Roast Battle
Roast Battle is a British roast comedy show that is broadcast on Comedy Central.[1] The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr and features comedians facing each other in roast battles.[1]
| Roast Battle | |
|---|---|
 Promotional image for the show | |
| Genre | Comedy Satire Stand-up |
| Created by | Brian Moses Jeff Ross |
| Written by | Aiden Spackman Christine Rose Dan Swimer Dominic English Geoff Norcott James Farmer Jesse Joyce |
| Directed by | Liz Clare |
| Presented by | Jimmy Carr |
| Starring | Katherine Ryan Russell Brand (series 1) Jonathan Ross (series 2–3) Brian Moses |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Brian Moses Emma Clarke Gabe Turner Jeff Ross Jill Offman Jimmy Carr Louise Holmes Suzi Aplin |
| Producer | Mia Cross |
| Editors | Andy Kinnear Jason Boxall Philip Lepherd |
| Release | |
| Original network | Comedy Central |
| Picture format | 576i (16:9 SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 15 January 2018 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Comedy Central Roasts Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The show was created by American comedians Jeff Ross and Brian Moses and is based on their Comedy Central series Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle on which Carr has appeared as a contestant.[2]
Concept, format and production
Roast Battle is based on Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle, an American television series created by comedians Jeff Ross and Brian Moses that first aired on Comedy Central in 2016.[2][3] The American series is based on a live show created by Moses and fellow comedian Rell Battle that runs at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles in the comedy club's Belly Room.[2][3] Jimmy Carr participated as a contestant in Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle's first season.[1][2]
Roast Battle premiered on Comedy Central in the UK and Ireland in 2018.[1] The show is hosted by Carr and Moses acts as the announcer and the referee of each battle.[1] The winner of each battle is determined by a panel of judges, including Carr.[1][4] In the series' first season Katherine Ryan and Russell Brand served as judges.[1] The second and third seasons featured Ryan and Jonathan Ross on the judges panel.[5][6] The fourth season's judges panel featured Ryan alongside a different guest judge each episode.[4][6] These guest judges included Richard Ayoade, Big Narstie, Sara Pascoe, Noel Fielding and Joe Lycett.[4][6]
The show is recorded at the Electric Brixton nightclub in London and is co-produced by James Corden’s production company Fulwell 73 and Carr's production company Ideasatron.[4][7]
Reception
Roast Battle became Comedy Central's highest-rated UK commission.[4][8][9]
In December 2018, a complaint was upheld by Ofcom after a trailer for the programme featured an anti-Semitic joke delivered by Jimmy Carr towards Tom Rosenthal, the latter of whom is of Jewish descent.[10]
Transmissions
| Series | Judges | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jimmy Carr Katherine Ryan Russell Brand | 15 January 2018 | 19 January 2018 | 6 |
| 2 | Jimmy Carr Katherine Ryan Jonathan Ross | 1 October 2018 | 5 October 2018 | 5 |
| Special | Jimmy Carr Katherine Ryan Jonathan Ross | 10 December 2018 | 1 | |
| 3 | Jimmy Carr Katherine Ryan Jonathan Ross | 14 January 2019 | 18 January 2019 | 5 |
| 4 | Jimmy Carr Katherine Ryan Guest judges | 20 January 2020 | 17 February 2020 | 5 |
Episodes
The winner of each roast battle is in bold.
