Product Description

Friends and colleagues roast actor William Shatner.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2-JAN-2008
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12605 in DVD
• Brand: SHATNER,WILLIAM
• Released on: 2007-03-20
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

I am royally PO'd
I was so anxious for this this roast to be released. Yeh, it's a blast to see Shatner talking trash and getting trashed. But that 1 minute little piece of film with Nimoy and Shatner that opened the show IS NOT THERE !!!!!!!!!!

WHY THE &*%$# NOT?

That one single minute is a brilliant little bit of comedy, brilliantly executed by two people who have been known for their love/hate relationship, and absolutely worth the price of admission. I would buy a DVD of that bit alone. I am sorely dissapointed.

"Who the hell are you people? Where do you get the nerve to make fun of me?...You know who I am? I'm William Tiberius Shatner!!"
Just so you know, there are several JOKE SPOILERS here.

I saw this uproarious roast of William Shatner several times when Comedy Central aired and re-aired it last August. After the wickedly funny Comedy Central verbal drubbing of Pamela Anderson last year (2005), I was wondering who they were gonna put next in the chair of humiliation. Well, it turned out to be Captain James Tiberius Kirk himself. I thought the idea of the iconic and self-mocking William Shatner was a brilliant follow-up and a chance for the roasters to really outdo themselves. Now, I haven't seen this uncensored version yet (there was a Shatner roast pay-per-view, but I wasn't about to put out the chump change for it), so I'm basing these comments on the edited television release by Comedy Central, not on the forthcoming dvd. Being a completist kind of fella, odds are I'll amend this "review" as soon as I get the actual dvd in my paws. But, for now...

William Shatner must be blessed with towering self-esteem, along with a very keen sense of humor, to have withstood all the verbal onslaught and still come out intact and laughing; the roasters absolutely took no pity on him, and, yet, there Shatner was, chortling and seemingly having the time of his life. George Takei and Nichelle Nichols represent the original Star Trek cast in person, while Leonard Nimoy opens the festivities with a video clip conversation with Shatner, even managing to get a dig in as he tries to talk his former shipmate out of doing the roast ("Why are you doing this? Is it for the food?"). Takei, by the way, comes in as a well-humored and thick-skinned dude and, for his own part, gleefully aims several well-honed, gut-busting zingers at his fellow roasters (poor Farrah Fawcett); having just come out of the closet in October 2005, in Frontiers magazine, he actually takes almost as many shots as Shatner. However - and this just may be me being influenced by all the rumors of the animosity which Shatner's Star Trek co-actors held for him - I did sense a certain tension between Shatner and Takei (and, no, it's not sexual tension), when one was speaking of the other, and vice versa. And where was Walter Koenig? He's still alive, ain't he?

Actor/comedian/Cap'n Kirk-impersonator extraordinaire Kevin Pollak, the porcine and potty-mouthed Lisa Lampanelli, Greg Giraldo ("You overact more than Betty White's bladder") and perennial roaster Jeffrey Ross ("Look at you, Shatner...you have let yourself boldly go") perform their comedy shticks from the dais and generally made me laugh, while filmed "tributes" by Sandra Bullock, Ben Stiller, and the duo of Jimmy Kimmel and the fearless Sarah Silverman are hits or misses. I was actually knocked for a loop when Betty White proved to be as raunchy and funny as she did ("It always makes me laugh when I see Artie Lange on stage - knowing I'm going to outlive him"; and did Betty and Shatner really do the nasty? Aarrgh!). Lastly, it's always a pleasant surprise when the roastee is able to give as good as he's got, and, make no mistake, Shatner hilariously tore a hole into his tormentors. Kudos to Cap'n Crunch...er, Kirk.

Now, the negatives: Roastmaster Jason Alexander does try his darndest, but he ends up being merely adequate in his hosting duties. The ever annoying Andy Dick yet again demonstrates that he is neither clever nor funny (this numbnut wastes television air time by mugging for the camera, being weird, and licking faces). And then there's Farrah Fawcett, who was on some odd kind of drugged-up or drunk bender when she horrifically attempted to perform her "bit." Her time on the screen was abysmally embarassing and so excruciating I had to turn the channel and only returned when I thought she had finished. Again, poor Farrah.

The only aspect of Shatner's multi-media career that wasn't brought up and gutted was his stint as a sci-fi author. Nothing else was too sacred or too personal for the irreverent roasters as they avidly demolish just about every fixture in the William Shatner mythos: the hammy acting, the weight, T.J. Hooker, Boston Legal, the toupee, [...], the spoken song career, and, of course, Captain Kirk. As I've mentioned, I've only seen the televised roast on Comedy Central and, honestly, I had a rollicking, laugh-out-loud good time. William Shatner is an overwhelmingly easy target, a fount of low brow insults, and, while I thought the jokes were fairly obvious, they were still so ferociously funny, in spite of their viciousness (or maybe because of their viciousness?). Undoubtedly, the uncensored version is even more hilarious and vulgar and, hopefully, comes equipped with quality bonus features. And, finally, for the last time, that poor Farrah Fawcett...

*********************************************************************

Update: So I just watched the extended & uncensored dvd of this roast, and, as predicted, it was even more of a blast than the cleaned up show that aired on Comedy Central months ago. Surprisingly, Roastmaster Jason Alexander showed real improvement when not bleeped or edited. He was actually pretty funny. And, as expected, roast hangers-on Greg Giraldo, Patton Oswalt, Jeffrey Ross, and (especially) Lisa Lampanelli shine best when unleashed uncut in their full vulgarity. Betty White was awesome, as was George Takei, while Andy Dick remained intolerable. Fred Willard and Nichelle Nichol's moments on the podium weren't shown in full, but, sadly, Farrah Fawcett's weird "episode" was, in its full excruciating glory. I also noticed that the video clip with Leonard Nimoy which opened the aired show was absent in this dvd. Hmmm...

The bonus features weren't all that: a brief "Making of the Roast" segment, "Red Carpet Interviews," "Behind the Scenes Footage," and 3 Comedy Central quickies (short segments from the Colbert Report, Reno 911, and Drawn Together). The one to check out is the "Red Carpet Interviews," where you get to see the cute, bespectacled interviewer (her name's Jessie something) start out sober as she talks to the roasters before the show; then, the camera cuts to after the roast and to a drunk off her mind Jessie, who's still interviewing! It's a gas.

Your Apple is ready for your Roasting, Mr. Shatner
I use to love the old Dean Martin Celebrity roasts. The pokes at the person roasted were well aimed. Comedy Central has taken over the tradition, they have only done a few..however their previous subjects (Jeff Foxwothy, Pam Anderson) have been quite at home with their Roasting

Eighty minutes is too short for a roasting for William Shatner. The former Captain Kirk/T.J. Hooker/Priceline dot com Diva is right at home being roasted.

This so called tribute starts with a taped message from his former co-star Leonard Nimoy who in his spockian way said "A Roast, why are you doing it>? Is it for the food?' Pointing out that Shatner has put on a few pounds since his Trek days

And that gets the ball rolling uphill as most of Shatner media career from Trek to Priceline, from Boston Legal's Denny Crane to his singing styles are poked and slammed dunked home

Shatner takes this spirited roast in great form, seeming to crave more and more roasting from many people as the audience (YOU) will want more too.

AS in Free Enterprise (see my review), Shatner pokes fun at himself..Now in other hands, Shatner just sits back and laughes and so will you

So Beam aboard for the laughes

Bennet Pomerantz