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Jeff Ross Roasts America
Comedy Central
August 22, 2012
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Worth seeing! One of the greatest things to come out of Comedy Central's annual roast product is a slew of comics getting the kind of exposure you may have only received during The Tonight Show back when being on it was considered a much bigger cultural touchstone. One such recipient of the warm embrace of the roasts is Jeff Ross, a comic you'll undoubtedly recognize from his many talk show appearances and as the de facto "Roastmaster General" of the 21st century, or perhaps that one time on Batman. In Jeff Ross Roasts America, you get a pretty solid introduction to what he does with a decent chunk of bonus features.
In this roughly 1-hour feature, Ross travels America doing stand-up while calling up the audience for a rapid roasting, which lets you get an insight on how he works as a performer. Certain jokes are staples of his live set (a pair of women come up on stage together, "Two fives make a ten!") while others are painfully specific razor-sharp jabs that are devastatingly funny. Seeing the drunk or otherwise intoxicated members of the audience compete with the comic for a sliver of the love Ross gets from his audience is a real treat, and the DVD features three full, uncut audience roasts where you get to see all the dirt. One young woman embodies much of what the Kardashian clan has to offer, and Ross skillfully squeezes out a fantastic performance from an audience member who security was on the verge of tossing out for being intrusive prior to telling security to escort her to his hotel room. How can you not love this?
Watching Jeff Ross work is always a treat, because you can just tell that you're getting a glimpse at one of the old masters in his earlier years. It's also damn funny, just be warned there's a shot of Jeff Ross ass on here so if you're watching it on an airplane next to some kid, make sure the kid's sleeping first. (Not that this happened to me or anything.)
In addition to his live performances, there are a few location pieces which aren't quite sketches and aren't quite as solid as the stand-up acts. The increasingly wild-haird comic does a decent job dodging filming sans permit, and the entire package provides a lot of funny. If you or someone you know loves the roasts and travels a lot, this is one of the better comedy releases that you could hope to bring with you on the road. If you're familiar with Ross' work, you should know roughly what to expect and the quality of the show is pretty steady throughout. And be sure to watch the bonus features, there's a lot of gold in there which was cut from the main feature for length.
--Adam Pawlus
September 6, 2012
