted him again.
3 comments:
I kinda feel like that wasn't so bad. Richard was making fun of them, but I didn't get the sense they were defeated.
I DO GET THE SENSE that working at the Richard Pryor show was probably a lot more fun than working on almost any other show at that time.
They had to think "man, this show isn't gonna be around for long so we're just gonna go for it."
Kinda like the Message (long live).
I've never seen this before but the funniest thing was when he called Paul, Miss Thing. I didn't know Paul was openly gay back then, nor did I know it was ok to joke about it back then. I assumed it would have been too taboo. I think it's cool that Richard seemed to genuinely show affection towards him.
@anon
What I find amazing is how much Mooney hasn't really changed. He's just as funny then as he is now. Wow.
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