Comedy Central Roasts Joan Rivers

by Quendrith Johnson
Jul 28th, 2009 | 3:31 PM | Comments 2

During last Sunday’s taping of The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers at CBS Studios, Mario Canton (Sex and the City), Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond), Gilbert Gottfried, Carl Reiner, Greg Giraldo, Robin Quivers (Howard Stern Show), Tom Arnold, and comedians Jeffrey Ross and Whitney Cummings (MTV’s Punk’d), lined up to take shots at comedy’s most famous ‘insult queen’ Joan Rivers. Hosted by Kathy Griffin, the melee began with Griffin taking some of the incoming fire with an opening salvo when the roasters dubbed her “Tranny Bonaduce” and got raunchier by the minute. “Your face has been lifted more times than Bristol Palin’s prom dress,” said Garrett.

The botoxic roast airs August 9th, and not to give it all away — but Mario Cantone dug up impressions of divas Bette Davis, “we’re waiting for you in hell, Joan,” and Judy Garland “from Heaven.” Most of what was said about Rivers is virtually unprintable, especially the friendly fire from Kathy Griffin. Which explains why Joan literally slapped her in the face, all in good fun, near the finale; “I asked you to do this! I thought you were my friend!”

Highlights (Or Lowlights):

Greg Giraldo: “You used to look your age, but now you don’t even look like your species.”
Jeffrey Ross: “If you Google her, you can find her on Craigs and Schindler’s List.”
Tom Arnold: “When she read her husband’s suicide note, she sent it back for a rewrite.”

Even Carl Reiner, the nine-time Emmy winner and comedic legend dropped the f-bomb, the c-bomb and just about every banned word you can think of. “On the Dick Van Dyke show we couldn’t even say ‘pregnant’. Now I am freeeee,” he shouted.

“Carl, that was filth! Filth!,” Rivers shrieked from the podium when she got her chance at the end. Joan’s signature refrain “Is it too soon?” applied to most of her own jokes, especially about Michael Jackson’s youngest son Blanket — “I’ll change his name to Afghan and sell him on QVC.”

Despite the mock horror, when Comedy Central’s Roast of Joan Rivers airs you’ll be amazed at the 76-year-old’s energy level and incredible performance as she closes out the show with the anti-retirement slogan “Comedy Needs Me!”

Daughter Melissa Rivers told Fancast it’s just business as usual in their world: “I’m always in sort of emergency preparedness position. My life is full of shocking events, so it’s hard to pick one. My teen years were just a haze of embarrassment and unhappiness. It’s a wonderful group of people tonight. Then again, she’s so focused on her job, I’m totally proud of her.”

Look for veteran shock comic Don Rickles and Joan’s Apprentice “boss” Donald Trump to make surprise video cameo appearances in this special tribute.
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Watch Comedy’s Central’s roast of Joan Rivers August 9 on Comedy Central.