When it was announced that Justin Bieber would be the subject of Comedy Central’s next roast, I had visions of the network’s offices collapsing beneath a mound of applications sent in by random people hoping to be the Roastmaster. But that didn’t happen, and Comedy Central has added the hugely popular actor and stand-up comic Kevin Hart as the Biebs’ Roastmaster. I wouldn’t be surprised if they announced soon that this roast will play in theaters nationwide.
This was a pretty good move by the network, as everything Kevin Hart touches seems to turn to gold. He’s got terrific stage presence, a booming voice, and he’s probably one of the few celebrities in the Roast world that wouldn’t intentionally try to rouse Bieber’s fury. Here’s how Hart explained his somewhat surprising new duty for a press release.
I don’t normally do roasts but I had to step out for my guy Biebs…It’s his big 21. It’s about to be operation roast everyone’s ass.
Part of Hart’s charm and ongoing appeal is that he’s a fairly clean comic whose positivity knows few bounds. He’ll get up on a stage and talk about anything, but you’ll rarely hear him cut something or someone down. Considering that’s the opposite of how roasting works, it’ll be interesting to hear how Hart plays things, and how deep his jokes will cut.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m always a little weirded out when I hear about anyone willingly hanging around with Justin Bieber. But it’s perfectly understandable that Hart and Ellen DeGeneres are two of the pop star’s most famous friends, as they seem to like everything. Check out the two of them discussing Bieber on an episode of The Ellen Show.
Bieber, who recently got slammed by Saturday Night Live, is the first musician to get a roast since Flavor Flav had verbal shots fired at him in 2007. (Kid Rock was supposed to get roasted twice in the meantime, but he reportedly refused to tape the show outside of Detroit.) The last celeb to get roasted was James Franco, who had his eccentricities skewered in 2013.
Comedy Central will be taping the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber on March 14, with the airdate set for Monday, March 30, at 10 p.m. ET. Can the world trust Justin Bieber to stay out of the back of a cop car until then?
