New York Friars Club book of roasts : the wittiest, most hilarious, and, until now, most unprintable moments from the Friars Club / [edited by] Barry Dougherty ; foreword by Alan King.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dougherty, Barry.

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Friars Club (New York, N.Y.)--History.

Friars Club (New York, N.Y.).

Entertainers--United States--Anecdotes.

Entertainers.

History.

United States.

Genre:

Anecdotes.

History.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

272 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : M. Evans, [2000]

Summary:

The legendary Friars Club has been dishing out the jokes and doling out the insults for almost a century. Countless performers, politicians and popular personalities have been Roasted and Toasted by the Friars, much to their delight, sometimes to their chagrin, but always in the name of fun and love.

Since the club's inception in 1904, laughter has been the root of all the Friars evil -- they've devilishly spewed forth jokes, funny tales, and bon-mots. These pages encapsulate the best of the jests from the Friars historic, infamous, and always entertaining celebrity Roasts and Dinners. From their 1907 Testimonial Dinner in honor of Clyde Fitch (you don't know who the hell he is? Don't worry, neither do the most of the Friars, but now you'll all find out) to their final televised Roast of the 20th century (Jerry Stiller in 1999), take a peek at the Friars Club from the inside, where ribaldry is synonymous with fraternity.

Read actual comments -- word for word -- made at these events by such comic greats as Milton Berle, George Burns, Jack Benny, Johnny Carson, Carol Burnett, and many more. There are also personal memories and recollections shared specifically for this book from Whoopi Goldberg, Red Buttons, Ed McMahon, Jason Alexander, Steven Seagal, and David Hyde Pierce, to name just a few.

Joined in camaraderie and comedy, the New York Friars Club Book of Roasts is the very next best thing to being there.

Contents:

1 In the Beginning (Who the hell are these people who make Howard Stern seem like a virgin?) 15

2 The Early Years: Toasts Rule! (They may have worn tuxedos, but their tongues were dipped in venom!) 48

Clyde Fitch - 1907

Victor Herbert - 1907

Oscar Hammerstein - 1908

William Harris - 1910

Irving Berlin - 1912

Enrico Caruso - 1916

Al Jolson - 1918

Nellie Revell - 1924

Calvin Coolidge - 1925

Alfred E. Smith - 1925

Arthur "Bugs" Baer - 1926

Jimmy Walker - 1927

Fred Block - 1929

3 1950s

Through the 1970s: Let the Roasts Begin and the Cheers Continue! (You've heard the laughter from behind closed doors-now take a look through the peephole!) 66

Maurice Chevalier Roast - 1949 (Why serve Welsh rarebit when you can have New Jersey tongue?)

Sophie Tucker Roast - 1953 (She is woman, hear her roar!)

Humphrey Bogart Roast - 1955 (Here's pokin' fun at you, kid!)

Jimmy Cannon Roast - 1959 (Well, it's one of the few they still have on tape.)

Milton Berle Roast - 1959 (This would be Roast number 5,003!)

George Burns Roast - 1960 (Even then he was close to a hundred.)

Alan King Roast - 1961 (But what about me?)

Don Rickles Roast - 1968 (It's called payback, Don.)

Joey Adams Roast - 1976 (Here's to the Friars' crier.)

Neil Simon Roast - 1978 (He left holding the bag!)

Norm Crosby Roast - 1979 (Norman, can you hear me?)

Mike Todd Testimonial Dinner - 1958 (He never got a dinner.)

Dinah Shore Testimonial Dinner - 1960 (Nuthin' could be finer!)

Joe E. Lewis Testimonial Dinner - 1962 (Bottom's up!)

Johnny Carson Testimonial Dinner - 1965 (He kept things flowing.)

Barbra Streisand Testimonial Dinner - 1969 (Musical memories.)

Carol Burnett Testimonial Dinner - 1973 (You sure it's not a Roast?)

Frank Sinatra Testimonial Dinner - 1976 (Nobody move!)

David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, and Howard K. Smith Testimonial Dinner - 1978 (The Marx Brothers, were busy that night!)

4 1980s

Devilish Dinners and Rowdy Roasts (Tough guys and tempestuous gals) 132

Dr. Henry Kissinger Testimonial Dinner - 1980 (Accent on the testimony)

Burt Reynolds Testimonial Dinner - 1981 (Everybody but his hair was there.)

Buddy Hackett Testimonial Dinner - 1981 (Give this man a Roast!)

Cary Grant Testimonial Dinner - 1982 (Cheers and tears)

Elizabeth Taylor Testimonial Dinner - 1983 (Who's afraid of Joan Rivers?)

Dean Martin Testimonial Dinner - 1984 (Shouldn't someone tell him he was there?)

Milton Berle Testimonial Dinner - 1985 (Again!)

Red Buttons Testimonial Dinner - 1987 (Finally, he got a dinner! Now shut up already!)

Barbara Sinatra Testimonial Dinner - 1988 (Pretty in pink

sort of)

Alan King Testimonial Dinner - 1989 (Memories of me, me, me!)

Dick Shawn Roast - 1982 (Sometimes you just want to shower after a Roast.)

Sid Caesar Roast - 1983 (Your Roast of Roasts!)

Phyllis Diller - 1983 (Busted!)

Phyllis Diller Roast - 1985 (Let the punishment fit the crime!)

Jerry Lewis Roast - 1986 (France should be so lucky.)

Rich Little Roast - 1987 (So much time, so little material.)

Bruce Willis Roast - 1989 (Laugh hard!)

5 Oh, Those Naughty '90 Making Whoopi

and More! (Exiting the century with the laughs intact!) 199

Diana Ross Testimonial Dinner - 1990 (Call me Miss Friar!)

Clive Davis Testimonial Dinner - 1992 (Oh, my achin' back!)

Barbara Walters Testimonial Dinner - 1994 (These people are journalists?)

John Travolta and Kelly Preston Testimonial Dinner - 1997 (Kelly who?)

Chevy Chase Roast - 1990 (A whole new world)

Richard Pryor Roast - 1991 (The original Fried Friar)

Billy Crystal Roast - 1992 (One shattered ego)

Whoopi Goldberg - 1993 (The face that launched a thousand "Holy shit"'s!)

Steven Seagal - 1995 (Bye, Bye Berley)

Kelsey Grammer - 1996 (Pick a topic, any topic)

Drew Carey Roast - 1997 (Friars, you're on the air!)

Jerry Stiller Roast - 1999 (Swan Song).

Notes:

Includes index.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

ISBN:

0871319187

9780871319180

OCLC:

44573465