What is it? The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts Collector’s Edition, 12 hour-long episodes on six disks from Time Life
When? Now
How much? $59.95
What’s a roast? Well, it’s a piece of meat that is roasted. But in this case, according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is “a banquet honoring a person who is subjected to humorous tongue-in-cheek ridicule by friends.”
As The Dean Martin Show neared the end of its life, it morphed into a series of specials in which celebrities were roasted by friends, co-workers and assorted comedians.
Martin, Rat Pack member and all-around entertainer, was a perfect host for this sort of function - charming, laid-back, funny and willing to take whatever barbs were thrown his way.
There were 54 roasts in all from 1973 to 1984, and only a few are included in the Collector’s Edition (the complete collection wasn’t provided for review), with roastees Johnny Carson, Michael Landon, Don Rickles, Joan Collins, Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Benny, Kirk Douglas, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope and Martin himself (with Rickles doing the hosting honors).
The various guests would take turns at the microphone, slinging jibes and insults at the man or woman of honor. These guests were often as distinguished and famous as the honorees, with big name stars like John Wayne and Orson Welles alongside top comedians such as Milton Berle, Bob Newhart and George Burns.
Not sure I’d like to sit around and watch people gang up on someone. It’s not really like that. While the guests do basically insult the guest of honor for an hour, it’s never mean-spirited. It’s easy to believe the people taking the hits enjoy it every bit as much as the others do.
Besides, lest you think it was all an exercise in group bullying, the star of the night always got the last word.
Some of them come across as more tribute than roast, particularly the one for Landon.
Be aware that these probably won’t be all that funny if you have no familiarity with the stars involved. It’s common for roast jokes to zero in on the subjects’ well-known foibles, hence multiple references to Benny’s parsimony and Martin’s drinking. Much of the comedy is pretty topical, too, so if you were not alive in or have no memory of the 1970s and early ’80s, a lot may go right past you.
There is some deception at work here. Despite attempts to seem genuine, the roasters and roastees didn’t always know each other personally and there was a prepared script (though some of the pros contributed their own material). And it’s obvious that the editors reused reaction shots when putting the whole thing together.
Are there extras? You can get a sampling of Martin’s other TV outings with Dean’s Place, a half-hour 1975 special with stand-up comedy and bits from famous patrons centered at a nightclub. Portions of Dean Martin’s Red Hot Scandals of 1926, which aired in 1976, go back to the Roaring ’20s with a couple of sketches featuring Jonathan Winters and there are five sketches from The Dean Martin Show. There’s also a 12-minute feature about Martin’s style.
More specific to the roasts themselves are interviews of varying lengths with Rich Little, Jackie Mason, Rickles, Betty White, Tim Conway and Ruth Buzzi as well as a pair of features in which famous fans and participants talk about the show and the people on it.
New this week: Call the Midwife, Seasons 1 and 2; The Doris Day Show, Best of Collection; Family Affair, Best of Collection; Kindred: The Embraced, Complete Series; Nikita, Season 3; Silk Stalkings, Seasons 6, 7 and 8.
Next week: Burning Love, Season 1; Damages, Complete Series; Degrassi: The Next Generation, Season 12; Family Tree, Season 1.
Style, Pages 50 on 10/20/2013