Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner (2006) (TV)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Joel Gallen

Writers:

Joe Kelly (consulting writer)
Aaron Matthew Lee (writer)

Release Date:

20 August 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The Shat hits the fan.

Plot:

It's William Shatner's turn to step in to the celebrity hot seat for the latest installment of The Comedy Central Roast...

Plot Keywords:

Actor Name In Title | William Shatner Spoof | Vulgarity | Gay Kiss

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

William Shatner	...	Himself
Jason Alexander	...	Himself - Roastmaster
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sandra Bullock	...	Herself / Filmed roaster
Debra 'Debbie' Clark	...	Memphisgal
Andy Dick	...	Himself - Roaster
Farrah Fawcett	...	Herself - Roaster
Greg Giraldo	...	Himself - Roaster
Clint Howard	...	Balok
Jimmy Kimmel	...	Himself / Filmed roaster
Lisa Lampanelli	...	Herself - Roaster
Artie Lange	...	Himself - Roaster
Craig J. Nevius	...	Himself
Nichelle Nichols	...	Herself - Roaster
Leonard Nimoy	...	Himself
Patton Oswalt	...	Himself - Roaster
Kevin Pollak	...	Himself - Roaster
Brian Posehn	...	Himself - in audience
Jeffrey Ross	...	Himself - Roaster
Sarah Silverman	...	Herself / Filmed roaster
Ben Stiller	...	Himself / Filmed roaster
George Takei	...	Himself - Roaster
Betty White	...	Herself - Roaster
Fred Willard	...	Himself - Roaster

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:TV-MA

Company:

Tenth Planet Productions

Trivia:

As the seat of honor, William Shatner sat in a replica of the Starship Enterprise's Captain's chair.

Quotes:

Greg Giraldo: Then, there was T.J. Hooker. The only thing I remember about that show was your hair and that hot chick, what's her face? Adrian Zmed. What happened to her?

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver (#1.10)" (1966)

Showing My Age

The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner is a long series of unfunny comedians who are more interested in seeing if they can drive anyone off stage than in actually saying or doing anything that can be remotely construed as funny.

Now, a Roast is not meant to be polite. A roast can and should run the gamut from rough to appalling. But watching Andy Dick trying to gross out everyone by running his tongue over anyone who would hold still for it is not funny. Watching Farrah Fawcett try to get through her canned jokes without breaking up is not funny. As for Lisa Lamparelli, her best line was noting that her career was dead, but she could still get a gig on Comedy Central doing roasts. Indeed she can, so long as there is no requirement that she be funny. Nor do any of these 'comedy' bits have anything to do with William Shatner.

There is much about William Shatner's career that could have served a roast well: Shatner's egotism, his spreading waistline, his propensity for overacting. Yet no one was terribly interested in the subject of William Shatner. Largely, the 'comedians' were interested in themselves and the apparent belief that all transgressive behavior is funny. Most of the barbs consisted of "You're fat and have no talent, William Shatner, now I'm going to vomit on the stage, and I love you, Bill."

The one good routine starts the show, with a rcorded 'telephone conversation' between Shatner and Leonard Nimony, in which Shatner urges Nimoy to show up, saying it will be fun, and Nimoy saying 'Don't do it.' My hope that, after an amusing start, something good would turn up some time in the proceedings was never justified for more than fifteen seconds. Nimoy's routine, alas was correct.

Shatner stayed for the entire show. Don't you.