So after watching Comedy’s Centrals new roast, I realized the reason Donald Trump agreed to be bashed on national television. I understand he raised $2 million for charity but still, something seemed sketchy about it. At the end of the whole roast Donald admitted his desire to run for President of the United States and quickly shared his sales pitch with the audience and the rest of America. Hm, sketchiness solved.
But anyway, the roast overall was a pretty decent one, seeing as it’s not too difficult to make fun of big man Trump. Throughout the night, various roasters went up on stage to bash the potential-future president. Celebrity roasters included Snoop Dogg, Jeff Ross, Lisa Lampanelli, Whitney Cummings, Anthony Jeselnik, Marlee Matlin, Larry King, and Seth MacFarlane. The one who stuck out was the comedic performance by none other than Mike “The Situation” Sorentino from the cast of “The Jersey Shore.” The “Situation” seemed very uncomfortable and very nervous on stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in front of a sold-out crowd, making his performance all the more entertaining to watch.
As various boos filled the event, all directed at Mike “The Situation,” he whined, “This is my first time doing comedy!” To which comic Jeff Ross retorted, “And your last!”
It didn’t take long for the crowd to realize that Mike wasn’t funny and his jokes took too much time to develop. This, combined with his poor delivery, resulted in the Roast becoming more about “The Situation” than about Donald Trump. In case you missed it, I’ll put it to you this way: “The Situation” bombed so hard at The Roast of Donald Trump, that he was nearly booed off stage until Jeffrey Ross came to his rescue (presumably for the sake of the show, not for the “Jersey Shore” star’s dignity, which obviously doesn’t exist anyway).
What stands out most about “The Situation’s” performance is simply the lack of perspective. He seems to be laboring under the notion that whatever he wants to do, he can. And why not? Being a guy with no real ambition beyond some kind of bizarre tanning, working out and laundry ethos has paid off for him handsomely so far. Why shouldn’t he think, “Oh, yeah, I can do comedy”? Why shouldn’t Snooki write a novel, for that matter?
One would hope that the reaction “The Situation” got, would give make him pause to reconsider his life choices, but one would be wrong. According to Lisa Lampanelli, when he returned to his seat, he said he thought it went pretty well. I guess it depends on your criteria for judgment. Did he do “pretty well” compared to how the actual comedians surrounding him did? Not by a long shot. Did he do “pretty well” compared to his fellow non-comedians, Marlee Matlin, Larry King and Snoop Dogg did? No way. In fact, Matlin and Snoop had two of our favorite sets of the night. But did he do “pretty well” compared to how someone from the cast of “Jerseylicious” might have done? Maybe.
While Mike “The Situation” was clearly the talk of this roast, Donald Trump had his own share of publicity stunts. The roast master and “Family Guy” creator, Seth MacFarlane, spent a good part of the event blasting Donald Trump’s presidential aspirations. “Trump opposes abortion,” said MacFarlane, “which makes sense, because that’s his next wife he may be killing.”
Snoop Dogg even got in on the action, “You’re thinking of running for President? Wouldn’t be the first time you pushed a black family out of their house.”
