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Greg Garrison Presents The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, Man of the Hour: Frank Sinatra Dvd!… More >>
Greg Garrison Presents The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts:Man of the Hour: Frank Sinatra
Greg Garrison Presents The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts:Man of the Hour: Frank Sinatra
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#1 by Jeri Watson A. Look on July 11th, 2010
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This is,without a doubt one of the most entertaining shows you will ever watch.Remember to breathe every so often so you don’t pass out.
For vintage classic,classy and funny presenters you can’t find anything better. This includes all of the great comedy names at that time in entertainment.
Some are listed on the credits and some are “surprise” guests.
This is classy comedy without raw language but there is plenty of sexual innuendo about Frank.
Everybody is fabulous but there are a few real standouts. Red Buttons is hysterical and Jonathon Winters kills the entire dais. They are all pretty much gasping for air from laughing so hard at Jonathon.
When comedy was really king!
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by H. Bala on July 11th, 2010
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From 1965 to 1974 Dean Martin hosted his own televison variety show, the last year of which featured a segment called “Man of the Week Celebrity Roast,” in which celebrities gathered on a banquet dais to lob funny insults at the featured roastee. This segment proved to be so popular that, after Dean’s show had quit the air, the roasts continued to broadcast as a series of television specials. This one, featuring Frank Sinatra in the hot seat, aired in 1978 and happens to be a very funny roast. Staged in the MGM Grand Hotel, it oozes that swinging Vegas vibe so identified with the Rat Pack, with everyone smoking cigars, drinking booze, and trading zingers. One gets the feeling that, afterwards, all these folks (except maybe for Jimmy Stewart) reconvened someplace and just kicked it up another notch, in some sort of wild and kooky afterparty.
I do like watching the crop of roasts which nowadays pops up on Comedy Central, but, watching those, one gets desensitized a bit, what with all the cussing that goes on. One tends to forget that sometimes comics don’t have to resort to the explicit to elicit laughter forceful enough that snot bubbles spew out the nose. The star-studded panel for Sinatra’s “dinner” shows you how it’s done back in the day, as these folks (even Redd Foxx) keep it clean. But that doesn’t mean that the put-downs lose their raunchiness or edginess (just check out some of the barbs thrown out by Milton Berle and Don Rickles). Some of the best and most famous comedians of that era and several all-time great actors (Orson Welles, Jimmy Stewart) show up to zing Ol’ Blue Eyes. And there’s even a U.S. President (although Ronald Reagan wasn’t yet, back in ’78). Matter of fact, if you’ve seen a few of these Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, most of the guests here make up a huge chunk of the recurring cast. Back then, there were some serious celebrities on the dais. Nowadays, we get Greg Giraldo, Jeffrey Ross, and friggin’ Carrottop.
Dean Martin, as ever, is the convivial roastmaster, laying it on well with his ease and his trademark inebriated act and the fact that he’s having such a ball. Not all the celebrities are funny, and, no, not all the celebrities are celebrities (just who is Ruth Buzzi?). Gene Kelly does ramble on with movie clips of him and Frank dancing. But, man, those who happened to be “on” that evening, they slayed the audience. Ronald Reagan’s warm and unassuming tribute showcases his humor. Orson Welles demonstrates yet again that not only does he have a way with words but also a wonderful delivery of them. And, even though his time on the podium drags on a bit too long, Peter Falk is surprisingly effective in his bit as his rumpled television character Lt. Columbo.
Of the professional comics, Uncle Milty, Red Buttons, Jonathan Winters, Charlie Callas and Don Rickles absolutely kill. To me, Red Buttons’ “Never Got A Dinner” routines are hits or misses, but he knocks this one out of the park, the best lines being his first one and his last. Jonathan Winters, a talented improvisationist, comes up with nonsense after nonsense that cracks everybody up. One of the best things about these roasts is watching all the other celebrities bust up laughing, and it’s especially priceless seeing Sinatra and Martin’s cracking up to Charlie Callas’s bodyguard routine. And Don Rickles, Mr. Warmth himself, is the final act and he predictably tears down the roof (although he’s not as funny as when he ragged on Ronald Reagan and Bob Hope in other roasts).
Not that there’s ever any doubt as to how tight Dean Martin and Sinatra were as pals, but hearing Deano’s intro to Frank and then Frank’s touching comments regarding Deano emphasize even more how very, very close these two guys really were, although I don’t know that they ever flew together in a cropduster, as Jonathan Winters alleges.
Two last things. One, where were the rest of the Rat Pack? And, two, even though I knew better, when watching this again on dvd, I couldn’t help but keep a lookout for Jeffrey Ross, who it seems to me has been put on this planet just so he can show up in every one of these things (that could be a compliment, or not).
Rating: 4 / 5
#3 by James Koenig on July 11th, 2010
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In 1977, Dean Martin hosted the “Dean Martin Celebrity Roast” series (which ran on NBC Thursday nights in the 1970′s and 1980′s). Of the many roasts produced in this series, this episode is especially entertaining as it focuses on one of America’s greatest crooners of all-time, Frank Sinatra.
The roasters are of course a who’s who of the Hollywood Golden Age. I especially enjoyed a video clip of Sinata and Gene Kelly performing dancing routines in three of their movies from the forties and early fifties. Old Blue Eyes was an accomplished dancer! Old George Burns begins the roasting followed by Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Stewart, Dom Deluise and Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Flip Wilson, LaWanda Page and Redd Foxx. Peter Falk makes a “surprise” visit as Lt. Columbo (a bit long in my opinion). Ruth Buzzi appears as Gladys Ormfby and proceeds to wallop just about everyone on stage. Ernest Borgnine surprises everyone with a rendition of his role as “Fatso” in “From Here to Eternity”. There are other “star roasters as well, including Telly Savalas, whom I never found particularly funny. Don Rickles is hilarious as usual and gives Sinatra a full kiss on the mouth!
It’s all good (mostly) clean fun. There simply is nothing like it today. The Comedy Channel is too profane for family viewing, and comedians today feel the need to shock their audiences with profanity-laced “jokes”. Not so with the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. These are adult oriented shows, certainly, but the jokes and gags are camoflaged enough so that little ears are not offended.
Want to laugh until your belly aches? Get this in VHS or DVD!
Jim Konedog Koenig
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Frank A. Pinto on July 11th, 2010
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The product seemed to be like someone put it together themselves. Sound quaility was poor. You have to put the volume way up just to hear it. The packaging seems like someone is making copies of the original and selling them.
Rating: 1 / 5
#5 by Addie Herring on July 11th, 2010
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The DVD is great, a little pricey though, bought it as a christmas gift. I watched it, it is good.
Rating: 5 / 5