Comedy Central announces roasters for Roseanne

Comedy Central has announced the preliminary roster of comedians and celebrities who’ll line up on the dais for the Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne this coming weekend.

The roast tapes Aug. 4, and will debut on the cable network on Aug. 12, 2012.

Your comedian roasters are, unsurprisingy, “The Roastmaster” Jeffrey Ross, Amy Schumer and Anthony Jeselnik.

Ross is a wily vet of roasts — both Comedy Central and old-school Friars Club varieties — and has his own roast-like series and stand-up special debuting on the network on either side of the Roseanne roast. His one-hour stand-up special, “Jeff Ross Roasts America,” debuts Saturday, Aug. 11 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific; his weekly series, “The Burn with Jeff Ross,” follows with a premiere on Aug. 14.

Similarly, both Schumer and Jeselnik have appeared on recent roasts and also have their own Comedy Central series in the pipeline.

The celebrities to roast Roseanne, on the other hand? So far, we know Sharon Stone, Carrie Fisher, Katey Sagal and Seth Green will sock it to her. Not exactly whom you were expecting. Sure, you knew that Roseanne wouldn’t agree to see Tom Arnold share TV time with her in this special moment. But no John Goodman? None of the actors or actresses who played her kids on TV? How about Sandra Bernhard?

Well, for what it’s worth, the announcement from Comedy Central did suggest that more names would be revealed between now and the Aug. 4 taping in Los Angeles. Let’s hope they’re holding out the big guns on us as a “last-minute” surprise.

Jane Lynch will serve as the official “Roastmaster” for the Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne.

UPDATED: Ellen Barkin, Wayne Brady and Gilbert Gottfried round out the lineup of roasters for Roseanne. Did you have your betting money on them? Either way, prepare yourself for some great jokes out of Gottfried, some sass from Barkin, and some singing from Brady?

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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