Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Bill Shatner
Likes: A good roast, Comedy Central
Dislikes: "TJ Hooker"
Hates: Not being Bill Shatner

The Show
There are few men more manly than William Shatner. The man was Captain Kirk, for Christ's sake. Sure, there's nothing particularly impressive about his physique, his looks or his acting, but he exudes confidence (or perhaps arrogance) and has developed a healthy sense of humor about himself, which makes him a man with a capital M.

It also makes him a perfect subject for one of Comedy Central's roasts. For those not aware of the decades of roasts that have passed before, these events take someone well-loved and tear them to shreds with jokes that range from good-natured to viciously brutal. Comedy Central has brought the roast, which was once the domain of superstars like Milton Berle and Dean Martin, back into the spotlight, celebrating and denigrating stars like Dennis Leary, Pamela Anderson and, now, William Shatner.

The appeal of being able to be cruel and act like it's all in good fun is undeniable, and it draws out a good mix of comics and friends of Shatner, including Jeffrey Ross, Patton Oswalt and Kevin Pollack. Among the highlights are the filmed pieces featuring Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Sandra Bullock and others, Jason Alexander's smooth work as roastmaster and Lisa Lampanelli taking her very natural spot at the podium. Even Andy Dick, who can be extremely annoying, is good for some laughs.

Though the comic pros do a nice job of ripping the Shat up, to hilarious effect, his pals, including Betty White and Nichelle "Uhura" Nichols, are surprisingly fun. That goes double for George Takei, who embraces his newly-out persona, and cracks some hilarious gay jokes, as the star-studded (or at least Star Trek studded) audience laughs along with the insults. And, as is the norm at a roast, the guest of honor isn't the only one abused, though the roasters seem to laugh a bit too hard when they get the sharp end of the stick, especially Takei and Adrien Zhmed.

Sadly, the jokes tend to be very repetitive, poking fun at either Betty White's bladder, George Takei's gayness or masturbating to Farrah Fawcett. Considering how few true successes he's had in his career, the limited nature of the jokes makes sense. Can you really get a lot of jokes out of his appearance on the "Twilight Zone" or the one-note "TJ Hooker?" No. You're going to focus on either Star Trek or his ridiculous pre-"Has Been" singing career, which gets proper treatment in a surreal montage.

This disc presents the extended and uncensored version of the roast, which checks in at 80 minutes in length and is loaded with the vulgarity that went missing when the show aired on Comedy Central. This makes a lot more sense for a roast, as it fits better with the underlying mean-spirited attitude of the show. It isn't quite clear though what's changed outside of the obvious unbleeps and a taped segment with Leonard Nemoy (thanks to our readers.) The packaging says that "Music and content has changed for this DVD."

The DVD
The roast comes on one DVD, which is packed in a standard keepcase. The disc has an animated anamorphic widescreen main menu offering a choice to watch the roast, check out special features, view some Comedy Central Quickies or see the previews. There are no audio options or subtitles, but there is closed captioning.

The Quality
The full-frame transfer on this show is crisp and clean, looking better than it ever did on TV. The colors are bright and vivid, the image is very sharp and free of any distortion and there are no digital artifacts to be seen.

The audio is a straightforward television mix, presented as a Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks. It's not going to blow you away, but it fits the material fine, and delivers the sound without distortion.

The Extras
There's a small batch of extras included for the roast, starting with nine minutes of red carpet footage, as comedienne Jessi Klein interviews the stars arriving at and leaving the event. It's almost like warm-up for the roasters, as they slice and dice the other attendees, with Oswalt's Nazi wordplay winning round one. Four minutes of behind-the-scenes shows the comics at their loosest, and presents a highly memorable moment with White, who receives a fantastic joke suggestion that she sadly didn't take. The main extras wrap with two and a half minutes of "making of" material, as Shatner and the show's staff pull everything together. It's a look at a very real Shatner, and it also explains a bit about why Fawcett was there. The disc wraps up with the usual Comedy Central bonus material, including three Quickies bits and a handful of DVD previews.

The Bottom Line
If you're a fan of Kirk, Hooker, Crane or Shatner himself, there's no need to convince you to check this roast out, as it's great fun to see him lampooned, and his roasters savage him and each other. Sure, if you've heard the old-school roasts, this seems a bit watered down, but it's still pretty brutal and very funny. The DVD presentation is very nice, and the limited extras are entertaining, eliminating any reason you might have to not check this disc out. Unless of course you hate Shatner. And if that's the case, you need to check this out.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.