Comedy Roasts And Tributes

[Kromm]

As the title says, this includes the Dean Martin classic roasts (which aired on NBC), the current Comedy Central ones, and although they don't present as Roasts, other tribute formats, like Spike TV's "One Night Only".

[Kromm]

Just watched the Don Rickles One Night Only, by the way.  I gotta say, despite being on Spike TV, that had about as huge an arrangement of stars as possible. And most of them killed.  David Letterman probably did the most natural "stand-up" type humor I recall hearing from him in YEARS, for example, which makes me wonder if rather than just retiring he might actually be planning actual stand-up after he retires from his show.  Jon Stewart was really on the mark too, and the video from Bob Newhart was probably the hightlight of the whole night (it's hard sometimes to remember how sublimely genius Newhart is, but this was a BIG reminder--what starts out seeming like a very ordinary taped tribute evolves into something magnificent, and yet oddly subtle, by the end).  They also had Seinfeld, Tracy Morgan. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, Robert Deniro and Marty Scorsese, Regis Philbin, Brian Williams, Johnny Depp, and pre-recorded video segments from Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby and Jimmy Kimmel, and several dozen huge show biz names in the live audience who didn't show up just to get to speak, but honestly looked like they wanted to be there, because it was for Rickles.

 

The only real sad part was seeing Don's physical disability. But his mind, his delivery, his comedy, is unchanged (he of course closed the show out and was better than anyone else other than maybe that Newhart bit). 

Edited June 2, 2014 by Kromm

[applecrisp]

Growing up, I loved The Dean Martin Roasts.  I longed to be a part of them.  It seemed everyone had a great time and they often featured big stars.  I just liked the Rat Pack.  Today, I don't think you would see a Foster Brooks at all.  I remember a lot of those.  The old comediennes like Totie Fields and Phyllis Diller and the one note comedian Mr. J Johnson,jr. ( if I remember correctly).

 

My mother never liked Sinatra or Martin and that was part of the reason I liked them.  Good memories.  Also do you remember SCTV.  I really liked that too. 

[mightycrone]

To this day, when I see women wearing animal print anything, two tv characters come to mind--Cher (I'm sorry-- I can't recall the name of the character-- not that Cher isn't a character herself) and Edith Prickly -- (Andrea Martin in that leopard-skin pillbox hat). So yeah, I remember SCTV.  OOOHHHH, SCAAAAARY!

 

You can call me Ray, you can call me Jay, but ya doesn't hasta call me Johnson.  And so on. . .

[Kromm]

Growing up, I loved The Dean Martin Roasts.  I longed to be a part of them.  It seemed everyone had a great time and they often featured big stars.  I just liked the Rat Pack.  Today, I don't think you would see a Foster Brooks at all.  I remember a lot of those.  The old comediennes like Totie Fields and Phyllis Diller and the one note comedian Mr. J Johnson,jr. ( if I remember correctly).

 

My mother never liked Sinatra or Martin and that was part of the reason I liked them.  

I noticed the other day watching a show on CBS.com that they kept tossing in these commercials for "Sinatra Select Jack Daniels".  Have you seen that yet?

 

http://www.jackdaniels.com/whiskey/sinatra-select

 

[Sandman87]

Yeah, those Sinatra/Jack commercials annoy me tremendously, much like anything having to do with Sinatra. Everything he ever sang always seemed so joyless and dessicated, unless he had his Wild and Crazy pals with him.

 

Last night I watched the tribute/roast/ceremony where they gave the Mark Twain Award to Ellen DeGeneres. I haven't seen much of her stuff, mainly because she's never on when I'm in front of the TV, but that was some damn funny stuff. I particularly liked the clip of her first TV appearance from The Tonight Show, basically doingf a Bob Newhart-esque phone call routine.

[smittykins]

To this day, when I see women wearing animal print anything, two tv characters come to mind--Cher (I'm sorry-- I can't recall the name of the character-- not that Cher isn't a character herself) I

I believe the character's name was Laverne(wasn't that the skit that usually took place at the Laundromat?

[mightycrone]

I believe the character's name was Laverne(wasn't that the skit that usually took place at the Laundromat?

