[ laughter ] nesteroff: so, in the late 60s and 1970s, they would televise friars club roasts, but they were sanitized versions of what you would actually see at the friars club. [ laughter ] rickles: don t get we wrong. there s a lot of reasons why we should honor this man tonight. first of all, he s italian, and i love the italian people. i ll never forget the word of carmine gangananza who said to me in brooklyn on a saturday night. [ gasps ] [ laughter ] ross: the televised roasts that dean martin did were always so funny, and it was fun to see, but there s something about those private friars club, behind closed doors, you know, stag roasts. the fact that they were these huge stars like jack benny and milton berle that the public had only heard on tv or on the radio be very squeaky clean. suddenly, you got to see another side of it. carson: i ve known don for about eight years, and like most performers, don has probably thousands of acquaintances,