So this is winning.
Putting Comedy Central’s previous roasts to shame, Monday night’s “Roast of Charlie Sheen” set ratings records for the cable network, nabbing 6.4 million total viewers for a 8.7 rating among males 18-24.
The special, featuring roasters such as “Family Guy” creator Seth McFarlane, Mike Tyson, Slash and William Shatner, now stands as Comedy Central’s highest-rated roast ever (easily topping the roasts of Pamela Anderson, Donald Trump, Shatner and others). It also became the most watched telecast in the network’s history among adults 18-49.
The roast also played well online, where it dominated Twitter and other social activity sites.
The roast premiered the same night as the season 9 debut of Sheen’s former CBS show “Two and a Half Men,” with Ashton Kutcher acting as Sheen’s replacement, after the latter’s public dismissal from the comedy. That episode also broke some records of its own, but Sheen has 25 million reasons not to feel threatened.