Yes and yes.  Smittykins, thank you for jogging my memory.  (The only kind of jogging I ever do).

[JTMacc99]

I haven't watched the Comedy Central Roasts, but after watching the Justin Bieber one, I'm worried that I've been missing something.

 

Freaking Martha Stewart was great.  Everybody picking on Shaq, who is obviously a pretty easy going guy, was great.  "Sorry about [the World Trade Center], I know that was your favorite building to climb."  And Kevin Hart was funny both as the host and as a target of many good lines.

 

It was a genuinely funny event in my opinion.

[topanga]

When is the Rob Lowe roast? And who's roasting him?

[editorgrrl]

13 minutes ago, topanga said:

When is the Rob Lowe roast? And who's roasting him?

http://www.cc.com/shows/roast-of-rob-lowe

Monday, September 5 (Labor Day), at 10 p.m.

Roast master: David Spade. With Jimmy Carr, Ann Coulter, Pete Davidson, Nikki Glaser, Jewel, Ralph Macchio, Peyton Manning, Rob Riggle, and Jeff Ross.

[sereion]

So no one's going to talk about how everyone went all savage on Ann Coulter--even the guest of "honor" got some good digs in. To parapharse Jewel, as some one who DESPISE her, it was delightful.

[iMonrey]

I can't imagine who thought it would be a good idea to invite Ann Coulter or why she even came. Talk about out of place, and her set was awful. The whole thing was just very uncomfortable and embarrassing. 

Overall I thought the roast was pretty weak. I thought Jewel actually had one of the better sets. Jeff Ross was terrible. I've seen him before where I thought he did just OK but it's time for them to ditch this guy. Didn't think the English comic  was very good either.

[KerleyQ]

Quote

 

Ignore that quote box...  

I just love that the woman who constantly rants about all the "oversensitive PC crybabies" being too easily offended was the only person on that stage who could not take a joke about her own expense at all.  Admittedly, some of the stuff lobbied her way was a bit harsher than what some of the others were getting, but she looked pissed off at even the relatively tame stuff.  If I thought she was capable of any sort of honest self-assessment, I'd say that I hope that having to sit through all of that would make her reconsider her periodic rants defending her God-given right to call someone a "retard," but that's extremely unlikely to happen.  And her material was just painfully awkward.  She was worse than The Situation, and I didn't think that would ever happen.  Side note: has any other member of a roast panel ever so blatantly shilled their own project?  I could not believe she actually pulled a copy of her book out and set it up on the podium.

 I really liked Ralph.  We usually don't see something quite that self-deprecating from the roasters.  And it ended on a sweet note.  And I give Rob credit for being open about his past issues, and how low he had sunk at one point, but I still can't believe he was totally fine with all of those jokes about the sex tapes and teenagers.  I guess he's been pretty open about his struggles and his past behavior with his sons, too, because they seemed to just roll with all of it.  (I don't think his wife seemed thrilled at a lot of it, though).  

[Kromm]

Why would anyone in their right mind invite Ann Coulter to anything, muchless something about taking the piss out of not only other people but yourself? Ann Coulter is MADE of piss and it will never be taken out successfully. 

I'd sooner Bill O'Reilly (only a tiny bit) who while his beliefs are also abominable, at least has probably laughed at himself once or twice. Okay, I'd sooner none of them. I don't get what any of them really have to do with Rob Lowe, other than vague connections to him playing a liberal character on TV who worked for a Democratic President (Note: I haven't seen the Roast yet). 

[Hanahope]

Interestingly, my DVR only recorded 90 minutes of the show, cutting off in the middle of Ann Coulter's bit.  Maybe my DVR was telling me something.  I re-recorded it last night, so I'll watch the remaining 30 minutes tonight.  

So at first, I enjoyed tremendously the digs at Ann, but after awhile, it did get a little old and some were downright mean.  Now I have no love whatsoever for Ann, and looking at her with this smile just plastered on her face without any other expression, or indication that she appreciated some of the humor, even at other people, really had me wonder wtf was she doing there anyway?  And when some of the "jokes" were just utter insults, and crude/offensive ones at that, I almost, for a brief moment, started to feel sorry for her.  STOP MAKING ME FEEL THAT WAY FOR ANN F'N COULTER!!  I'm sorry, but no woman, even Coulter, deserves to be called the c-word.  Obviously her jokes were written by someone else, and I appreciated the boos, but some of the jokes were chuckle worthy.

