Shatner Roast Short on Shatner Roasting
As a lifelong Trekkie I was very much looking forward to tonight’s Comedy Central roast of William Shatner, the man whose over-the-top portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk proved to be pitch-perfect in Star Trek. Surprisingly the roasters at times almost ignored Shatner, instead directing their vulgar insults-as-jokes at each other. This was a disappointment, especially when Shatner has done so many different things that are ripe for ridicule in this setting. His famous dramatic readings of songs (you’ve got to see this one) alone are a treasure trove of material for comics, but instead they were more interested in directing their barbs at fellow roasters George Takei and Andy Dick. Whether you like him or not, you gotta give credit to Shatner for being first in line to poke fun at himself. It was ironic at the conclusion of the roast tonight when he leveled the same criticism at the comics that I have: the most insulting thing is that they weren’t more funny when he had given them so much material to work with.
August 30th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
I agree…. Although I think they did it out of reverance. I think they were in awe of the man. When he got up there to rebutt… he was a natural as always. But as a life long star trek fan, when he started his “Space, the finale frontier” skit, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was history in the making….. I was 9 years old again. Long live SHATNER!!!!!!