Talk:Roast (comedy)

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I don't understand why being publically insulted by all your friends is considered an honor. I'm sure this facet of roasting must confuse other people, as well. Perhaps this subject needs to be elaborated on in the article.

24.126.174.180 10:39, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Agreed--70.67.6.8 04:02, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree as well Freeflux 18:40, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

This article needs a major clean-up, as it stands it reads mainly as original research. Placement in the popular culture of (presumably) the USA may well help, I am not aware of this usage outside of this narrow field Markb 20:01, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

The 'roast' is described quite well here however, the assumption is that the person being 'roasted' is not a hopeless tight-ass and they understand that love is best when mixed with a dash of sarcasm! How deep is the cave where people live who do not understand this?

I agree with the above poster. Perhaps it's a New York thing, or a thing with its origins in New York culture, but it's now pretty standard behavior in the U.S. I think. You "bust the chops" (i.e. playfully insult) of people you like, love, and respect. The "roasts" started out, and still continue, at the Friair's Club in NYC, and were carried to California and the Beverly Hills club by performers who were either from the New York area or had worked here a lot. It's really a part of American show business culture. Alinnyc 22:17, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

I must say that I don't understand the concept of Roasting at all. The article does indeed need a complete re-write and sounds an awful lot like original research. The problem is, the type of person who thinks that an insult is a compliment is not exactly the best person to identify whether or not an article is up to quality or not. 76.168.46.83 06:15, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

It's not 'thinking that an insult is a compliment'. As mentioned in some of the televised roasts, the idea is 'good natured ribbing'. Something that often takes place between friends. Anyone who has a citable source for common sense like this, please chip in. Or anyone who has "Roast of the Town", the book on the subject available at Amazon...

Isn't User:76.168.46.83's expression "the type of person who thinks..." begging the question? Roasts definitely exist -- they're a verifiable phenomenon and weren't made up to confound genteel Wikipedians. Surely you could find a videotape of some celebrity roast and see for yourself.

As for understanding it... who knows? My theory is that it's a kind of hazing ritual, a running of the gauntlet, for middle aged men belonging to societies of 1st-3rd generation American immigrants. They have to shed their old world customs to fully belong to the new world, to be "roasted" in the oven till they 're done, "forsaking all others" (as in others' cultures) as it were. --AC 19:15, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

The first time I heard of that "phenomenon" over here in germany was in TV-News about the controversy at Whoopi Goldbergs Roast in the Friars Club, as is referenced in her WP:Article: Quote: "In 1993, Goldberg was briefly involved with Ted Danson, who was married at the time and caring for his wife, who had survived a stroke. There was controversy following a comedy routine at a Friars Club roast that was performed in blackface. The fact that Goldberg herself had written the script was often overlooked." -80.135.146.211 (talk) 13:37, 11 April 2008 (UTC)