Series 1
| Episode | First broadcast | Battle 1 | Battle 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1x01 | 15 January 2018 | Tom Allen vs Suzi Ruffell | Phil Wang vs Ed Gamble |
| 1x02 | 16 January 2018 | Daniel Sloss vs Desiree Burch | Joe Lycett vs Nick Helm |
| 1x03 | 17 January 2018 | Bobby Mair vs Harriet Kemsley | Dane Baptiste vs Tez Ilyas |
| 1x04 | 18 January 2018 | Sofie Hagen vs Larry Dean | Alex Brooker vs Matt Forde |
| 1x05 | 19 January 2018 | Joel Dommett vs Iain Stirling | Fin Taylor vs Paul Chowdhry |
| 1x06 | 19 January 2018 | Jayde Adams vs Alex Edelman | Mark Steel vs Elliot Steel |
Series 2
| Episode | First broadcast | Battle 1 | Battle 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2x01 | 1 October 2018 | Fern Brady vs Ivo Graham | Chris Ramsey vs Tom Rosenthal |
| 2x02 | 2 October 2018 | Alfie Brown vs Jessie Cave | Daniel Sloss vs Phil Wang |
| 2x03 | 3 October 2018 | Catherine Bohart vs Sarah Keyworth | Andrew Maxwell vs Mark Watson |
| 2x04 | 4 October 2018 | Stephen Bailey vs Darren Harriott | Matt Richardson vs Angela Barnes |
| 2x05 | 5 October 2018 | Naz Osmanoglu vs Rose Matafeo | Alex Brooker vs Rosie Jones |
Specials
| Episode | First broadcast | Battle 1 | Battle 2 | Play-off | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas special | 10 December 2018 | Bobby Mair vs Ed Gamble | Suzi Ruffell vs Desiree Birch | Bobby Mair vs Desiree Birch | Suzi Ruffell vs Ed Gamble |
Series 3
| Episode | First broadcast | Battle 1 | Battle 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3x01 | 14 January 2019 | Tom Ward vs Darren Harriott | Tom Allen vs Larry Dean |
| 3x02 | 15 January 2019 | Kiri Pritchard-McLean vs Brennan Reece | Alex Edelman vs Joel Dommett |
| 3x03 | 16 January 2019 | Tom Houghton vs Lauren Pattison | Simon Brodkin vs Dane Baptiste |
| 3x04 | 17 January 2019 | Nigel Ng vs Tom Lucy | Johnny Vegas vs Phil Ellis |
| 3x05 | 18 January 2019 | Rhys James vs Lloyd Griffith | Rhys Nicholson vs Felicity Ward |
Series 4
| Episode | First broadcast | Guest judge | Battle 1 | Battle 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4x01 | 20 January 2020 | Noel Fielding | Laura Lexx vs Tom Livingstone | Baga Chipz & The Vivienne vs Glamrou & Crystal |
| 4x02 | 27 January 2020 | Big Narstie | Joe Sutherland vs Sophie Duker | Jamie Laing vs Ivo Graham |
| 4x03 | 3 February 2020 | Richard Ayoade | Ed Night vs Huge Davies | Richard Herring vs Sara Barron |
| 4x04 | 10 February 2020 | Joe Lycett | Adam Rowe vs Maisie Adam | Fern Brady vs Phil Wang |
| 4x05 | 17 February 2020 | Sara Pascoe | Dane Baptiste vs Jordan Stephens | Lou Sanders vs Luke McQueen |
References
- Logan, Brian (15 Jan 2018). "Roast battles and insult comedy? No thanks. We're British". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- Zinoman, Jason (29 July 2016). "Insult Comedy as Blood Sport: The Rise of the Roast Battle". The New York Times. New York City, New York, United States. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- "Finally, the Comedy Roast Competition Battle is Coming to Television". The Interrobang. Orange Pop Media. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- Lewis, Rebecca (15 Oct 2019). "Noel Fielding switches baking for roasting as he joins new Comedy Central show". Metro. London, United Kingdom. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- "Jonathan Ross replaces Russell Brand on Roast Battle UK judging panel". Evening Express. Aberdeen, Scotland. Press Association. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- "Comedy Central orders yet more Roast Battles". Chortle. 15 Oct 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- Clarke, Stewart (8 September 2017). "Russell Brand Set for U.K. Version of Comedy Central's 'Roast Batt". Variety. Los Angeles, California, U.S. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- Dessau, Bruce (29 January 2018). "News: Roast Battle Smashes Ratings Record". www.beyondthejoke.co.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- Price, Stephen (1 February 2018). "Roast Battle turns up heat". www.broadcastnow.co.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- "Comedy Central rapped over Jimmy Carr's 'antisemitic' joke". Chortle. 3 Dec 2018. Retrieved 2 April 2020.