Roseanne Barr: Best Roast Ever

Image by Getty Images
Comedy Central’s got a hell of a spitfire for its next roast-ee. Roseanne Barr, comedienne, erstwhile Green party presidential candidate and self-proclaimed “fat old Jew” is next on the docket for the merciless mockery-fest, which will air August 12.
Grade-A roasters like Sharon Stone and the sharp-tongued Carrie Fisher will be on hand to rip into Roseanne, with Katey Segal, Seth Green, and a slew of other comedians rounding out the ranks of riffers. But despite the considerable comedic talent on hand, poking fun at the 59-year-old Barr seems to be more of a “this stuff writes itself” situation: besides her ill-fated presidential bid, she tried (unsuccessfully) to run a macadamia nut farm in Hawaii last year for a reality show, and most recently ticked off Chick-Fil-A by redubbing them “chickens4christ,” among other less savory nicknames.
And that’s just when she’s more-or-less unprovoked. Revving her up to roast should prove to be about as safe as playing with fire. As Glee actress Jane Lynch said of her role as roastmaster: “I’ve long fantasized of ripping Roseanne Barr a new one. But because I don’t have the cajones to say anything offensive to her face, I will be hosting the proceedings.”
For her part, Roseanne had no sympathy for those about to scorch and scathe: “All I can say is good luck finding anything about me to make fun of… I mean, I’ve never made a mistake or offended anyone in my life!”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.