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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Comedy Central
Salesrank: 15656
Released: March 20, 2007 |
| Our Price: $3.89 |
| Used Price: $3.85 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Friends and colleagues roast actor William Shatner.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2-JAN-2008
Media Type: DVD
Description of Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner (Uncensored):
First things first: Where's Leonard Nimoy? When Comedy Central's raucously ribald Roast of William Shatner was originally broadcast on August 20, 2006, it began with Nimoy--Shatner's beloved Star Trek costar--leaving a phone-message to Shatner, apologizing for his absence (hey, the man has class) and begging Shatner to explain why he would subject himself to the indignity of a roasting on Comedy Central. "Is it the food?" Nimoy inquired, noting the Shat-man's expanding waistline over the years, and the roasting was excellently underway. Well, guess what? Due to copyright and other legal restrictions (and possibly to Nimoy's desire to distance himself from a shamelessly filthy broadcast), Nimoy's appearance and several musical cues have been edited from this otherwise expanded DVD release, which compensates by serving up a few perfunctory bonus features along with every foul-mouthed insult in their uncensored glory. Shatner himself makes a grand equestrian entrance, riding a white stallion into the auditorium before flopping his fat ass into Star Trek's original Captain's chair (on loan from Seattle's Science Fiction Museum) and settling in for an 80-minute onslaught of verbal abuse by Comedy Central's stable of vicious comedians. It's pee-your-pants hilarious or painfully obscene, depending on your tolerance for crudeness and profanity. (As anyone who saw the previous Roast of Pamela Anderson can tell you, Comedy Central's roasting policy is unabashedly adult-oriented and strictly no-holds-barred.)
Of course, Shatner's not the only target of playful derision. After an introduction by host Jason Alexander (who, like guest comedian Kevin Pollak, built a career out of impersonating Shatner), nobody emerges unscathed, and some of the insults--particularly those aimed at Farrah Fawcett (whose inclusion here is barely justified)--are more cruel than entertaining. But everyone's a good sport, especially Star Trek's Mr. Sulu, George Takei, who'd recently gone public with his homosexuality, prompting nearly every roaster on the panel to make crude (and mostly unfunny) gay sex jokes at Takei's good-natured expense. (He later delivers a barb at Shatner that Star Trek historians will recognize as at least partially serious.) Like fellow roasters Fawcett and Shatner's Boston Legal costar Betty White, Trek veteran Nichelle Nichols endures a few insults about getting older, and in a highlight of the show, Clint Howard (in a video clip) reprises his role as the friendly alien "Balok" (from the classic Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver"), toasting Shatner with a beer-bonged shot of "Tranya." As Andy Dick proceeds to lick several of his fellow roasters (and, in the audience, Carrie Fisher--who licks back), Greg Giraldo, Patton Oswalt, Jeffrey Ross, and other Comedy Central regulars lay waste to Shatner's checkered career, including priceless film clips from Shatner's infamous post-Trek career as a "poetic interpreter" of hits like "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Rocket Man." It's all in good fun, and judging from audience reaction (including numerous cutaways to Star Trek: Voyager's sexy Jeri Ryan), everyone had a good time when they weren't slack-jawed with shock from the R-rated barrage of banter. This stuff ain't for prudes, and if you don't know what to expect, you're probably better off watching reruns of T.J. Hooker. --Jeff Shannon
Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner (Uncensored) Reviews:
Great Fun for Trekkies! 
2009-06-11 - If anyone likes William Shatner, and I don't know anyone that doesn't, you will LOVE this roast! My wife is a Trekkie and both of us are Boston Legal fans. We found this very funny and sarcastic. That is the beauty of Bill Shatner, he can and does make fun of his own image, and he has plenty of fun doing it here!
Brilliant Stuff from Comedy Central 
2008-12-10 - Some of you on here really blasted this, and I'm guessing you don't have a sense of humor. The point of these roasts are to be cruel and say really crazy things. If that offends you, I'd suggest you go watch Dane Cook or Jerry Seinfeld, since that kind of comedy delights you.
I loved this. George Takei and my girl "L.L." Lisa Lampanelli really stole the show at this one. Takei was the target of many jokes, but when he stepped up to the podium, he killed. Betty White wasn't half bad at all. Andy Dick was as usual, STRANGE. Lisa Lampanelli truly proved why she is THE best female comic in America. "Andy Dick is so gay, his chapstick is **** flavored." Enough said!!!! Not to mention the whole gay kiss with Jeff Ross and George Takei was truly strange, but entertaining at the same time.
If you're the kinda person who doesn't get easily offended and can enjoy some hardcore comedy, I recommend this. To the rest who bad mouthed this DVD, GET A SENSE OF HUMOR!!!!!
Offensive, not funny 
2008-09-14 - What a dissapointment. Crude, offensive, and mean spirited sums up the attempt at "humor" in this train wreck of a roast. Not at all like the great Dean Martin roasts. This should have been a can't lose, funny, best seller. I, along with many Shatner and Star Trek fans, were really looking forward to the roast. Shatner might as well have given us middle finger. I'm sure he had some control over of the choice of comedians and content.
Intellectually lazy childish nonsense 
2008-08-05 - If you care for wit and original humour, enter not ye here! The roasters must have been sharing notes before they hit the stage because all of the jokes centred around homosexuality, bodily functions and other schoolyard themes. Extremely crude material elicited visible winces from the audience. Is America entering the final decadent slope that precipitated Rome's decline? It appears that cable TV (ie comedy channel) has truly become no-holds-barred and is running roughshod over any semblance of class. Is mainstream society getting dumber, where they cannot comprehend intellectual wit anymore, or just cruder? I leave that to you reader to ponder...
Thank God for Kevin Pollak
2008-03-25 - I'm glad I bought this, because otherwise I would never have truly known how excremental this stuff could be.
Jason Alexander is a consummate hack, and everyone on this embarrassment is a complete oxygen thief, EXCEPT for KEVIN POLLAK.
Buy this (for the deepest discounted price you can find) for Kevin Pollak utterly eviscerating the intestinal tract parasites "starring" in this pathetic piece of garbage.
Pollak redeems it. Shatner rises above it, in his utter incomprehension of the irredeemable excrement that this DVD strives for. Kill them all, except for Shatner and Pollak, and the rest of us, for hoping for better...
