Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Jimmy Stewart (1978)
Lucille Ball, Greer Garson, Red Buttons, Henry Fonda, Milton Berle, Foster Brooks, George Burns, Tony Randall, Orson Welles, Mickey Rooney, Don Rickles, Rich Little, Janet Leigh, Eddie Albert, LaWanda Page and June Allyson are just a few of the people honoring James Stewart and by honoring we mean cracking jokes on.
Next to the Frank Sinatra episode this one here is perhaps the best I've seen from the series. You can tell how much respect people had for Stewart simply by all the famous faces who showed up to pay tribute to him. As you can guess, the majority of the jokes are aimed at his voice, his skinny body and his kind personality. There are some hilarious roasters here including Berle who really gets things off to a fast start. LaWanda Page, no real connection to Stewart, comes up with a hilarious and fiery performance. Then you've got the likes of Rooney delivering some great jokes as well as Brooks who discusses his time in the airplane with Stewart. The greatest moment of the episode comes when Orson Welles gives a heartfelt tribute to Stewart who later returns the gesture. I'm not going to ruin what either man said to the other but it was quite touching.
Episode: A
