The Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav DVD Review

Posted by Ryan Byers on 03.06.2008

How do you embarrass a crackhead wearing a viking helmet?

After ending their relationship with the legendary New York Friars' Club, Comedy Central began producing its own series of celebrity roasts in 2003, first taking on Dennis Leary and then Jeff Foxworthy and then Pamela Anderson and then William Shatner. The fifth installment of the series made its television debut in August of 2007 and featured rapper turned reality television buffoon Flavor Flav. That roast is now available on DVD.

Having just watched the show, I have to say that it's unfortunately a mixed bag. This shouldn't be a surprise, though, as reading the back of the DVD case makes it patently obvious that this is one of the weaker lineups in the Comedy Central Roast series. Part of this is due to the fact that many individuals present on the dais are not usually comedians and do certainly not come off as such. This is true of Brigette Nielsen and Ice-T, the latter of which surprised me given the fact that the guy has boatloads of natural charisma that you'd think would translate well to the world of roasting. Unfortunately he falls in to an old trap in that he's one of those guys who plays himself up as being too macho to truly be funny. The shows problems are not limited to lack of experience, though. Even some of the professional comedians failed to deliver. Patton Oswalt, though usually hilarious, was having an off night on this particular evening. However, a lot of that may have been the result of his positioning on the show, as he had to follow not only Nielsen and T but also CARROT TOP of all people. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Carrot Top is still working and apparently somehow got invited to participate in this show. I don't get it either. You could hear the crowd die the second that he walked up to the podium, and nothing that he could do was going to bring them back. When he busted out his ridiculous trunk of props, I thought that certain portions of the audience were going to rush the stage and string him up from the rafters. Other roasters did manage to make some fairly decent jokes at Mr. Top's expense, but there was just no way to justify his presence given the number that his set did on the crowd's enthusiasm and the overall flow of the show.

Though some of the non-comedians in the roast's lineup dragged the show down, others were perfectly acceptable. I have to give two thumbs way up to Snoop Dogg who, though he was not an absolute killer, did a respectable job with his set. I don't know whether he wrote his own material, but his delivery certainly made the jokes sound far more natural than those of any other roaster who does not regularly do standup. That's half the battle, right there. Snoop was flanked by several experienced comedians who all delivered, including Lisa Lampanelli, Jimmy Kimmel, Greg Giraldo, and Jeffery Ross. Kimmel in particular delivered a memorable moment when he had some improvisational interaction with the Flavor of Love girls in the audience, while Lampanelli provided a raunchy diatribe of the exact nature that people have come to expect from her. Unfortunately, her position as the final roaster of the evening seemed to be a little bit misguided, as the "shock value" initially associated with her routine as started to wear a little bit thin. If anything, the main event slot should've been given to Giraldo, who KILLED in his opening segment and was never topped for the rest of the evening.

Of course, the man getting the absolute last word was Flavor Flav himself. Unlike Snoop Dogg, he wound up coming off as horribly scripted and unnatural . . . but it doesn't matter. I have no clue why, but there is something about this man that makes him absolutely impossible to hate. People accuse him of giving up on the political ideals that Public Enemy represented, and others accuse him of appealing only to the lowest common denominator, but he's got a wacky charisma that makes him loveable no matter the circumstances. So, even though he was far from the funniest performer on the stage, Flav still served as a perfectly acceptable cap on the evening, particularly because he seemed to consider this roast a true honor, something that he was happy to be attending. We need more people in this world who are willing to be made fun of in such a manner.

Special Features

Red Carpet Interviews: This is exactly what it sounds like, as various folks are interviewed as they arrive at the show. Absolutely NONE of the interviews are funny, in large part due to the gentleman hired to hold the mic and in large part because the selection of interviewees wasn't exactly the best in the world. Who thought that the cast of Flavor of Love: Charm School would be able to offer anything insightful or witty?

Backstage Pass Pre-Show: This is roughly thirty seconds of the show's performers making comments about the roast before it happens. It's basically the b-roll of the bumpers that ran prior to commercial breaks.

Backstage Pass Post-Show: Same as above, although the comments are being made after the show.

Flavor Flav Gives a Tour: Flavor Flav stands outside of his trailer for ten seconds and then walks inside of it, where he is filmed for twenty-five seconds. Nothing of any note happens. I'm sure that you're shocked given the in-depth nature of this featurette.

Flavor Cam: After standing around in his trailer, Flav gets a small camera strapped on to his suit and walks down the red carpet before heading backstage. The highlight is his run-in with Brigette Nielsen, as the odd couple's height difference is shown from a whole new perspective thanks to Flav's eye-level camera.