These Famous Stars Got Roasted On TV And Nothing Was Off Limits

Televised roasts are built on a risky idea: invite famous people into a room, put them in the hot seat, and let comedians, friends, co-stars, and rivals make jokes at their expense.

At their best, roasts are playful, sharp, and oddly affectionate. At their worst, they can feel mean or dated. Either way, they became a major part of American television comedy, from The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast to Comedy Central and Netflix specials.

This list focuses on public televised roasts, not private jokes, award-show monologues, or random talk-show teasing.

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers was one of the rare stars who could be roasted and still seem like the most dangerous person in the room.

Comedy Central roasted Rivers in 2009, and the event worked because she had spent decades making sharp comedy part of her brand. She was not just a target; she was one of the people who helped shape the language of celebrity insult comedy.

Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen’s Comedy Central roast arrived during one of the most chaotic public chapters of his career.

The 2011 special came after his exit from Two and a Half Men and months of headline-making interviews, catchphrases, and public controversy. The roast was a special where Seth MacFarlane served as roast master and performers including Mike Tyson, Jeff Ross, William Shatner, Jon Lovitz, and Amy Schumer joined the dais.

Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber was only in his early 20s when Comedy Central roasted him in 2015.

At that point, he had gone from teen idol to tabloid regular, making him a perfect roast subject for a network looking for youth attention and controversy. The dais included Hannibal Buress, Chris D’Elia, Snoop Dogg, Jeff Ross, Martha Stewart, and roast master Kevin Hart.

Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis sat for a Comedy Central roast in 2018.

By then, he had decades of material behind him: Die Hard, action-hero fame, music attempts, famous relationships, and a long movie career with both huge hits and easy targets.

Tom Brady

Tom Brady brought the roast format into the live-streaming era.

Netflix aired The Roast of Tom Brady in 2024, with Kevin Hart hosting the all-star special. Netflix described it as “full-contact comedy” centered on the NFL legend, recorded live in English.

Kevin Hart

Kevin Hart moved from roast master to roast target.

Netflix’s The Roast of Kevin Hart placed him in the hot seat, with Shane Gillis as roast master and Jeff Ross among the main figures involved.

William Shatner

William Shatner’s Comedy Central roast leaned heavily into his larger-than-life persona.

Shatner had been Captain Kirk, a spoken-word performer, a Priceline pitchman, and one of television’s most imitated personalities. That gave roasters decades of material.

Pamela Anderson

Pamela Anderson’s 2005 Comedy Central roast became one of the network’s most infamous early celebrity roasts.

At the time, Anderson was still strongly associated with Baywatch, tabloid fame, Playboy, celebrity relationships, and 1990s sex-symbol culture. The event leaned heavily into adult humor and the kind of edgy jokes that defined Comedy Central’s roast era.

Bob Saget

Bob Saget was a perfect roast subject because his public image had two very different sides.

To family audiences, he was Danny Tanner from Full House. To comedy fans, he was known for much darker stand-up. His 2008 Comedy Central roast played with that contrast, turning “America’s TV dad” into the center of a much more adult comedy event.

Roseanne Barr

Roseanne Barr was roasted by Comedy Central in 2012.

Her long career gave the roast plenty of material: groundbreaking sitcom success, public controversies, politics, her personality, and her famous 1990 national anthem performance. Her roast drew 6.4 million viewers in its original debut, making it the highest-rated Comedy Central roast to that point.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump was roasted by Comedy Central in 2011, years before his presidency.

At the time, he was best known to many viewers as a real-estate mogul, tabloid figure, and host of The Apprentice. The roast targeted his hair, wealth, ego, marriages, branding, and public persona.

David Hasselhoff

David Hasselhoff’s Comedy Central roast arrived after decades of TV fame.

He was known for Knight Rider, Baywatch, music success in Europe, and a public image that mixed action-star confidence with self-aware camp.

James Franco

James Franco’s Comedy Central roast in 2013 was unusual because it came during his experimental, overextended, sometimes confusing public phase.

Franco was an Oscar nominee, comedy star, soap actor, student, writer, artist, and public intellectual — sometimes all at once. That gave roasters a clear angle: he seemed to be everywhere, doing everything, and taking some of it very seriously.

Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe’s 2016 Comedy Central roast became remembered almost as much for the people around him as for Lowe himself.

Lowe had been a teen idol, a Brat Pack star, a political drama actor, and a sitcom favorite. His long career offered plenty of easy targets. But the roast also became famous because political commentator Ann Coulter appeared on the dais and was heavily targeted by other roasters.

Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin’s Comedy Central roast aired in 2019.

Baldwin had one of the most roastable profiles in Hollywood: respected dramatic actor, sitcom star, talk-show personality, political impersonator, tabloid regular, and a public figure with a sharp temper.

Flavor Flav

Flavor Flav was roasted by Comedy Central in 2007.

As a member of Public Enemy, he had serious music history behind him. But by the time of the roast, he was also famous for reality TV, giant clocks, loud personality, and romantic chaos on shows like Flavor of Love.

Larry the Cable Guy

Larry the Cable Guy’s roast gave Comedy Central a chance to target one of the most successful blue-collar comedy brands of the 2000s.

His catchphrase, accent, sleeveless shirts, and working-class comic persona made him easily recognizable. Roasters could joke about his character, his audience, his movies, and the difference between the performer and the persona.

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra was roasted on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast in 1978.

The episode brought together a major lineup of entertainers, including Milton Berle, George Burns, Dom DeLuise, Peter Falk, Redd Foxx, Gene Kelly, Ronald Reagan, Don Rickles, James Stewart, Orson Welles, and others listed among the roasters.

Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball was roasted on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast in 1975.

The episode featured major names including Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Henry Fonda, Ginger Rogers, Vivian Vance, and others.

Bob Hope

Bob Hope was roasted on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast in 1974.

His episode featured an unusually broad group of entertainers, athletes, political figures, and public personalities, including Neil Armstrong, Johnny Bench, Jack Benny, Howard Cosell, Phyllis Diller, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, Don Rickles, John Wayne, and others.

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