Jeff Ross Explains for the Regs, What a Roast Battle Is
Jeffrey Ross went on Jimmy Kimmel Live Wednesday night and explained for the non-comedy nerd universe what a Roast Battle is. Of course everyone who reads this site already knows what a Roast Battle is, so this is for the regs who don’t follow comedy on a day to day basis.
He described it as two comedians going mic to mic in verbal combat. Jimmy Kimmel says he went to see the show at The Comedy Store and called it unbelievably funny. Well it’s good that Jimmy liked it because he’s judging the semi-finals that will take place at Just for Laughs in Montreal next Friday. Ross told him his job was basically to get wasted and decide who’s funnier.
There is a long history to Roast Battle, and it’s a bit complicated but for TV purposes, Ross explained that the origin of Roast Battle was that two comedians were in the parking lot having a fistfight. And Brian Moses who was the referee of the fight that night (and is now a prominent part of the Comedy Central series as an Executive Producer, Referee, and Host) said don’t fight you guys, go home, write some jokes, come back tomorrow and have a roast battle. And they did. One was a stoner, one was a stutterer, and Ross said, “I don’t remember their names, but I remember it took them a really long time to do the battle. ”
The Comedy Central Show, he explained, is like a March Madness style bracketed tournament or a home run derby of roasting. Sixteen comedians are making their way to the final championship battle. They research each other, do their 4 or 5 best jokes, and sometimes it goes to sudden death. The rules are you have to be original, nothing is off limits as far as topics, and every battle ends with a hug.
We’ll be covering Roast Battle live from Montreal so stay tuned…
