Friars Club Roast honoring Jack Black, the view from the red carpet

The historical Friars Club roasted Mr. Jack Black to celebrate his many achievements. Roastmaster Bob Saget was one of the many stars to show up for the occasion, others in attendance included Artie Lange, Richard Marx, Oliver Platt, Carrie Keagan, Jeff Ross, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Amiee Mann, Michael McKean, Gene Simmons, Dee Snider, and The Spin Doctors. I had the privilege of meeting up with some of them on the red carpet to catch their thoughts on the roast.

First I met up with Jeff Ross, the king of roasts, and asked if anything was off limits for the roast. “Oh no. Today we’re roasting a comedian, so nothings off limits. We’re going to go full roast tonight.” He continued by saying, “I worked for days on this, I take this seriously, its like going to battle. I’m beyond excited and Jack told me last night not to hold back. I’m going to rip into him super, super hard.” Before moving on to another interview he gave us a taste by saying “Yea, well he can take it. He’s got some thick skin under all that blubber.”

I was then able to get Amy Schumer, who is known for never holding back, and found out her angle on attacking Jack. “I’m going to accuse him of having Down syndrome.” So, Amy is taking the clever, witty angel approach.

TV personality Carrie Keagan gave her input on the roast as well saying, “Well we had a little taste of it last night, we had a pre-dinner for the show. They were all historical but I know that Amy Schumer is going to rip him a new a*s hole. It’s going to be amazing. I think she’s genius.”

It wasn’t long ’til Bob Saget made his way down the line as well. I asked him to share his thoughts on being the roast master. “I got a lot of stuff I want to talk about, and I’ll get it out as economically as I can. I want to move it along. There’s very old people here, I don’t want them getting any older!” He went on to share some the requirements of being the host. “The usual stuff, the usual hosting stuff. Make people feel comfortable, let them know they’re here for a good reason, and laugh at ourselves. That’s all, oh and make fun of the person who is being honored. It’s actually a very loving thing to do.” Finally I asked if he had anything in particular he was going to tap into at the roast. “Can’t tell ya. They’re personal and offensive.” Bob said with a giant grin across his face.

Finally the belle of the ball, Jack Black was on the red carpet. All you could hear was the shutters of the cameras smack, as hundreds of photos snapped the goofy, loveable actor. He reached over and lifted his award (A flaming friar). At that very moment his pants fell down. Typical Jack Black fashion, no one would have expected anything different. When asked about his pants falling Jack responded “Um, I didn’t pack a belt and it just happened. As you can see I’m holding my pants up right now.” Which is truly was doing at the moment. It wasn’t long till someone asked Jack what he was going to say to get back in his rebuttal, where were Saget’s weak points. “Isn’t it obvious, it’s right there in front of you (pointing at Saget). I don’t know, lets see how cruel he is to me.” Finally I asked Jack if he was nervous about anything the roasters might bring up about him. “If I could fast forward right now I would, but I can’t. It’s going to be an experience.” Jack said with his classic smirk, “I’m going to see what happens and it’s going to happen, to me.”

Inside Black took shots from Saget who led a dais that included Friars Club Abbot Jerry Lewis, Friars Club Dean Freddie Roman, Sarah Silverman, Richard Belzer, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Oliver Platt. Saget set the tone for the afternoon by dropping myriad “f-bombs,” and with zingers like: “To say Jack is a one trick pony is an insult to ponies.” Roaster after roaster took their turn making Black jokes, referencing moments from his movie and music career. Jack could be seen more than once mouthing the words “that’s not true”, playing along with the jokes made at his expense. The dais also took shots at others in attendance like Gene Simmons, Dee Snider, Padma Lakshmi and Al Roker. There was a quieter moment of the night when Richard Marx, accompanied by a stringed quartet, performed mellow rendition of Tenacious D’s “F- Her Gently” – which left Black a bit embarrassed.

Finally, it was Black’s turn to take the podium, admitting that he was nervous because wasn’t a mean guy by nature. So in typical Jack Black fashion he tossed out his own “roast” jokes. Taking the first shot at Jerry Lewis with, “You know what else in popular in France? I don’t know, shoveling poop in your mouth. Roasted!” He continued with a dig at Jeff Ross: “Is this all you do?? Roasted!” And Jack had the last laugh against Marx when he said: “Remember that mullet you had in the 80s? You know what I had: dignity! Roasted!”

Photos by David Alan Kogut/Friars Club