I had completely forgotten about Rob Lowe's sex tape thing.  In fact, I had to look it up to remember when it was, and then realized it was when I was in college so of course, I barely noticed it then.  I suppose it does explain why he went from major heart-throb actor to almost nothing for a while, and then finally started getting bit parts in B movies.  I do recall seeing him in the West Wing and thinking, boy I haven't seen him for a while.

Given that the girl was 16, the sex tape probably still would have been bad now, part of me also thinks in light of so many other sex tapes these days, and how it makes famous people it shouldn't (Kardashian), it might not have done as much damage to him now as it did then.

Finally, I was a bit surprised that the roasters were not all that famous.  Ok, I knew who Ralph Macchio was, I saw KK (and yeah, he looks great for 54), and of course David Spade.  I'd heard of Nicky Glasser because I've seen the commercials on CC while watching TDS and  TNS.  And I remember Jewel (and appreciated the jokes about her being a 2-hit wonder - and I presume she was joking in her song).  But really didn't know who the others were.  I was a bit surprised there wasn't anyone from TWW there with some funny story during the show.

[Traveller519]

Nikki Glaser's dig on Rob Riggle, "Thank you for fighting the war on terrorism... and subtly" was one of the better digs of the evening.

Ann being there was just so weird, it's like her publicist and the show's booker got drunk one night and decided this would be a GREAT idea. It really pulled away from the jokes about Rob though.

I was hoping Peyton would go after Rob for "stealing" his DirectTV gig.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I don't get what any of them really have to do with Rob Lowe

Ralph Macchio, Jewel and David Spade have all been in movies with Rob Lowe. Also, David Spade tends to be in just about every roast because he doesn't have anything else to do. Same with Jeff Ross. The rest of the celebs were plucked out of thin air but that seems to be the norm for these roasts - they just get whoever they can get.

[KerleyQ]

They like to have some reliable regulars with some specific to the honoree mixed in.  I think they're hoping Pete and Nikki will become part of that stable of regulars, because most of their old "regulars" seem to have moved on.  Jeff will just always be there.  

[UYI]

6 hours ago, Hanahope said:

 Obviously her jokes were written by someone else.

 

It's actually been confirmed that she wrote her own jokes--she hated the ones the Comedy Central writers tried to give her and wrote her own stuff. 

[Hanahope]

Huh, well not too bad then, considering.

[UYI]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Ralph Macchio, Jewel and David Spade have all been in movies with Rob Lowe. Also, David Spade tends to be in just about every roast because he doesn't have anything else to do. Same with Jeff Ross. The rest of the celebs were plucked out of thin air but that seems to be the norm for these roasts - they just get whoever they can get.

Has he? I haven't seen David Spade in many roasts. Jeff Ross, of course, is known as the Roastmaster General, so yes, he's been around. 

[Princess Sparkle]

I didn't realize there was a roast thread here, so I'll add what I put in the (now closed) other thread!

I have to say, the one thing that shocked me the most was that Rob Lowe invited his kids knowing there might be the chance there would be a lot of jokes about his sex tape with underage women.  I'm sure they knew about that fact already, but yeesh, those jokes were brutal.  

Biggest surprise of the night for me was Jewel; I thought she did a very good job at delivering her jokes.  I found her to be much better than Ralph Macchio (who's delivery was a bit off), and put her slightly above Peyton Manning, although he did a good job too.  The best set for me is a tie between Nikki Glaser and Pete Davidson.  Nikki had some great jokes, but Pete's Ann Coulter jokes had me cackling, including when she attempted to make fun of him in her set and he just heckled her with "Good one."  

