‘Roasted’ to a satirical crisp

Celebrity roasts don’t fare well at all in these parts, due to our homegrown stars and politicians’ inability to heartily laugh at themselves! That’s why, for local comics and spoofers, the rule of thumb is, “Roast at your own risk!”

In the United States, however, most luminaries of the show biz and political kinds appear to be far less onion-skinned, so the satirical roast is much more tolerated—and popular. In fact, it’s sometimes seen as a sign that a celebrity has truly “arrived.”

If he gets roasted by a well-known comedian, that means that he “deserves” the “hot” attention—and gleefully revels in being roundly and royally roasted.

In fact, the US tradition of the celebrity roast has become so popular that it’s being resorted to—on very special occasions—by President Barack Obama, no less!

Recently, the US chief executive said goodbye to the White House media corps by delivering the keynote speech at the annual Correspondents’ Dinner.

Most of the time, Obama is at the receiving end of the media’s critiques—but that night, the tables were turned and the “target” became the caustic critic, heartily “insulting,” not just the media’s top icons, but practically any luminary within “shooting” and spoofing distance!

Particularly vulnerable were “stars” on both sides of the political aisle, including some of Obama’s closest colleagues, like Hillary Clinton.

If Clinton could be made the object of hilarity, can you imagine the satirical scorn that Donald Trump would be subjected to?

At other times, some of Obama’s targets could have played the libel card, but at the Correspondents’ Dinner, everyone just had a good (and sometimes pained) laugh, and let it go at that!

Besides, when was the last time that the president of the United States found you “interesting” enough to insult you in public, from top to toe?

To make the presidential roast even more caustic, Obama shared stellar billing with a professional comedian, Larry Wilmore, who spoke after him—and went for the satirical and political jugular!

If Obama was cheerfully bitchy, Wilmore was “viciously” stern and even “cruel,” demolishing his targets until they were reduced to moaning and whimpering blobs of protoplasm.

In fact, he was such a poker-faced and lethal satirist that many listeners didn’t know how to take him—and few real laughs punctuated his take-all-prisoners speech!

So, why was Wilmore chosen for the signal honor of sharing the stage with President Obama? Because he’s so infamously “remorseless” in his political tirades, having acerbically distinguished himself as a standout comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, media critic and TV talk show host.

Thus, he was “allowed” to roast his stellar targets and victims—to a satirical crisp!