re: The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts didn't age well

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This show did not age well at all.

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Meh - they were going through a process. Sammy made a ton of money (although he didn't manage it particularly well). The highlight of most roasts was Don Rickles - Don, obviously (and expertly) went after the low hanging fruit and black comics ...to...this...day L-O-V-E Don Rickles. Being insulted by him was an honor.

Your mini-rant (sort of 40 to 50 years later, so dated at that) reminds me of folks getting all up in arms with Jack Benny over his treatment of Rochester.

Long story short - some (probably white liberal) fan wrote and complained about Jack's miserly treatment of Rochester and that he should pay him more and treat him better. Jack, very politely, explained to the fan that Eddie Anderson was not Benny's servant, but an actor playing the character Rochester, that Mr. Anderson was one of, if not the, highest paid colored (approved term at the time) actor in television and actually had paid servants of his own.

One of the nicest, "Are you fricking kidding me?" things ever.