Someone in the other thread mentioned that Ann Coulter was a last-minute replacement for Bo Derek (who pulled out), but it turns out that Jewel was the replacement for Bo, so I have no clue why Ann Coulter was there.  I know as he's gotten older, Rob Lowe has started to lean more Republican, so maybe she thought she'd get a sympathetic response based on that?  But man, she should have rethought this.   Vulture posted the jokes that she rejected from the roast writers, and she should've gone with a few of them.  I think she could've landed a couple of those.  

1 hour ago, UYI said:

Has he? I haven't seen David Spade in many roasts. Jeff Ross, of course, is known as the Roastmaster General, so yes, he's been around. 

Yeah, I've only ever seen David Spade in the Pam Anderson roast.  Maybe he attended the others, but I think that's the only other one he's ever participated in.  

My favorite moment of the roast was, hands down, the look of bewilderment on Maria Shriver's face when they cut over to her during Ann Coulter's set.  And if looks could kill, the one Peyton Manning threw towards Ann after she made her jokes about him would've caused her to burst into flames right there.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Spartan Girl]

Like I said in the other thread, I enjoyed the Rob Lowe roast. All digs at Ann Coulter and her bitchface had me in hysterics. The fact that she used her lame bit to plug her latest book was just pathetic.

Jewel, Ralph, David, and Pete were my favorites. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Reposting this here because other comments from a duplicate thread weren't moved over...

I really hate these roasts. Even though it was waay before my time, I much prefer Dean Martin's roasts. But I realize this is a new age and time, blah, blah, blah.

HOWEVER. I will check this one out, purely to see the ripping on AnnTHESHEBEASTCoulter.

[Hanahope]

Watched the rest last night.  At least Ann looked like she had a slightly better time in the last 30 minutes, possibly because Pete's jokes were pretty good.  There's this one shot with Ann's 'roasting' bitch face and Nicky Glasser looks over her shoulder, laughs a bit, then turns back to the camera with a 'wtf' look on her face.  Its great.  Nicky was probably wondering why Ann was there too.

[Sandman87]

I tried to watch the Rob Lowe roast tonight. When I tuned in some idiot in a white dress was busy not being funny, going through her checklist of the other attendees and giving each one a perfunctory insult or two. Then she got to Anne Coulter and would not move on. Maybe she forgot that the object is to entertain the viewer with clever and apt insult comedy, rather than beating people up just to be beating them up. I bailed while she was on her second Hitler/Nazi reference.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Sandman87

[scrb]

It was rough but maybe she didn't know how these roasts go?

Especially after her looks?

Some of the participants reacted to how viscious some of the putdowns were.  Jeff Ross kept looking back at her to see her reaction and she looked shell shocked a few times.

Otherwise Jimmy Carr had some brutal lines, like Chris Farley dying from drugs and the stress of carrying David Spade which he didn't seem to enjoy or the one about the only people with more concussions than NFL players being their wives.

[DollEyes]

On 9/7/2016 at 6:09 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Like I said in the other thread, I enjoyed the Rob Lowe roast. All digs at Ann Coulter and her bitchface had me in hysterics. The fact that she used her lame bit to plug her latest book was just pathetic.

Jewel, Ralph, David, and Pete were my favorites. 

ITA. That Ann Coulter tried to hijack an event that was about Rob Lowe just to pimp her latest shitty book made her fair game, as far as I'm concerned. That Lowe himself got in it made it even better. 

[Unclejosh]

Ann Coulter loves comedy and is known to frequent comedy clubs quite often and is actually friends with quite a few of them (just not the ones appearing on the roast)  and if you hear her on a non political show she has a sense of humor and laughs A LOT during those appearances.  She also said she thought a few of the jokes were funny and she liked them. The one by Jewel and one by Nikki in particular she pointed out.  But she said she didn't think a lot of the jokes had a punchline and it resorted to just making fun of her looks and calling her the C word.  Apparently it was a lot more than was shown.  So she decided to adlib the whole promoting her book thing because she was getting so beat up she said screw it and had her comedian friend who was there with her go get the book so she could just plug it and at least get something out of being called a C word dozens of times over and over.

Now I am only sharing what I heard her say, not saying it is true or anything.  I think she didn't know how bad it was going to be so was kinda shell shocked and just plastered that grin on her face.  She said at one point her friend ran up to her in a break and told her that she had to laugh more at the jokes about her and she said she couldn't fake it if she didn't find it funny.  She should have done her research, watched a few prior roasts and accepted the jokes they gave her.

