The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner

The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner
90 Minutes
The Comedy Network
Tuesday May 5th 2009 10 P.M.

Star Trek fans have glanced at cast autobiographies and know roast is the mildest thing the crew of the Enterprise wanted to do to Captain James T. Kirk aka William Shatner. The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner airs Tuesday May 5th 2009 at 10 P.M.  on The Comedy Network. If you like your ham well-done, this is a can’t miss show even if it is the censored version. Even if you are not a Trekkie, the Roast of William Shatner is a lot of fun to watch.

The show opens with a phone exchange between Leonard Nimoy and Shatner where he says “It’s a bunch of people I’ve never heard about making fun of me.” This is quite true. The line-up of roasters includes Greg Giraldo, Jeff Ross, and Artie Lange. More famous are Betty White, Kevin Pollack who appear on stage, and Sandra Bullock and Ben Stiller who appear via video.  Trekkies will be happy to see Nichelle Nichols and George Takei in addition to Spock. This comic even is hosted by Jason Alexander.

The opening montage featuring some known and lesser known William Shatner moments is excellent. Some comics like Greg Giraldo are okay with a decent enough script focusing more on the other guests than Captain Kirk. Quite good is Betty White who will surprise a few with how nasty she is.

Of course, the highlight of this Comedy Network presentation is the speeches by Nichelle Nichols and George Takei. Takei does a lot of gay jokes and tells Shatner something he’s always wanted to tell him.

Nobody, including Farah Fawcett, knows what Farah Fawcett is doing there. She can’t even speak into the mic. She does get to introduce a couple of Shatner’s music videos. Just as useless is Andy Dick who also gets in the way of a good bit by Patton Oswalt. Lisa Lampanelli is really funny in The Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner.

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