Jeff Ross is called the "Roastmaster General" for a reason. He's this generation's Don Rickles, an insult comic who has participated in the last 12 Comedy Central roasts.
To Courtney Love: "You're like the girl next door if you happen to live next to a methadone clinic."
To Joan Rivers: "Who's your plastic surgeon? Tim Burton?"
To Larry King: " 'Larry King Live.' Even the title was an oxymoron."
But he doesn't just roast celebrities. He'll roast members of the Atlanta Improv audience July 24 to 26 in Buckhead and do the same with other comics at the Funny or Die Oddball Curiosity and Comedy Festival at Aaron's Amphitheatre in Lakewood August 10.
"I call up volunteers from the audience and I speed roast them," Ross said in a recent interview. He'll use their names, their professions and their looks for quick putdowns. "It's the ultimate judging the book by its cover," he said.
Every once in awhile, he said someone physically slaps him for his trouble. "I kind of like it. A lot of guys pay good money for that in Atlanta!"
But Ross has his limits - especially in public. "The other day at the airport," he said, "a guy stopped me and said, 'My brother is in the bathroom. When he comes out, can you roast him? He just got out of jail!' I didn't stick around for that one."
Ross said his ability to burn people goes back to childhood in New Jersey. "Everyone in my family was good at it," he said ."I had to quickly learn not to just take a joke but give it back. My uncle Murray was the first to bust my chops. We called him mean Murray. He'd make fun of my braces, my buck teeth. I worked at my parent's catering hall and was the boss's son. He would give me a lot of crap."
Today, he actually thinks of himself as a nice guy off stage, but he said as any given day drags on, he tends to become more ornery. "I do try to turn it off," he said. "But if I don't have a show coming up, I may just start roasting my friends and family, even my girlfriend."
Whenever he visits a city, he'll read up on the news ahead of time so he'll be ready with location-specific material. At the time of this interview, he was prepping for a gig in Nashville so Atlanta wasn't on his radar yet but he figures he'll have to address the Cobb man whose toddler died in a hot car. "I just have to let my jokes warm up in the car for a couple of weeks," he cracked.
I brought up some possible Georgia subjects he could potentially roast such as Honey Boo Boo, Paula Deen, Tyler Perry and Nancy Grace ("I wish someone would kidnap her already.")
Ross has nothing but admiration Rickles, who just turned 88 and is as acerbic as ever. "He's been very gracious to me over the years," Ross said. "Most recently, at one of his gigs backstage, he asked my girlfriend if she had cataracts since she was going out with me. I take that as a sign of affection."
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Ross is set to partake in the next Comedy Central roast but can't reveal yet who it may be. In 2012, he nabbed a regular show on Comedy Central all about roasting called "The Burn" but the network has since decided to just do occasional one-hour specials. "It's frustrating given how many people loved it," he said. "I guess Comedy Central didn't know what to do with it."
I asked if there's anything I could possibly say to insult him. "If you said I'm not going to run this article," he said, "I'd be insulted. I thought it was a good interview."
What? Is he flattering me instead of roasting me?
Comedy preview
Jeffrey Ross
8 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
$25 on Thursday, $35 on Fridays and Saturdays
The Atlanta Improv
56 E Andrews Dr NW, Atlanta,
www.theimprovatlanta.com, 678-244-3612
Funny or Die Odball Comedy & Curiosity Festival
Jeffrey Ross, with Louis CK, Aziz Ansari, Chris Hardwick and others
5 p.m., August 10
$47.35-$117.90 after fees
Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood
2002 Lakewood Way, Atlanta
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