She also said if it sold any books at all it was worth it.

[BW Manilowe]

On September 7, 2016 at 9:16 AM, Hanahope said:

Interestingly, my DVR only recorded 90 minutes of the show, cutting off in the middle of Ann Coulter's bit.  Maybe my DVR was telling me something.  I re-recorded it last night, so I'll watch the remaining 30 minutes tonight.  

So at first, I enjoyed tremendously the digs at Ann, but after awhile, it did get a little old and some were downright mean.  Now I have no love whatsoever for Ann, and looking at her with this smile just plastered on her face without any other expression, or indication that she appreciated some of the humor, even at other people, really had me wonder wtf was she doing there anyway?  And when some of the "jokes" were just utter insults, and crude/offensive ones at that, I almost, for a brief moment, started to feel sorry for her.  STOP MAKING ME FEEL THAT WAY FOR ANN F'N COULTER!!  I'm sorry, but no woman, even Coulter, deserves to be called the c-word.  Obviously her jokes were written by someone else, and I appreciated the boos, but some of the jokes were chuckle worthy.

I had completely forgotten about Rob Lowe's sex tape thing.  In fact, I had to look it up to remember when it was, and then realized it was when I was in college so of course, I barely noticed it then.  I suppose it does explain why he went from major heart-throb actor to almost nothing for a while, and then finally started getting bit parts in B movies.  I do recall seeing him in the West Wing and thinking, boy I haven't seen him for a while.

Given that the girl was 16, the sex tape probably still would have been bad now, part of me also thinks in light of so many other sex tapes these days, and how it makes famous people it shouldn't (Kardashian), it might not have done as much damage to him now as it did then.

Finally, I was a bit surprised that the roasters were not all that famous.  Ok, I knew who Ralph Macchio was, I saw KK (and yeah, he looks great for 54), and of course David Spade.  I'd heard of Nicky Glasser because I've seen the commercials on CC while watching TDS and  TNS.  And I remember Jewel (and appreciated the jokes about her being a 2-hit wonder - and I presume she was joking in her song).  But really didn't know who the others were.  I was a bit surprised there wasn't anyone from TWW there with some funny story during the show.

Jewel's more like a "4 big hit wonder"(I checked her Singles Discography in Wikipedia & only recognized the titles of 4 songs), though she has released a Greatest Hits album.

And she actually wasn't really joking--very much--in the Rob-related parody she based on 1of her 4 big hits & sang during her set at the roast. I know this because I became something of a Rob Lowe (& Bradley Whitford) fan through his (their) work in The West Wing--his (their) character(s) was (were) my favorite(s).

Anyway... Rob did a Washington, DC-set (as I remember), legal-type series titled The Lyon's Den (Lyon being the last name of his character in the show) on NBC the season after he left The West Wing; it only lasted that 1 season. Towards the end of the series, Jewel was signed to play Rob's character's love interest in at least 1 ep. Supposedly before that series, as I remember, he had made some sort of pact with his wife about not kissing anymore onscreen love interests in his work projects. Which was apparently moot in this case because he & Jewel apparently didn't really like each other much to start with.

[BW Manilowe]

On September 7, 2016 at 0:45 PM, iMonrey said:

Ralph Macchio, Jewel and David Spade have all been in movies with Rob Lowe. Also, David Spade tends to be in just about every roast because he doesn't have anything else to do. Same with Jeff Ross. The rest of the celebs were plucked out of thin air but that seems to be the norm for these roasts - they just get whoever they can get.

Jewel, as I said in a previous response, actually guest starred in 1 of Rob's TV shows, an NBC series that aired briefly after he left The West Wing titled The Lyon's Den. She played his character's love interest. He wasn't in a movie with her.

[BW Manilowe]

On September 7, 2016 at 5:32 PM, Princess Sparkle said:

I didn't realize there was a roast thread here, so I'll add what I put in the (now closed) other thread!

