I’m in the midst of packing (and teaching, etc), so I only have a moment, but I wanted to bitch a bit–Comedy Central is polluting the airwaves with its ads for the new roast of David Hasselhoff.
I’ve loved Comedy Central since its early days. The first things they used to show were reruns of SNL, Monty Python, and, wait for it . . . stand-up! Now the network is anchored by the best news shows on tv and other original programming. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough actual comedy sometimes, but it’s still a great place to land on in the shuffle of life.
Except that they really don’t seem to know what a roast is. A roast is when friends of a comedian tear the comedian a new one and then the comedian tears back.
It is NOT when some comics the network is trying to feature (some of whom have never met the roastee) gather around the easiest target in the world and make the most predictable jokes in the world. That’s not comedy–that’s laziness. Shoving some unseasoned potatoes in the microwave won’t give you roasted goodness.
Can you roast Chevy Chase? Yes, and they have, but in recent years they have featured such amazing non-comedians as flavor-flav, (I’m not googling that to make sure I spelled it right), William Shatner, and Pamela Anderson. We can do better than this–didn’t Obama’s election teach us anything about striving higher or about hope?
In other news, my new matchflick column is up: http://www.matchflick.com/column/2199
