Nice try, Ann Coulter, but you definitely bombed at the “Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe.”
How bad was it? Producers actually amplified the laughter in post for Coulter’s lame attempts at humor, an effort to ease the potential embarrassment for the participating political pundit. Of course, Coulter has been claiming otherwise, telling anyone who will listen lately that Comedy Central turned down the volume of the supposed laughter that came from her self-written material.
“Not true at all,” a source close to the production told TheWrap exclusively.
“It was the exact opposite,” the person continued. “We actually tried to help in the edit and in the mix. When it wasn’t filled with boos aimed at her, you could hear a pin drop in the room.”
Comedy Central declined our request for comment.
TheWrap was in the room for the pre-taped roast. We can confirm that Coulter’s quips fell quite flat, regardless of what she’d like readers to believe.
Coulter agreed to roast Lowe as a stop on her latest promotional book tour. As it ended up, she was perhaps the evening’s biggest target, and the butt of the harshest jokes. At one point, English standup comic Jimmy Carr simply told the polarizing personality to kill herself.
Editing out jokes for both time and entertainment — which producers also did in Coulter’s case — is a regular part of the Comedy Central roasts. Playing with volume is entirely different and very rare, as it’s usually not something needed. Unfortunately for Ann, it sounds like that sound-play in post-production was definitely not altered in the direction she claimed.
It could have gone better — like most, Coulter had writers assigned to help her out with setups and punchlines. She turned them down. Click here for the jokes Coulter passed on — bad call, Ann.
David Spade served as roastmaster for the Lowe event. So-called Roastmaster General Jeff Ross — a staple at these affairs — had previously called Coulter’s performance at the event “awful.” It seems producers and editors concur.