Remembering the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
They were some of the funniest things on TV.
By 1973, “The Dean Martin Show” was losing steam. At that point, the show was remade into a series of celebrity roasts. The result was some great comedy, that in many respects holds up well today. Yes, in today’s light it was politically incorrect and sexist. It was also, on occasion, hugely funny. When I say on occasion, there were a lot of occasions.
The roasters were, by and large, actually huge celebrities at the time. And many weren’t particularly known for comedy, outside of their work on the celebrity roasts. They also had some high profile roastees.
Having watched a few of these roasts on YouTube recently, I put together a list of my Top 10 Celebrity Roasters. And here we go!
10: Maureen Morgan: To young people, that name might not ring a bell, but she was an extremely talented female impressionist. In addition to doing spot on impressions, she also had funny material. She was an attractive woman with a really neat Australian accent. In some ways, I’m surprised she wasn’t more well known.
9: Phyillis Diller: Phyllis used self-deprecating humor about her appearance. She was on the show fairly often and provided a counterpoint to some of the other comedic styles.
