''Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle'' is an American roast comedy competition television series that is broadcast on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

. The show is hosted by

Jeff Ross Jeffrey Ross Lifschultz (born September 13, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known as the "Roastmaster General" for his insult comedy, his multiple appearances at celebrity roasts held by the New York Friars Club, the ...

and consists of one on one roast battles during which the comedians insult each other comedically. The winners of each battle are decided by a panel of guest judges that consists of fellow comedians and other celebrities. Comedian Brian Moses serves as the

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

and

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

for each battle.

History

The television series is based on a live show that runs at

The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in the comedy club's Belly Room. The live show originated from a heated argument that occurred in The Comedy Store's parking lot in 2013 between two comedians over a stolen joke. The argument was about to devolve into a physical fight and comedian Brian Moses–who was hosting an

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether the ...

night the following night–suggested that the two comedians could fight it out verbally on stage. Two other comedians volunteered to judge the event. From there Moses and fellow comedian Rell Battle started the live ''Roast Battle'' comedy show. Moses and Battle eventually parted ways. Moses continued the show in the Belly Room and his shows were sometimes credited as "Jeffrey Ross Presents". Moses also brought the show to The Stand comedy club in New York City under the title ''Brian Moses and Jeff Ross Present Roastmasters''. Both the LA and NYC roast battle shows held bracket-style tournaments to determine the top regional roaster for each city, then the top LA and NYC roasters would compete for the title of Roastmaster, which included a

championship belt A championship belt is a large, extravagantly designed belt used primarily in combat sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling to signify the champions of the promotion or company, much like a cup or trophy in other s ...

similar to those awarded in professional combat sports. ''The Roastmasters'' show in NYC was emceed by comedian Luis J. Gomez and audio recordings were posted to a podcast feed under the Roastmasters name. The NYC show dissolved in 2018. Moses also broadcast audio recordings of the LA show as a podcast titled ''Verbal Violence''. The show gained in popularity and Ross was able to recruit friends like

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...

and

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

to serve as guest judges during the show. Since 2014 Ross has been adviser and lead judge of ''Roast Battle'' In 2015 Ross brought the live show to the Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal where it caught the attention of Jonas Larsen, a senior vice president at Comedy Central. The first episode of ''Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle'' aired on the network in 2016. In 2018 the ''Verbal Violence'' podcast's name was changed to ''Roast Battle'' and the podcast was moved to Comedy Central’s Global Podcast Network.

Format

The show is hosted by Jeff Ross who also serves as one of the judges on each show. Comedian and show co-creator Brian Moses announces each competitor and also serves as referee. The winners of each battle are determined by a panel of guest judges that include two or more comedians or other celebrities. There are three rules to the competition: The competitors must use only original material, no physical contact is allowed and the battle always ends with a hug. In the first two season there were regional events filmed at various comedy clubs across the United States in search of some or all of the sixteen contestants to compete in the main eight battle competition via a bracket-style tournament. In the first season the regionals were held in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The final eight battles were filmed at the 2016 Just for Laughs festival in Montreal and the very final battle was broadcast live on Comedy Central. In the second season the regionals were held at the

Comedy Cellar The Comedy Cellar is a comedy club in Manhattan where many top New York comedians perform. It is widely considered to be the best comedy club in the United States. It was founded in 1982 by then stand-up comedian, and current television writer/ ...

in New York City,

Comedy Works Comedy Works is a stand-up comedy club with two locations in the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area. The downtown club opened in September 1981 and is located in Larimer Square in Denver. The south club, which opened September 2008, is part of The ...

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, the Laughing Skull Lounge in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and the Los Angeles Comedy Store. In addition, there were comedians added to the final sixteen competitors list who did not compete in the regionals. The final eight battles of the second season were filmed on the

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...

and the final battle was also broadcast live. The show changed it format in the third season and abandoned the bracket-style tournament. As a result there were no preliminary regional battles and instead each episode featured only two battles per episode over six episodes. In addition

Anthony Jeselnik Anthony Jeselnik ( ; born ) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is known for his dark comedy style, which emphasizes ironic misdirection, non sequiturs, biting insults, an arrogant demeanor, and a stage persona that freque ...

and

Nikki Glaser Nicole Rene Glaser (born June 1, 1984) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, podcaster, radio host, and television host. She was the host of the television series '' Not Safe with Nikki Glaser'', which premiered on Comedy Central and Much ...

served as judges on all six episodes and they were also joined by

Pete Davidson Peter Michael Davidson (born November 16, 1993) is an American comedian and actor. He was a cast member of the NBC late-night sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) for eight seasons, running from 2014 to 2022. Davidson's ...

during the final episode. The final episode also marked the first time that Ross took to the stage as a battler during the show; he battled with

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player

Blake Griffin Blake Austin Griffin (born March 16, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, when he was named the consensu ...

International versions

The popularity of ''Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle'' has led to the launch of roast battle shows on some of Comedy Central's sister stations outside of the United States: * ''Comedy Central’s Roast Battle South Africa'' launched in 2017 on Comedy Central Africa and was renewed for a second season in 2018. * ''

Roast Battle ''Roast Battle'' is a British roast comedy show that is broadcast on Comedy Central. The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr and features comedians facing each other in roast battles. The show was created by American comedians Jeff Ross and Brian Moses ...

'' was launched in 2018 on Comedy Central (UK & Ireland). The show is hosted by former ''Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle'' contestant

Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...

. * ''Duelo des Comediantes'' was launched on Comedy Central Latinoamérica in 2018. * Two versions have been produced in Canada, the English-language ''

Roast Battle Canada ''Roast Battle Canada'' is a Canadian television comedy series, which premiered on CTV Comedy Channel in October 2021. An adaptation of the American series '' Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle'', the series presents battles in which pairs of comedi ...

'' for

CTV Comedy Channel CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octobe ...

and the French-language ''Roast Battle: Le Grand Duel'' for Z.Jordan Pinto
"CTV Comedy commissions Roast Battle adaptation"
''

RealScreen Brunico Communications is a Canadian magazine publishing company."Desktop tabloid publishing firm sports 2 publications and a profit". ''The Globe and Mail'', October 9, 1989. The company specializes primarily in online trade magazines serving medi ...

'', April 12, 2021.

Broadcasts

Episodes

Series 1

The winner of each roast battle is in bold.

Series 2

The winner of each roast battle is in bold.

Series 3

References

{{Reflist 2010s American comedy game shows 2016 American television series debuts Comedy Central game shows English-language television shows Roast (comedy)