

‘The Roast Of Kevin Hart’ is distinctly unmemorable TV
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Roast comedy works around a fascinatingly self-referential format. The roast is the roast because it claims to be the roast.It is a format I have always watched, from classic Dean Martin roasts to the inimitable Don Rickles putting his friends through the wringer, to its mostly middling current incarnation, because amid predictable and easy gags, occasionally someone rises to the top with outstanding material.
At Netflix’s The Roast Of Tom Brady two years ago, comedian Nikki Glaser killed so hard that she was catapulted into higher visibility gigs, like hosting the Golden Globes and the Time 100.She, therefore, instantly became too good for Netflix’s latest live event The Roast Of Kevin Hart. Aired this week, this is distinctly unmemorable TV and while I would really love my 3 hours back, watching it did make me realise how much Netflix celebrates nothingness.
The Netflix “live event” is so calculated to appeal to as many demographics as possible that it doesn’t leave room to hold anything artful or meaningful or even vaguely interesting. Like the unnecessary Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson “prizefight”, this was yet another non-event pretending to be a big deal.Netflix, now also the home of Wrestlemania, appears to believe that playing make-believe loudly enough is almost as good as genuine excitement.The modern Roast format—as popularised on Comedy Central, where targets ranged from David Hasselhoff to a certain Donald Trump—is ideal for this, because part of the joke is that audiences aren’t supposed to know all of the roasters.
“Who are these idiots?” is a regular refrain from those taking the podium and running down lesser known names on the dais. This allows Netflix to throw in someone
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