Jeffrey Ross, aka the Roastmaster General, obviously was joking Monday night when he posted this photo to his new Instagram account with the caption: “Hey hey hey!”
Or perhaps Ross was half-joking.
After all, I was only half-joking when I suggested the very idea of a Comedy Central Roast of Bill Cosby to Ross two weeks ago the last time I spoke to him in person after the Monday night Whiplash showcase at the UCB. At the time, I told him the boldest move Cosby could ever make — in the wake of sexual assault and rape allegations from dozens of women going back more than four decades — would be to submit himself to the ultimate court of comedy opinion. Allow a dais of stand-up comedians, his peers and those who used to admire and look up to him, to skewer him mercilessly for hours, and televise it to the world. It’d be the most unexpected thing Cos could do, while still affording him the ability to somehow mock the gravely serious crimes he’s accused of committing over and over again.
And yet, somehow, Cosby shockingly already did that himself. Just last week, returning to the stage for a series of live shows in Canada, Cosby made an offhand remark to a female audience member, warning her not to drink around him.
I know. We know!
The part of me who grew up loving Bill Cosby stand-up records, his specials and his TV shows wishes the 77-year-old comedian would just hang up his ugly sweaters and retire from show business, spending the rest of his days in self-imposed exile.
That part of me is slowly realizing this Cosby may be incapable of that.
He should be in jail. As Judd Apatow has beaten the drum on Twitter — and even on Monday’s episode of WTF with Marc Maron — if Cosby is not going to admit his guilt, either legally or spiritually, then we must remind him of his guilt until he feels it. It doesn’t matter if Cosby feels as though he settled the matter legally a decade ago.
If someone is going to add insult to injury, then it shouldn’t be him. It doesn’t get to be him. We’ll just have to keep reminding him. In memes. On live TV awards shows (thank you, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler once more). And even Comedy Central Roasts, if we have to.