Roseanne Barr Challenges Roasters, 'I've Never Made a Mistake or Offended Anyone'
Roseanne Barr has been named the next celebrity to be roasted by Comedy Central. The special will tape on Aug.4 and air on Aug. 12; the star has challenged those who dare to make fun of her, saying, "I've never made a mistake."
"All I can say is good luck finding anything about me to make fun of," Barr chided. "I mean, I've never made a mistake or offended anyone in my life!"
However, her colleagues may be able to dig up a little dirt on the star. There's her marriage to Tom Arnold, which was frequently parodied on "Saturday Night Live," her infamous singing of the national anthem at a baseball game in 1990, and her outlandish, often crude stand-up specials.
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"Although Roseanne appears to be a demure, soft spoken woman eternally committed to the status quo, we believe under the surface is an explosive, trailblazing cultural revolution. We are honored to roast her," said Kent Alterman, an executive at Comedy Central.
"Celebrating Roseanne's unprecedented achievements in comedy and television will surely inspire us to make this roast more reminiscent of the classic roasts, where the intimacy of friends jousting with each other came through," he added.
The Comedy Central roasts are a throwback to the New York Friars Club roasts with legends such as Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, Don Rickles and Jerry Lee Lewis. The roasts were meant to be a celebration of a celebrity, rather than a mean-spirited special. In recent years, though, Comedy Central has received backlash for its choice of honorees, most notably Charlie Sheen.
Many thought it was too soon for Sheen to be roasted, given his unpredictable actions and harmful behavior. Comedy Central tends to roast men more often than women, and Barr will be only the second woman roasted by the show. Joan Rivers was the first, with her roast in 2009.
