In 1998, Comedy Central began airing the annual roast from the New York Friars Club, and after 5 years Comedy Central launched its own celebrity roasts. Over the annual roast, Comedy Central has produced the roasts of several celebrities including Hugh Hefner, Pamela Anderson, Donald Trump, Charlie Sheen, David Hasselhoff and James Franco. The intention is for celebrities and comics alike to get together and make fun of each other for the entertainment of those watching. While some consider the tradition of roasting mean spirited and nasty, it's also a great exercise at not letting the egos of celebrities to get too big, and making sure they have their feet on the ground. While the tradition of Comedy Roasts has been going on since the 1920's, where the tradition of roasting honoured members at the New York Friar's Club and was eventually brought to mainstream public attention in the 1970's thanks to a series of televised roasts hosted by Dean Martin. However, it wasn't until the New York roasts were picked up by Comedy Central did the audiences start to boom, reaching a peak in 2011 when 6.4 million people tuned in to watch Charlie Sheen roasted. Of course, this popularity was influenced by Sheen's very public drug addiction, rehabilitation attempts and recent departure from the show he headlined Two and A Half Men after publicly falling out with the producer Chuck Lorre. The most recent roast of James Franco was an incredible ensemble of Judd Apatow's pet projects, Freaks and Geeks graduates and other stand up comedians. Amongst the those at the dais was roast regular and top shelf roaster (mainly because he is starting to look more and more like the sun) Jeff Ross, as well as members of the "Apatow Crew" in Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill, the SNL crew in Bill Hader and Andy Samberg, with the stand up prowess of Aziz Ansari, Nick Kroll, Sarah Silverman and Natasha Leggero adding their mix to the roast. It was the first real event without the presence of Comedy Central's "Celebrity", which has been used in previous years to varying success. While rap superstar Snoop Dog was the best, The Situation was just awful, as his jokes failed during his performance at the roast of Donald Trump.
Honourable Mentions - Greg Giraldo and Patrice O'Neal
The Comedy Central Roast hasn't been without both drama and losses in the family. In Greg Giraldo and Patrice O'Neal they ahd two incredibly talented comedians, but unfortunately for the world both men where cut down far too early in their lives. Greg Giraldo was one of the roast specialists, meaning that outside of the annual roast he was pretty much unemployed. Along with Lisa Lampinelli, Jeff Ross and Gilbert Godfried, Giraldo was a regular member of the dais for the Comedy Central Roasts, involved in 8 roasts from the roast of Jeff Foxworthy to David Hasselhoff. Unfortunately, Giraldo's life was cut short due to a drug overdose. Giraldo's battles with his drug addiction had been well-publicised and had gotten in the way of his career on more than one occasion. On the other hand, Patrice O'Neal had two appearances at the Comedy Central Roasts, the first roasting Jeff Foxworthy in 2005 and the second with Charlie Sheen in 2011. O'Neal's performance, and ability to take hits about his weight and diabetes, was noted by many of the other roasters after the performance. Patrice's routine was praised by critics as an honest but hilarious assessment of his fellow roasters comments but also about the roast concept as a whole. Not long after the 2011 roast of Charlie Sheen, O'Neal passed away due to complications from a stroke he had suffered. Still, back to the article at hand, this is looking to identify the 4 best roasters that have ever graced our screens on the Comedy Central Annual Roast, and 1 that bombed.