Torching 2024: A Roast of the Year

This was so awful I created an account just to review it.

Roasts with Jeff Ross are usually amazing, but this was an absolute trainwreck. An hour of awkward, corny, unfunny garbage. I cannot imagine who saw the planned material and greenlit this disaster of a show.

The jokes are all horrible, the impersonators (Biden, P Diddy, etc) were the worst I've ever seen. And just to be sure, they threw in a bunch of jokes with slurs that were completely unnecessary.

It's also full of bizarre D-list celeb sightings including John Stamos, Diplo, and... every comedian that was featured on this sad show.

Let me start by saying that I don't ever write reviews. Ever. This was just so bad that I had no choice.

I typically enjoy roasts, and there has never been a year more deserving of a good roast than 2024. Unfortunately, none of the acts were funny. None of them. Ms. Pat never disappoints, and somehow even she fell flat on her face. Even the live audience was unimpressed.

The ridiculous impersonators (P. Diddy, Biden, the Menendez brothers...) were unoriginal, unfunny props that were little more than a distraction from how badly the comics were bombing. Save yourself the headache and find something better to do with an hour of your time.

I absolutely LOVE Sam Morrill and Tim Dillon, as well as Mark Normand but my god, their material sounds like it was from the staff writers of At Midnight. But for as lame as most of their stuff was, it never comes close to how pedestrian Jeff Ross consistently is. I used to love his stand up but anyone who loves comedy can guess his punchlines before he delivers them. Worst of all is his new gimmick of pretending that he has a joke so offensive that he shouldn't even do it. Then he does the joke (a Menendez Brothers joke) and it was truly awful. Not offensive or edgy. It was just dull and silly. Spare yourself the time waster on this and watch Hinchcliffe and Nikki Glaser on the Brady Roast.

The Netflix roast special "Torching 2024" unfortunately highlights a significant flaw in the genre: the repetitive inclusion of the same unfunny personalities. This trend detracts from the overall enjoyment and creativity of the show. While Ms. Pat was a refreshing addition, managing to bring some much-needed energy and humor, she was one of the very few who emerged relatively unscathed from this cringe-inducing experience. The jokes often felt forced and lacked the cleverness that typically defines a good roast, leaving viewers disappointed. The reliance on familiar faces who consistently fail to deliver engaging content is a recurring issue in these specials. Ultimately, "Torching 2024" misses the mark, failing to provide the sharp, witty humor that fans expect from a roast, making it a lackluster watch for those hoping for genuine laughs.

I was ready to check out after the first 6 minutes but I felt it wouldn't be fair to write a negative review without finishing the show and giving the other comedians a chance. By the end I'm still holding this against Netflix though and probably Jeff Ross. The rest seem to be able to carry specials on their own so I'd like to hope they didn't write these jokes themselves. I find it hard to believe that the audience was laughing as hard as they seemed to at some of them. I'm pretty sure they took those clips from the two jokes out of the entire episode that were actually funny. The Biden impersonator was... interesting. Given the special's overall lameness I was bracing for another Trump so it was a fresh breeze amidst the comedy swamps of Dagobah. Featuring coked out John Stamos on drums trying a little bit harder to not appear coked out. Oh and to that 8/10 reviewer - please stop using ChatGPT to write your reviews, it's ruining the platform.