[ 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,
professional people that he knows. but he s also one of the people who has close friends, and i like to feel that i am one. i don t want to speak for don, but i am one of his very close friends, and i think that s important to don because queers need friends. [ laughter ] man: wonderful. nesteroff: the vaudeville style of comedy and the burlesque tradition of comedy came together at the friars club. ross: it s good when an artist can express themselves in a way that may not be acceptable outside that temple of free speech. people say there s a time and a place for that kind of comedy. that s the time and place the roast. i will remember this evening probably as long as it takes me to get to my car. [ laughter ]
and it never stopped. [ cheers and applause ] murphy: richard is the rawest mother[bleep] in show business. richard is the one that made me want to do comedy. i wanted to be richard so bad, i used to go out onstage when i was 15 and talk and act and walk and do everything like richard pryor. my mother would sit there and watch her little 15-year-old son onstage saying some outlandish [bleep] my whole act back then was about taking a [bleep] cause that s all i had done at 15. zoglin: i think every african-american comedian, to some degree, was inspired by richard pryor. eddie murphy did get into using four-letter words more out of a sense of, i m trying to shock you. i got a lot of people from other countries that have seen my films that come over to the united states cause in new york, it s like a tourist place, and they get hbo, and they catch delirious, and they can t speak english and try to do my act on the street, and all they got is the curses. i got foreigners from all ove
griffin: what are party records? you play em in a party. you ever been to a party? you put the records on when it s kind of dull, and then wait. -yeah? are they party starts. naughty? yes. foxx: there s a new bikini bathing suit coming out this summer. new bikini girls. it s two band-aids and a cork. [ laughter ] all right, two corks. [ laughter ] my parents had the redd foxx dirty jokes record in the house. and they would put it on after i d go to bed. i m like like it was porn or something, you know. hygiene. the toughest thing in the world, have to turn to your mate one night and say, you got to wash your ass. [ laughter ] knowing how difficult it is, i said it for you in this album. [ laughter ] you got to wash your ass. boyd: when you went to the record store,
to achieve the greatest things. - and the doors of higher education will be open to all. - no matter what your circumstances or where you are, you are part of the life of our great nation. - it s one thing all our presidents agree on, each in their own unique way. [patriotic music winds down] - have a good life. we will see you soon. - and to get that good life, all we had to do was follow the instruction manual on how to do the right thing. study hard, be nice to your brother. - get him! - go to college, graduate, and voila, achieve the american dream. but at some point. [clattering] - the us economy shrinking. - they re not getting married. they re not getting homes. they re not getting jobs. - we ve been looking at 40 years of flat wages. - those doors to opportunity got harder to open. [light laughter] - this is a big one staggering debt