"The Roast of William Shatner"
Comedy Central
80 minutes
$19.99
Now available
Grade: A
One of the best parts of "Star Trek" is picking it apart scene by scene. Of course, no one in that entire show has been nitpicked more than William Shatner.
While Shatner has appeared in other television series and films, he is beyond any doubt best known for "Star Trek." In honor of that fame is his roast. "The Roast of William Shatner," produced by Comedy Central, is an 80-minute DVD filled with laughs.
The roast is composed of comedians, trekkies and members of the original cast getting together and, you guessed it, roasting William Shatner.
The Comedy Central "roast" is an annual event consisting of a number of people making fun of not just the target of the roast but also the other roasters. Recent roasted celebrities include Pamela Anderson, Hugh Hefner and Jimmy Kimmel.
To say that they had fun tearing Shatner a new one would be an understatement. Every aspect of Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the starship Enterprise is laid bare in the most outrageous roasting imaginable.
No stone is unturned, nor -- for better or worse -- is any line left uncrossed. The show is not for those who will not tolerate lewd behavior. Swearing, explicit sexual references, gay jokes, fat jokes and face licking are all used while hunting for the most dangerous of game: fat old actors with distinctive acting styles.
There is not a single aspect of Shatner that is not torn down and tossed around. The roast gets an enormous feast off of the rounding off Shatner has experienced since he commanded the Enterprise. His acting style, or lack there of according of, is pointed out, quite literally line by line.
Talking monosyllabically? It is one of the most favored of all Shatner roasts. So too is his wavy brown hair, or as the roasters say, a dead animal. Funniest, and probably grossest of all, is the question of just what happened after the doors swished closed behind Kirk and Spock...
While older trekkies might be grossed out, the younger generation of those weaned on the Enterprise models A through E will be hard pressed to stop laughing. If ever you enjoyed the trekkie experience of tearing "Star Trek" in general and William Shatner in particular apart, laughs are abundant in "The Roast of William Shatner."
The roasters are led by roaster veteran Jason Alexander and joined by the likes of Andy Dick, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Silverman and "Trek" alums George Takei (Captain Sulu) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura).
All of them bring a unique perspective to the over-acting career of Shatner, and while a few of them are just not that funny, the others are downright hilarious as they relentlessly make fun of Shatner and each other.
While Shatner is the guest of honor, audiences get a hilarious glimpse of all involved, and while the roast is downright nasty at times, the funny parts more than make up for it. "The Roast of William Shatner" is asinine and disgusting, certainly, but it is an experience trekkies should not deprive themselves of.