I have to say, the one thing that shocked me the most was that Rob Lowe invited his kids knowing there might be the chance there would be a lot of jokes about his sex tape with underage women.  I'm sure they knew about that fact already, but yeesh, those jokes were brutal.  

Biggest surprise of the night for me was Jewel; I thought she did a very good job at delivering her jokes.  I found her to be much better than Ralph Macchio (who's delivery was a bit off), and put her slightly above Peyton Manning, although he did a good job too.  The best set for me is a tie between Nikki Glaser and Pete Davidson.  Nikki had some great jokes, but Pete's Ann Coulter jokes had me cackling, including when she attempted to make fun of him in her set and he just heckled her with "Good one."  

Someone in the other thread mentioned that Ann Coulter was a last-minute replacement for Bo Derek (who pulled out), but it turns out that Jewel was the replacement for Bo, so I have no clue why Ann Coulter was there.  I know as he's gotten older, Rob Lowe has started to lean more Republican, so maybe she thought she'd get a sympathetic response based on that?  But man, she should have rethought this.   Vulture posted the jokes that she rejected from the roast writers, and she should've gone with a few of them.  I think she could've landed a couple of those.  

Yeah, I've only ever seen David Spade in the Pam Anderson roast.  Maybe he attended the others, but I think that's the only other one he's ever participated in.  

My favorite moment of the roast was, hands down, the look of bewilderment on Maria Shriver's face when they cut over to her during Ann Coulter's set.  And if looks could kill, the one Peyton Manning threw towards Ann after she made her jokes about him would've caused her to burst into flames right there.

As you already said, Rob's sons probably already know about his sex tape, either through their dad/parents or others. And his "kids", as you referred to them, aren't really "kids" anymore anyway; they're both over 18 & they were apparently raised "right" (with a certain sense of manners & behavior which was[n't] expected of them at certain ages, etc.). Given their ages, & how they were raised, & whatever knowledge they had (or didn't have) of their father's "youthful transgressions", I'm assuming Rob & his wife, Sheryl, felt they were old enough to attend the roast.

Their eldest son, Matthew, graduated from Duke University in the Class of 2016 & either is currently, or will soon be, in Law School at an as yet unnamed school (I follow Rob & his brother, actor/director & Emmy winner, Chad Lowe on Twitter & got this information from Rob's Twitter); their youngest son JohnOwen, aka Johnny, had a recurring role in Rob's series The Grinder which ran last season on Fox &, based on Rob's recent TV interviews & some Tweets, he's apparently interested in following in Rob's acting footsteps. He attends Stanford University & was a Freshman in the Fall of 2015.

Someone joked/said upthread Peyton Manning probably wanted to smack Rob (or something similar) for stealing Peyton's DirecTV commercial spokesman gig. Rob & his sons are actually big NFL fans & he's/they're good friends with Peyton, & I think other NFL players (if not also coaches/owners). Rob's Tweeted pics of him & his sons, with field/sideline access-type passes, in previous years at Indianapolis Colts (particularly home) games when Peyton played QB for them, as well as pics of him/his sons at this year's Super Bowl in which Peyton played QB for his current team, the Denver Broncos (who eventually won the game & are the current NFL champions).

Rob even Tweeted over the weekend to the NFL that the owners should keep any players who refused to show proper respect for the pregame ceremonies &/or The Star-Spangled Banner at this past Sunday's season opening games (& who are "boycotting" the National Anthem playing, similar to Colin Kaepernick & other athletes taking a stand against police mistreatment against persons of minorities) in the locker room, given that Sunday's/the NFL's opening day games fell on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City/the World Trade Center, Washington, DC/the Pentagon, & the related plane crash in Shanksville, PA.

I'm not certain your assertion/statement Rob has leaned more politically Republican as he's become older is accurate. I thought he had said on his Twitter that he was a registered Independent these days (shrugs). He was supporting then-Democratic Presidential candidate Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta when he became embroiled in the sex tape scandal; I know that.

Edited September 13, 2016 by BW Manilowe
Making various fixes to the post.

