Last night was the second installment of Roast Battle on Comedy Central. Somewhere between a rap battle and a roast, six comedians took the stage in Montreal to sling insults against at one another. And once again, they were out for blood.
The night’s celebrity judges included Whoopi Goldberg and roasting legend Anthony Jeselnik, in addition to host Jeff Ross. Brian Moses served again as the referee.
First to the stage were Matthew Broussard from Houston, who Ross referred to as “the epitome of white privilege,” and Mike Lawrence, who has written for Amy Schumer and is also a Roast Battle veteran.
Lawrence opened strong and Broussard followed suit. Both were funny, and played off one another effortlessly. Heat was packed into this session, but in the end Lawrence moved on.
Second to the stage were K. Trevor Wilson and Olivia Grace. Grace sported physical battle scars from a stage fall the previous night — her leg required 35 stitches! She was going up against Wilson, the only Canadian in the bunch.
Ross predicted it would be one of the “funniest, weirdest match-ups,” and it was. Grace came out swinging and Wilson matched every one of her verbal punches. While Grace had the sympathy factor going for her, Wilson came prepared and the Canadian got the hometown win in the end.
The third set was a battle of wills featuring Mark Normand and Tony Hinchcliffe. Both comedians were duking it out before the round even began, with the insults flying around deciding who would go first.
Normand came out strong and celebrity judge Whoopi Goldberg noted, “It’s so much fun to see white boys fight.” But this Normand/Hinchcliffe bout resulted in a tie, so with the crowd chanting “one more joke,” there was a sudden death match. The comedians were allotted one more chance to impress the judges, and while it was very close, the battle went to Hinchcliffe.
Rounding out the evening, the final match-up pitted Chicago native Ms. Pat against Ralphie May, a legend in his own right. May set the tone with his first joke, telling Ms. Pat, “You look like Aunt Jemima ate Precious.”
This was one-upped by the skills of Ms. Pat, who harped on May’s divorce and that “His only concern is his wife taking half the pantry.” Both comics were coming at one another with lightening speed, but in the end May took the win.
Goldberg and Jeselnik took jabs at one another throughout the night, which upped the evening’s Roast spirit. This pairing of seasoned comedians pushed the up-and-comers to test their own Roasting limits.
Don’t miss the quarterfinals tonight at 10/9c on Comedy Central, or anytime on the CC App. We’ll be back tomorrow with a recap of this evening’s match-ups!