The guest of honor, Melvin George, II (Photo credit: Rob Cioffi)

Last night, we trekked to Bellmore, NY, on Long Island, to the Brokerage where 17 friends, associates and/or colleagues participated in the ancient art of the roast. The guest of honor was Melvin George, II.

For two hours plus, the crowd of friends, relatives, fellow comics and other (quite possibly horrified!) onlookers watched as host Peter Bales brought up Chris Monty, Paul Bond, Alex House, Joe Starr, Rich Walker, Joe Bronzi, Rich Minervini, Harry Freedman, Joey Kola, Dan Wilson, Ray Grins, Ed Ryan and Steve O to say the most vile and insulting things about George and about the other roasters. Also contributing to the thrashing were non-comics Bill Jaye (George’s attorney), Tom Ingegno (George’s agent from Omnipop) and Brokerage owner Mark Lund.

Steve O and Dan Wilson (Photo credit: Male Half)

The irony of “roasting” a black man on Martin Luther King Day was not lost on anyone present. George, a comic for three decades and a fixture on the comedy scene on Long Island (and the nation), is, it safe to say, beloved by the many comics who have had the pleasure of working with him. So it was that nearly every roaster made mention just how hard it was to come up with something nasty to say about such a fine and fun-loving gentleman as George. Of course, they all managed to do so. And the results were hilarious.

Harry Freedman (l) with Joey Kola (Photo credit: Male Half)

Bales is the consummate roast host– his familiarity with all those on the dais and his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of comedy on Long Island combined with his innate ability to craft pithy and razor-sharp put-downs make him the obvious choice. He kept it moving as all 16 roasters took a whack. And never did the show lag, even though nearly 2-1/2 hours had passed by the time the victim took to the podium to make his heartfelt closing remarks.

It was fascinating to see how many different approaches were taken. Some went old-school Dean Martin, some adopted a conversational style. Props, music, photos– nothing was out of the question. And nothing was out of bounds.

Melvin George, II, approaches the podium to a standing ovation (Photo credit: Male Half)

The show was produced and tirelessly promoted by Chris Monty. And whoever determined the order was either exceptionally insightful or lucky or both– the flow of the show was seamless and it never lagged. Special props go to Steve O– even though he hadn’t been onstage in 14 years, he delivered a rollicking set and essentially closed the show (Attorney Jaye and agent Ingegno went on after, but O was the last pro to go on.)

Among other comics in attendance were John Trueson, Billy Garrin, Richie Byrne, Eric Tartaglione, Stacey Prussman and Tim Homayoon.

Partial shot of the dais– Monty, House, Starr, George, Kola, Bronzi(Photo credit: Rob Cioffi)

We’d like to thank Rob Cioffi for providing some of the above photos. Check out the rest of the pics here!