We’re used to NFL games lasting three hours or more, but a three-hour comedy roast? And will it be broadcast live around the world? Who is crazier about this decision: Netflix or Tom Brady for agreeing to be criticized by his former teammates, his coach and a handful of comedians?
TOM BRADY’S ROAST: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: Previously considered “The Greatest Roast of All Time,” Kevin Hart presided over this live event in front of a sold-out crowd of mostly New England Patriots fans who filled the Kia Forum in Los Angeles to see Tom Brady , the retired record. quarterback with seven Super Bowl rings under his belt, will be criticized by Hart and comedians such as Jeff Ross, Nikki Glaser, Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura, Sam Jay, Andrew Schulz, Tony Hinchcliffe, plus Will Ferrell as “Ron Burgundy” , plus former Patriots teammates Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski and Randy Moss, plus their former coach Bill Belichick, as well as people like Kim Kardashian and UFC founder Dana White, just to mix it up even more. Even Patriots owner Robert Kraft got into it. And for an added surprise before Brady had the last laugh, we were treated to an appearance by Brady’s biggest rival on the field, Peyton Manning.
What comedy specials will it remind you of?:It’s been a few years since the last Comedy Central Roast, but none of them were broadcast live to a global audience without bleeps or commercials. Netflix previously produced a Jonas Brothers roast, but this isn’t as tame as before.
Memorable jokes: With three hours there is a lot to choose from.
Sure, plenty of jokes covered topics familiar to Brady and/or Patriots fans, including the on-field Spygate and Deflategate scandals, or Brady’s off-field problems porcing Gisele Bündchen and getting involved in selling a scheme cryptocurrency fraud.
But there were also significantly funny original takes. Nikki Glaser criticized two future NFL Hall of Famers with a joke: “Tom also lost $30 million in cryptocurrency. Tom, how did you fall for that? I mean, even Gronk was like, ‘I know it’s not real money.'” Sam Jay made Brady’s predecessor QB, Drew Bledsoe, feel really bad about his Super Bowl ring by joking, “The only ring you have is the one Tom won. for you. So your Super Bowl ring is like my belt. Just because you use it doesn’t make it real.”
Former Patriot Julian Edelman surprised everyone with this joke about Jeff Ross: “Fun fact: Jeff and I are Jewish. The difference is that I’m the kind of Jew that people look at and say, ‘Oh, is he Jewish?’ And Jeff is the kind of Jew that makes you want to join Hamas.”
Kim Kardashian was nearly booed as she left the building, while UFC founder Dana White didn’t like the lack of support for her trans and gay jokes. Tony Hinchcliffe fared much better in mocking Jay after praising her performance, describing Jay as “an obese African-American lesbian.” So by having it, Netflix checked a lot of boxes. She is a black lesbian, which means she doesn’t eat pussies, she bites them.”
Pats owner Robert Kraft, who gave one of his Super Bowl rings to a certain Russian dictator in 2005, declared: “In case Vladimir Putin is watching, give me my fucking ring back, will you!?”
And for his part, Brady bragged that he could have taken Deflategate for the right price, mocked Belichick even after taking photos with him on stage, and even somehow managed to score a 9/11 joke thanks to a bit of misdirection.
Our opinion: Hart wondered at the beginning of the roast why Brady said yes to this in the first place. “What an idiot! Why would you do this? What an idiot!”
There’s a reason you probably don’t remember ever watching a live comedy on TV before this. Comedy Central roasts lasted between an hour and 90 minutes, two hours at most, but those broadcasts included commercial breaks, bleeps to censor language, and sometimes heavy editing to remove any moments that went on or went too long. of the line or maybe it shouldn’t. shared for public consumption.
So this was an unprecedented event. And with so many non-comedians participating, it presented even greater risks in terms of presenting comedy that’s actually funny and not just pure smut, filth, or offensive innuendo. Not that any of those elements should be surprising in a roast format. But when it comes from athletes rather than comedians, it may not seem so much like polished punchlines and more like that “locker room talk” that former presidents like to call comedy but which is very little, ha, ha, ha. .
On the other hand, Netflix tried to present a more family-friendly version of the format in 2021 with The Jonas Brothers Family BBQand those diluted insults that sometimes didn’t even seem like insults represented the other extreme of comedy, where you tell us that it is a barbecue just to serve an undercooked dish.
You may like one variation of Netflix or another, but probably not both. Or you could be like me and think there’s a third way to film a comedy that’s perfect. I’d be willing to give Netflix a chance to do it. But I’m still not sure live streaming it is the best way to do it.
Our call: If you didn’t see it live, let me save you some trouble. If you’re not a big Brady or Patriots fan, then the three hours will seem like hard work. But if you’re a fan, then I don’t need to tell you to STREAM IT. I just wish Netflix would also release a shortened, edited version of this roast, just the highlights like you might have seen on ESPN or NFL Network after the big game.
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