Denis Leary was the darling of the stand up circuit for awhile before hitting the big time with his hit single, A$$hole from the No Cure For Cancer album. From there he moved on to a film career, starring in a few decent films like Judgement Night and The Ref before spiraling down into a failed TV series called The Job and then winding up in Quakerstate TV commercials.

Despite a bit of a career slump in the last few years, Leary remains a very popular comedian, and one of the best currently working in Hollywood today. His nasty wit and penchant for profanity make him endlessly entertaining, as does his railing of racial stereotypes and old school system of values (or lack thereof). With his chain smoking and chain ranting firmly established, who could be better for the subject of a roast than Leary? That seems to be the line of thinking behind this assembly of comedic titans, all here but for one purpose – get in their jabs against Leary when they can.

And jab they do, with reckless abandon. There's some seriously mean spirited humor contained in this hour long special, and almost all of it is hilarious. If you ever had a group of friends that you were close enough to that every time you hung out, the only thing you could do was toss insults at each other no matter how close you were, then this type of material will seem plenty familiar. Sure, a lot of it is crass and ugly – there's plenty of profanity and genital jokes flying back and forth – but deep down these guys and girls obviously love Leary, which turns any true nastiness around, all in the spirit of a few good laughs at an Irishman's expense.

With appearances from all manner of celebrities from Rene Russo (in a jaw droppingly bizarre moment), Michael J. Fox (in a brilliant piece of self parody) to The Daily Show's John Stewart (who could have been there but was lazy), the 'funny' is brought to the table en masse. Comedy Central have assembled some of the wittiest, most mean spirited comedians who aren't afraid to be base in their love for Leary.

Other guests include the lovely Gina Gershon (who provides an odd musical number but looks really good doing it), Christopher Walken (who is as dry and alien here as he's ever been), and SNL alumni Colin Quinn. The best line of the night belongs to Joe Montagna, who hits Leary with the adage 'your material is as dated as Shannon Doherty's tw@t!' Conan O'Brien makes a remote appearance, and Jim Breuer raps things up with his metal rendition of Leary's most famous song.

Video:

Presented as it was originally broadcast, in fullframe, this production looks very nice. Colors are rich and warm, flesh tones are dead on, and black levels are stable and solid without ever breaking up or pixelating. Edge enhancement isn't a problem and there's really very little to complain about on this transfer. Some of the film clips used are a little grainier than the feature but other than that, this is a very sharp and well rendered transfer.