Shatner Gets Roasted

[Kor37 9]

Pals Burn William Shatner at Roast

 

Monday Aug 14, 2006 8:25am EST

By Bryan Alexander

Shatner at his Comedy Central roast on Aug. 13

CREDIT: CHRIS POLK / FILMMAGIC

 

William Shatner felt the heat Sunday at a Comedy Central roast in his honor.

 

The Star Trek and Boston Legal star, 75, arrived at the event, filmed at the CBS Radford Studios in Studio City, Calif., and slated to air on Comedy Central on Aug. 20, riding a horse – and thereafter was referred to as an *buttocks*.

 

Asked why he would subject himself to such insults, Shatner told PEOPLE earlier, "It seemed like a cool idea at the time. No one can say anything that hasn't been said already."

 

In a videotaped plea, Shatner's Miss Congeniality costar Sandra Bullock asked the roasters to "go easy on the old coot," but that didn't stop Shatner's Star Trek costars, roastmaster Jason Alexander and comedians including Andy Dick and Greg Giraldo from slamming everything from Shatner's paunch to his hair to his hammy acting style.

 

As Shatner sat in Captain Kirk's chair from the original Star Trek, Farrah Fawcett took a stab at his "so-called singing career" before introducing clips of Shatner's musical efforts through the years.

 

Andy Dick wore pointy ears and a blue uniform to reveal that he is the secret love child of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.

 

Star Trek's Lt. Uhura, Nichelle Nichols – who first worked with Shatner when the series debuted 40 years ago – told PEOPLE on the red carpet, "Bill always gets what he wants. Tonight we get what we want. It's payback time."

 

But Shatner may still get the last laugh: On Emmy night, Aug. 27, he'll vie for best supporting actor in a drama for his portrayal on Boston Legal of eccentric lawyer Denny Crane – a role that has already won him two Emmys.

 

 

 

This sounds pretty good. I'll have to be sure to watch it when it comes on.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

I'm definitely going to watch

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

I might have watched, but I really don't think I can stomach an appearance by Andy Dick. He is even more obnoxious than Carrot Top or Pauley Shore.

[Capt_Picard 0]

I just can't wait to see "The Shat hit the fan!"

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

Bumping to remind everyone that it's in 21 hours! Set your VCR or TiVo if you won't be able to catch it!

[MrPsychic 1]

One random thing that could link Andy Dick to Shatner is that he was the EMH Mark 2 from Voyager.

[Stephen of Borg 2]

so, what did you think about the roast last night? I really enjoyed it! It had a lot of funny moments and it was great to see George and N.Nichols get along with Shatner

[Capt_Picard 0]

From all I saw I don't think anyone of us are old enough to see what happened.

[Trekmachine 0]

It was Great

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

I'm pissed with Comedy Central that they didn't air Nichols' or Willard's segments, or that Andy Dick's segment seemed to get cut. Of course, Dick was as unfunny as Wilford Brimley's Liberty commercials. Seriously, he was lame at Pam Anderson's roast too. Ugh.

 

Greg Giraldo was the best. I almost hyperventilated by the end of his material. Jeffrey Ross and Lisa Lampenelli were hilarious too. Patton Oswald and Artie Lange were ok. George Takei did remarkably well, though he could have cut the gay jokes just a little bit short, considering everyone else was running them into the ground. Betty White was better than I hoped for. Jason Alexander wasn't as good as I had hoped. Farrah Fawcett and Andy Dick both sucked; you'd have thought one of them would have taken it up the rear instead. (Can I get away with that joke? Will the mods edit it?) Ben Stiller and Sandra Bullock both looked staged and stupid. The Balok (sp?) bit with Adam Carrolla's voice was pretty lame. The airport sketch with Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman was the best off-site sketch. Shatner's comeback was decent.

[Data 0]

I thought it was rather silly. The only person who was really funny was Jason Alexander. The rest seemed to be just put on. I did enjoy the little skit with Leonard Nimoy in the beginning. I felt there were too many jokes about George Takei being gay. For some reason it did not fit in a roast for William Shatner. It drew too much attention to Takei. Who cares that Takei is gay? It does not change how I feel about him as an actor.

 

Note: I always felt that George did a great job in his role as Sulu.

[youbroughtheryouRiker 2]

Well, at roasts, the other people on the dais get attacked in addition to the guest of honor, along with others in general, such as Adrian Zumed (sp?), Carrie Fisher, David Spade, etc.). Everyone else did it too. Look at Takei's opening joke..... at Jason Alexander (though that was a classic bait-and-switch gag, Artie Lange did it too at Carrie Fisher). Again, though, I agree too many gay jokes.

 

I guess I just expected more from Alexander.

Edited August 21, 2006 by youbroughtheryouRiker