Catchy Comedy Is Airing a Thanksgiving Day 2023 Marathon of ‘The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast’ Specials

Jeff Pfeiffer November 22, 2023

a black-and-white image from the first — © NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection

**Bob Hope is the "Man of the Hour" in a 1974 *Dean Martin Celebrity Roast* special**

While you’re doing your holiday roasting on Thanksgiving Day 2023, you can enjoy some roasting of the verbal kind, courtesy of masters like insult comedy legend Don Rickles, when Catchy Comedy airs 24 hours of The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast specials.

Spun off and expanded from the shorter roasts that had been featured on The Dean Martin Show, The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast became a series of 29 stand-alone specials that continued on NBC for another 10 years after Martin‘s variety program ended after nine seasons in 1974.

black-and-white 1975 group shot from "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast." front from left: Rich Little, Nancy Walker, Valerie Harper, Dean Martin, Shelley Winters, David Groh, middle from left: Georgia Engel, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Red Buttons, Milton Berle, Jack Carter, Julie Kavner, Phyllis Diller, rear from left: Nipsey Russell, Jack Albertson, Foster Brooks, Harold Gould, Chad Everett

Filmed in the former MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, these good-natured and playful roasts were, of course, hosted by Martin, and featured a who’s-who of the era’s notable celebrities from the worlds of comedy, movies, sports, politics and more as both roasters and roastees (you can see a number of them in the group photo above).

Some appeared in both roles over the years, with even Dino finding himself roasted in an installment that will be featured in Catchy’s marathon.

Check out Catchy Comedy’s lineup of 21 Dean Martin Celebrity Roast specials and their featured roastees below.

Watch Bob Hope's Opening Monologue at the First Televised Oscars Ceremony in 1953

“Television. That's where movies go when they die,' quips the host, along with other zingers that good-naturedly reflect the tension between the film industry and young upstart television 70 years ago.

Remind

Catchy Comedy Presents: A Thanksgiving Roast — Thursday, Nov. 23-Friday, Nov. 24, 2023 (All Times Eastern)

Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023

6am: Michael Landon (1984)
7am: Telly Savalas
8am: Muhammad Ali
9am: Angie Dickinson
10am: Dean Martin
12:15pm: James Stewart
2:30pm: George Burns
4pm: Lucille Ball

5pm: Bob Hope
6pm: Betty White
7pm: Mr. T
8pm: Jackie Gleason
9pm: Joe Namath
10pm: Ted Knight
11pm: Valerie Harper

Friday, Nov. 24, 2023

12am: Michael Landon (1975)
1am: Sammy Davis Jr.
2am: Evel Knievel
3am: Danny Thomas
4am: Redd Foxx
5am: Jack Klugman

black and white image from a 1978 "Dean Martin Celebrity Roast" special. On the left of the photo, standing at a lectern and wearing a tuxedo, is actor Tony Randall. He is smiling and pointing down with his left hand at actor Jack Klugman, the roastee, who is seated on the right of the photo and also wearing a tux, and laughing.