The NY Friars Club Roast

The NY Friars Club Roast
Premiere	October 28, 1998
Latest	December 1, 2002
Creator	Friars Club
Network	Comedy Central
Style	Various comedy special
Produced	5
Origin	USA

The NY Friars Club Roast is a series of comedy specials where the Friars Club of New York "roasts" a fellow comedian or celebrity. In each roast, the guest of honor sits in a throne on stage while the roastmaster calls up friends, family and others who have worked with or have been inspired by the guest to viciously mock him. Although the roasts are typically filled with risque humor made at the expense of the guest, the Abbot of the club reminds the guest that "We only roast the ones we love."

The club has been holding roasts since 1950, for comedian and writer Sam Levenson, but the roasts were not broadcast on television until 1998, with the roast of Drew Carey. Abbot Alan King notably made fun of the fact that they had to pull some of their lewd humor back to be more television friendly during this first roast. The roasts were broadcast on Comedy Central for five years until the network split away from the Friars and began producing their own roasts under the name Comedy Central Roast.

It is unknown as to why the two split, but the New York Friars Roasts have not been broadcast on television since then.

Specials

#	Title			Airdate
1	The NY Friars Club Roast of Drew Carey			October 29, 1998
2	The NY Friars Club Roast of Jerry Stiller			October 27, 1999
3	The NY Friars Club Roast of Rob Reiner			November 1, 2000
4	The NY Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner			November 4, 2001
5	The NY Friars Club Roast of Chevy Chase			December 1, 2002

DVD Releases

None of the specials have been released on DVD.