Dean Martin was a fixture on NBC for 2 decades in primetime, starting with The Dean Martin Show, which anchored the network's Thursday lineup for 8 of its 9 seasons, moving to Fridays for the final year (1973-4). During that final season, the series was renamed, The Dean Martin Comedy Hour, which began a series of shows that were meant to be a cleaner, less bawdy version of the Friars' Club's legendary roasts.
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts were spun off into its own series in 1974, starting as a series of periodic specials before landing a weekly berth for a while. 54 roasts were presented in all. Once the ribbing starts, you can't stop laughing. Trust me.
For years, infomercial kingpins Guthy-Renker hawked a "best of" DVD collection, but as of 2 years ago, Time-Life took over the license, through its new StarVista division. The disc I have has edited versions of the Hope & Johnny Carson roasts. Edited not so much for commercials, but sudden jump cuts from one roaster to the next. StarVista warns ahead of time that the quality of their disc isn't great, doing what they could to remaster the footage.
The 1973-4 roasts were taped at NBC's Burbank studios, but beginning sometime after the Hope roast, the scene shifted to Las Vegas at the MGM Grand.
For starters, here's a 1973 roast of Carson:
The Hope/Carson Roast DVD also includes a 1975 failed pilot, Dean's Place, which I'll review another time. Trust me, there's a reason it failed.
Rating: A.
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