Whether it’s truTV’s new show Comedy Knockout or the famous Dean Martin Celebrity Roast series of the mid-to-late ’70s, all modern and past comedy roasts owe their existence to the New York Friars Club. What began as the Press Agents Association in turn-of-the-century New York quickly morphed into a much larger organization whose purpose changed over the years. Instead of criticizing corruption on Broadway, they were kidding each other over a few drinks and a meal.
This same lineage has also produced some of the finest comedians of the 20th and 21st centuries. Countless stand-up comics, actors, and all-around entertainers have graced the podium for the Friars Club and its many successors. Some were old hands embarking on a path of career renewal, like Milton Berle, and others were getting their first big break, like Jeff Ross and Lisa Lampanelli.
Here’s how some of our favorite comedians redefined their careers while dishing it out at celebrity roasts.
Jeff Ross
The current “Roastmaster General” of the New York Friars Club, comedian Jeffrey Ross’ name and face have become synonymous with the word “roast.” His most recent appearances include the infamous take-down of pop star Justin Bieber and a one-man show at a Texas jail. Yet as Ross recalled in 2009, it was a joke about Sandra Bernhard and Bea Arthur’s imagined male appendage at the roast of Jerry Stiller 10 years before that ignited his career. “She gave me this hilarious stare, this stink-eye that made — let’s face it — an okay joke into a great moment,” he said on the occasion of Arthur’s death.
Milton Berle
Before comedy legend Milton Berle earned the nickname “Mr. Television” for his pioneering work on the medium in the late 1940s, he’d worked for decades as a child actor, vaudeville performer, and radio personality. However, just before his 40th birthday, Berle and a few other Hollywood actors and comedians took their cue from the New York Friars Club and founded a Beverly Hills chapter in 1947. The club later changed locations in 1961, but not its mission. The club and its roasts, which were later televised on NBC’s Kraft Music Hall program, revitalized Berle’s career and launched him into the comedy circuit.
Lisa Lampanelli
Insult comic Lisa Lampanelli’s name appeared in newspaper and magazine bylines before it ever graced the credits of a televised roast. Just before she turned 30, she decided to quit journalism and take on a career in stand-up. The Connecticut native spent most of the ’90s working clubs, touring and learning improv — a long road that eventually led to her public debut with what The New York Times called a “scatological dissection of Chevy Chase” at the SNL alum’s 2003 roast. That appearance led to frequent roasting gigs for television, radio, and private dinners, as well as five comedy specials.
Don Rickles
After serving in the military, Don Rickles tried acting before giving up and doing stand-up instead. As the now-89-year-old told The New York Times in 1996, things didn’t pick up until he started heckling his audience. That’s when Frank Sinatra walked into the Miami Beach night club Rickles was performing at in 1957. He spotted the singer and famously said, “I just saw your movie, The Pride and the Passion, and I want to tell you, the cannon’s acting was great. Make yourself at home, Frank. Hit somebody.” Rickles became fast friends with Sinatra and, as a result, appeared frequently at roasts for the Friars Club and Dean Martin’s specials.
Natasha Leggero
Despite not appearing in the final cut of the roast itself, Natasha Leggero was on hand for the 2005 event designed to ridicule and celebrate Pamela Anderson. Ten years later, she’d appear briefly at the Roseanne Barr roast in a similar fashion, now with a decade’s worth of stand-up, talk show and various comedy program appearances under her belt. Yet it wasn’t until her back-to-back spots at the James Franco and Justin Bieber roasts that the 42-year-old comic made a huge splash in the pool. She has since become a regular on panel shows like @midnight and the fantastic Another Period.
Nipsey Russell
The late Nipsey Russell’s early career consisted of stage work, lyrical performances and late-night comedy appearances on various shows throughout the ’50s. During the ’60s and ’70s, however, “the poet laureate of television” went on to become a staple on two similar yet different types of television entertainment — game shows and celebrity roasts. He was best known as a regular panelist on Pyramid throughout the latter decade, but his biting jokes on The Dean Martin Show and The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts catapulted Russell into the stratosphere among the ever-growing insult comedy community.
Rich Little
Another fixture of The Dean Martin Show and The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, Rich Little made a name for himself as an impressionist on The Judy Garland Show in 1964. This led to additional spots on numerous variety and talk show programs — many of which featured his impeccable take on former U.S. President Richard Nixon. When Dean Martin added Little to the regular mix of roasters on his programs in the early ’70s, however, the comedian found himself thrust into an increasingly large spotlight. This quickly segued into more gigs on more shows and, for a short time in 1976, his own program.
Patrice O’Neal
After years on the stand-up circuit in the ’90s, Patrice O’Neal went to further find and craft his voice in the UK. The Brits loved him, especially Ricky Gervais, so he returned in 2002 and quickly scored work on talk shows and comedy programs. Then came the roasts of Jeff Foxworthy (2005), William Shatner (2006) and Charlie Sheen (2011). The latter was O’Neal’s final television appearance before his death, and it ensured his legendary status.
See more epic comedy takedowns when truTV’s Comedy Knockout premieres on April 21 at 10:30/9:30c.