[Princess Sparkle]

2 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

As you already said, Rob's sons probably already know about his sex tape, either through their dad/parents or others. And his "kids", as you referred to them, aren't really "kids" anymore anyway; they're both over 18 & they were apparently raised "right" (with a certain sense of manners & behavior which was[n't] expected of them at certain ages, etc.). Given their ages, & how they were raised, & whatever knowledge they had (or didn't have) of their father's "youthful transgressions", I'm assuming Rob & his wife, Sheryl, felt they were old enough to attend the roast.

I didn't say "kids" as a reference to their age or how they were raised(which I never made a comment on); clearly they are old enough to attend.  I meant "kids" as in they are literally his children - it just surprised me he wouldn't mind them attending knowing there'd be a decent amount of jokes about his involvement in a statutory rape.  That has nothing to do with them not being old enough to hear it and more about it being a wildly uncomfortable fact to hear about a parent, and considering the jokes about Rob's indiscretions with multiple nannies, it probably also brings up some tense times in your childhood.  Obviously, everyone involved was fine with it, I was just surprised. 

Edited September 13, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Hanahope]

For all the fact that I didn't recall the sex tape at first, I'm still pleasantly surprised that I haven't heard a whiff of scandal or anything 'tabloidish' about Rob's kids or his wife, and I presume they are still married.  So for all of Rob's 'youthful transgressions' he apparently matured pretty well.

[BW Manilowe]

On 9/13/2016 at 8:42 AM, Hanahope said:

For all the fact that I didn't recall the sex tape at first, I'm still pleasantly surprised that I haven't heard a whiff of scandal or anything 'tabloidish' about Rob's kids or his wife, and I presume they are still married.  So for all of Rob's 'youthful transgressions' he apparently matured pretty well.

He & his wife, Sheryl Berkoff Lowe, have been, from everything he says, happily married since July, 1991(so they just celebrated their 25th anniversary this summer). They were originally set up on a blind date which didn't take, as far as a relationship goes; then, a few years later (after the sex scandal) she was his makeup artist on the film Bad Influence (Rob's role/performance put him back on Hollywood's radar & he was highly, but unsuccessfully, touted for an Oscar nomination for the role--And the role put him & Sheryl back on each other's radar: They began the relationship which lasted beyond Rob's stint in rehab--she stood by him instead of bailing, like many partners would in a situation like that--& resulted in their now 25-year marriage & their 2 sons. She was a Hollywood makeup artist when they met, until either the marriage or their sons started arriving. She's also been an interior decorator & has a degree in art, according to the bio on her jewelry collection's website. Now she's a jewelry designer, with her Sheryl Lowe Designs jewelry sold in Neiman Marcus & other stores--it's also sold online, through the sheryllowejewelry.com website; the jewelry designing as a career apparently started around 2006, when she began giving jewelry she made as gifts to friends & family).

Sheryl was actually accused of some things during the nanny scandal. The nannies complained about what are alleged stereotypes about bad personal hygiene habits of persons of her religion & she supposedly described her & Rob's sex life in graphic detail to at least 1 of the nannies.

As for their sons, I think they haven't turned up in the tabloids because, as I at least tried to say earlier, they were apparently raised to not do things like Rob did that made him tabloid fodder, &/or things he didn't do that would also turn them into tabloid fodder (which could be so easy for children of "Hollywood types" to do) They had certain things they were expected to/not to do, behaviorally, growing up from what I understand. I think it also helped that Rob & Sheryl decided not to raise their family in the Hollywood "environment". They moved to the Santa Barbara area (I think Montecito) I think when they were expecting their eldest, Matthew (if not before, or when he was born), & have been living there ever since, because it offered somewhat more "normalcy" for families than Hollywood (once his parents divorced & he moved to California with his mom & brother Chad, I think when she remarried, he actually grew up as a neighbor to the family of Martin Sheen, with whom he later co-starred in The West Wing, & a friend to his sons, Charlie Sheen & Emilio Estevez--living near a legendary actor & his family isn't something most California kids get to do, you  to admit). He wanted his family to grow up similarly to how he grew up in Dayton, Ohio before his parents' divorce--just a "normal" kid, though he apparently already liked acting.

