William Shatner roast

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Sorry, this is a thread poorly set up on the whim. Did anyone catch William Shatner's roast thing on TV the other day, when one of the celebrity speakers (I forgot her name) refers to George Takei as a Chinaman? Of course the entire night was also filled with a myriad of gay jokes directed toward Takei and Andy Dick, making me ultimately wonder that had Takei not gone public with his sexual orientation, would there have been many more jokes with regard to his race and/or ethnicity. Apparently, and this is nothing new, poking fun at sexual orientation is more acceptable in society than poking fun at race, and poking fun at Asians is in turn more acceptable than poking fun at blacks.

Granted that the nature of the event lends itself toward political incorrectness, would anyone have dared to use the term "porch monkey" in reference to any black person (because frankly I don't think it's exactly fair to compare "Chinaman" to "nigger") even within the given context? We could go on all day about how offensive roasts should be allowed to be since comments ranged from making fun of fat people to sexual impotence and acting incompetence. Anyway, if anyone wants to offer their two cents or branch off this discussion in a specific direction, by all means do so. For all I know I might have been the only one that happened to have watched a great deal of it.

[Golden Monkey]

The more willing people are to joke like this about a person's race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, weight etc is directly related to how accepting of the person they are.

It's a paradox.

At a roast like this if the roasters are avoiding "toasting up" anybody black it's because they don't really accept them. It's not the same as a PC mentality.

Besides, George Takei is pretty old so his homosexuality is going to be less of an issue on a certain level. If he was a young guy many people would be more uncomfortable about it all.

[Martino]

The more willing people are to joke like this about a person's race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, weight etc is directly related to how accepting of the person they are ...

... Besides, George Takei is pretty old so his homosexuality is going to be less of an issue on a certain level. If he was a young guy many people would be more uncomfortable about it all.

I now see why you left ageism off of your list of offences.

[Golden Monkey]

I now see why you left ageism off of your list of offences.

There is no such thing as ageism obviously, but yes old people get made fun of as well. At that roast people made fun of Shatner's age.

But people have other group identities that trump their age.

In fact knocking someone's age at a roast is routine.

[thaite]

Do you understand the concept of a roast? It's no-holds barred and as raunchy as you can get.

[TB4000]

I caught part of it the other night. Nobody has ever been as roast worthy as Shatner though. He's been ripe for parody for years.

[TyroneK(prettypretty)]

The roast was pretty disappointing in that it wasn't unrestrained enough. Takei made a good effort, but the professional comedians just didn't have their acts together. I wonder if a lot of it has to do with the fact that comedians drove Shatner parodies into the ground decades before this event.

[Golden Monkey]

Here you go, some Shatner roast clips:

Roast of Bill Shatner / Captain Kirk by George Takei / Sulu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKS-2v6e0Yg

***warning: Martino this will probably be too much for you.

more links are in the side bar.

Jeff Ross was good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb9kgzUSgMc

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Do you understand the concept of a roast? It's no-holds barred and as raunchy as you can get.

Of course I understand, in theory it's no-holds barred but there is always a limit. I'm willing to bet that no one would be using the "n" word or making nearly as many (if any at all) black jokes unless perhaps the speaker was black himself/herself.

On a side note, I didn't particularly think Takei's part was all that great...something about the way he talked just sounded really forced and awkward. And since I'm a fellow bastard, I enjoyed Artie Lange the most.

"William Shatner/Star Trek has been responsible for more people not getting laid than impotence."

[younggiftedandblack]

Of course I understand, in theory it's no-holds barred but there is always a limit. I'm willing to bet that no one would be using the "n" word or making nearly as many (if any at all) black jokes unless perhaps the speaker was black himself/herself.

On a side note, I didn't particularly think Takei's part was all that great...something about the way he talked just sounded really forced and awkward. And since I'm a fellow bastard, I enjoyed Artie Lange the most.

"William Shatner/Star Trek has been responsible for more people not getting laid than impotence."
The ones on the Howard Stern are no holds barred including using the "N" word. Least we all forget the roast of Whoopi Goldberg when her then boyfriend Ted Danson showed up in Blackface.

http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/entertainers/actors/ted-danson/danson-blackface-1.jpg

[thaite]

They ought to have a roast for Andy Dick. Except instead of making jokes, they beat the shit out of him.

[mr. x]

They ought to have a roast for Andy Dick. Except instead of making jokes, they beat the shit out of him.
Can I get a fucking witness!

[Golden Monkey]

On a side note, I didn't particularly think Takei's part was all that great...something about the way he talked just sounded really forced and awkward.

Well, George is about 115 years old and not a professional comedian. Also he's mainly a stage actor and a gentleman so this style is out of character for him. Sort of like kissing a girl, I guess.

And since I'm a fellow bastard, I enjoyed Artie Lange the most.

.......ah, actually the full term is "fat bastard"......... You're welcome. :wink:

And speaking of this fat bastard and the "n" word....I can't believe I just PCed that, here you go:

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/17775/Artie_Lange_on_racism.html