Finally, the Comedy Roast Competition Battle is Coming to Television
The hottest trend in live comedy last year was undoubtably the roast battle. What started as a way to blow off steam late night at the Comedy Store’s Belly Room in Los Angeles has now become a small industry, with roast competitions popping up all over the country in clubs and festivals. Now Comedy Central welcomes Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle to television spearheaded by the roastmater himself, Jeff Ross.
The competition series will pit comedian versus comedian in a battle of insults refereed by one of the comedians who helped usher in the era of the roast- comedian Brian Moses. The competition will run bracket style, with a panel of celebrity judges. We don’t know yet if the series will include some of the signature features that are a part of the club versions of Roast Battle, like an “all negro wave” (yeah that will probably at least get renamed), and near riotous (in a good way) audience participation, but there’s likely to be at least some component of the recklessness and insanity brought over to the tv version.
Anyone who knows a little of the history of Roast Battle is probably wondering how Jeffrey Ross is connected to ‘Roast Battle.’ There’s a long history behind this that’s as dramatic as a roast battle itself. You see, Rell Battle and Brian Moses created something really special when they started Roast Battle at the Belly Room as something fun to do after hours. The show was unmarketed and raw, and it blew up, quickly and organically. bringing celebrities and comedians out of the woodwork to witness the show. Nobody had ever seen anything like it before on a club stage. Later the two had something of a parting of the ways, with Rell Battle going to New York to create the “Rell Battle Roast Battle” at New York Comedy Club, and Brian Moses bringing his version of the show to The Stand, under the title Roastmasters International, which sometimes had a ‘Jeffrey Ross Presents’ attached, and sometimes not. Both incarnations of the original show have toured festivals successfully, and both have strong followings in New York City.
But it looks like Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle might be bringing the two splintered halves together again under their original ‘Roast Battle’ title, with Jeffrey Ross at the center of it all because of course, there is no bigger name in the roast business than Ross. Both Brian and Rell are listed as executive producers of the show. No word yet on whether they are actually collaborating on the ‘for tv’ version or if that’s just a nod to the two creators of the concept.
There’s more Jeff Ross in store at Comedy Central. The network also announced they are greenlighting Jeff Ross Roasts the Police. “Freeze you’re under a-roast!” is the tagline. The new one hour special was undoubtably created as a follow up to Ross’s last comedy special which took place in a Texas prison at the Brazos County jail. Ross is promising to take on hot button issues of race, profiling, and excessive force as well as the pressures, risks and dangers faced by those who sign on to protect and serve. The inventive comedy special will feature Ross on ride alongs, meeting up with cops, perps, activists, and more.