I'd say Rob matured well. He's been working pretty steadily in "reasonably good/good" projects (as opposed to in the B- through D-List projects in years immediately after the sex tape scandal) in Hollywood, mostly in TV, since his performance in Bad Influence was noticed so positively. Besides his acting, Rob's also become a best-selling author in recent years: He's written 2 memoirs, Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography & Love Life, in recent years, where you know he had to--& I'm pretty sure did--discuss at least his sex scandal in the first book. I'm not sure what the second book covered--if it picked up where the first ended, &/or if it went as far as the nanny scandal, or not. It might have skipped it/had to skip it; I think there was a confidential settlement to it. And in May he marked 26 years sober, following his post-sex scandal rehab stint. And in July, as I said, he & Sheryl celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.

Edited September 14, 2016 by BW Manilowe
Fixing wording & adding details.

[BW Manilowe]

On 9/13/2016 at 8:08 AM, Princess Sparkle said:

I didn't say "kids" as a reference to their age or how they were raised(which I never made a comment on); clearly they are old enough to attend.  I meant "kids" as in they are literally his children - it just surprised me he wouldn't mind them attending knowing there'd be a decent amount of jokes about his involvement in a statutory rape.  That has nothing to do with them not being old enough to hear it and more about it being a wildly uncomfortable fact to hear about a parent, and considering the jokes about Rob's indiscretions with multiple nannies, it probably also brings up some tense times in your childhood.  Obviously, everyone involved was fine with it, I was just surprised. 

I'm sorry if I offended you. I wasn't really sure how much you knew about Rob's life & I guess I overcompensated in my answer, or something. My apologies.

[topanga]

I stared watching "Jeff Ross Roasts Cops" this weekend. I haven't finished watching, but so far it's very funny, touching, and brutally honest. Jeff takes shots at the Boston PD and police officers in general, but it does seem to come from a place of love. He also has empathy for supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. My favorite parts of the special are the ride-alongs with different police officers. The officers were funny, sympathetic, and more candid about alleged police brutality issues than you might hear in a planned press conference. 

And the love for Tom Brady is real in Boston. 

[RobertDeSneero]

Is this the right place to ask if people are watching Roast Battle?  It is very much in line with my sense of humor and the kind of jokes I sometimes tell in real life.

[topanga]

On 1/19/2017 at 6:41 PM, RobertDeSneero said:

Is this the right place to ask if people are watching Roast Battle?  It is very much in line with my sense of humor and the kind of jokes I sometimes tell in real life.

Is it back on? I watched the competition a few months ago--very funny. But you'd have to have thick skin to participate in one of those things. 

[ari333]

Very thick skin is needed indeed.

Roasting in general, I find most of it funny; but some of it is cringe-worthy. I get kind of tired of women over 40 being "dried up." First of all, it's not true. Second, it's not funny after the 100th repeat of the "joke."

I miss Greg Geraldo. He was pretty good at  roasting. R.I.P.

When they get so blitzed it's not funny. I can do without Courtney Love and her legs splayed all over the dais.   I don't need to see her undies - or lack thereof. :-) Andy Dick can be funny, but he is unpredictable.

Edited March 2, 2017 by ari333

[Spartan Girl]

Comedy Central next roast will be Bruce Willis

[SVNBob]

19 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Comedy Central next roast will be Bruce Willis

What's the over-under on bad "Die Hard" puns?

[topanga]

The Comedy Central roast of Alec Baldwin was pretty funny. It helped that he and his daughter Ireland were good sports about the whole thing. She actually spoke and made some funny remarks. 

I thought the two funniest roasters were Nikki Glaser and, surprisingly, Blake Griffin. For a non-comedian, Blake has great comedic timing and delivery. 

Jeff Ross is always solid and funny, but Nikki and Blake were the ones that had me laughing hysterically and waking up my sleeping family members.

And it was great to see Robert DeNiro there just because he's Robert f-ing DeNiro. 

The jokes were offensive, crude, crass, and mean, but hey, that's what you get at a roast. In this setting, they don't bother me. 

[scrb]

Agree on Nikki and Blake.

Some of them were obviously reading the teleprompter.

Besides those 3, Alec also had great delivery.

You can tell Adam didn't like the jokes directed at him.