Screen Junkies Roasts

Screen Junkies Roasts was a comedy web series that parodied pop culture characters. It followed the format of an American comedy roast, in which a series of people perform scathing stand-up comedy sets that insult a guest of honor who is present throughout the event. However, in Screen Junkies Roasts, all the participants performed as fictional characters from Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, Disney, The Walking Dead and Star Wars. Screen Junkies Roasts were published on the paid subscription service Screen Junkies Plus.

Six episodes of Screen Junkies Roasts were produced between 2016 and 2017. Each episode was around 60 minutes long. They were published monthly. Screen Junkies Roasts featured many comedians including Hal Rudnick, Joe Starr, Julia Prescott, Casper Van Dien, Darren Hayes, and many others.

Production[]

ScreenJunkies_Roast_Of_Harry_Potter-_Behind_The_Scenes_-_Instant_Exclusive_-_INSTANT — ScreenJunkies Roast Of Harry Potter- Behind The Scenes - Instant Exclusive - INSTANT

A short behind the scenes video showing the making of *Screen Junkies Roasts*

Screen Junkies Roasts were written by a small team of comedy writers including Joe Starr, Spencer Gilbert and Julia Prescott. Costumes were designed by E.B. Brooks. Screen Junkies Roasts were pre-taped live in front of an audience made up of Screen Junkies fans in Los Angeles.

The first episode, The Roast of Captain America, was released to coincide with the home video release of Captain America: Civil War. The Honest Trailer for Civil War contained an ad for the roast. Additionally, one set from the roast, featuring Joe Starr as Bucky Barnes, was uploaded to Screen Junkies' YouTube channel. For each subsequent episode, a short clip was published on YouTube to promote the series to new subscribers. Eventually, the first four episodes of Screen Junkies Roasts were made freely available in their entirety on Screen Junkies Plus.

The series ceased production after episode 6, in early 2017. All six episodes remained up on the Screen Junkies Plus app/website until early 2018, when Screen Junkies' parent company Defy Media removed all content for business/financial reasons. Complete episodes of Screen Junkies Roasts are no longer officially available (however, illegal versions of five full episodes are available if you know where to look... only the Rick Grimes one seems missing). Screen Junkies has no current plans to re-release them. Nonetheless, a few official clips and excerpts of every episode are available.

In 2019, writer and performer Joe Starr said this about the experience of making Screen Junkies Roasts:

I'm proud of the roasts in a lot of ways- our wardrobe department CRUSHED it, our performers knocked it out of the park, and our tiny writing time wrote an insane amount of really good stand up comedy in a shockingly short amount of time. I'm super proud of that.

I was also always very frustrated by everything else around that. Just speaking candidly about the creative process here. The sets look bad, venues and audience were poorly planned (one time they rented a 200 seat theatre and invited 20 fans, who did their damndest to sound like 200), and the direction makes it seem like they had no director. It was insanely frustrating having a crack comedy team on the ground and folks that didn't get how to make comedy work in the tower. (J. Starr, February 14, 2019, Reddit)

Episodes of Screen Junkies Roasts[]

The Roast of Captain America[]

Published: September 1, 2016

Featuring: Casper Van Dien as Captain America, Joe Starr as Bucky Barnes, Mark Ellis as Tony Stark, Nick Mundy as The Hulk, Hal Rudnick as Red Skull, Marc Andreyko as The Vision, Ify Nwadewei as Black Panther, Jenn Sterger as Black Widow, Joseph Scrimshaw as Superman.

"Hulk is basically our Superman. He's big, he's strong and he can't carry his own movie." ~ Captain America

"I would date Steve, but if I really wanted to fuck a 94 year old, I could fuck Stan Lee." ~ Black Widow

"Steve has opened my asshole so much, Thor can use it as a portal to Asgard." ~ Bucky Barnes

"Roast!" ~ The Hulk

The Roast of Rick Grimes[]

Published: October 1, 2016

Featuring: Joe Starr as Rick Grimes, Hal Rudnick as Negan, Julia Prescott as Carol, Emma Arnold as Lori Grimes, Ron Babcock as Shane, Mark Ellis as Carl Grimes, Ben Layton as Darryl Dixon, Jonny Loquasto as Chris Hardwick, Ross Crain as Don Draper.

Michelle Jaworksi of The Daily Dot wrote, "Screen Junkies burns Rick Grimes hard" and the characters "give Rick the verbal abuse he deserves."

"I know I look like somebody you'd see on food network at 2am, but I've killed more suburban housewives than botched plastic surgery." ~ Carol

"I've killed 12 year old girls with more nuts than Carl." ~ Carol

"Rick's told so many women no, they made him a judge in Texas." ~ Carol

"I don't know what was harder for Rick, watching Lori take her last breath or the fact that it smelled like Shane's dick." ~ Negan

"Welcome to Pee Pants City motherfucker." ~ Negan

The Roast of Darth Vader[]

Published: November 1, 2016

Featuring: David Baxter as Darth Vader, Darren Hayes as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Joe Starr as Young Anakin Skywalker, Alison Haislip as Leia Organa, Hal Rudnick as Emperor Palpatine, Brian Moses as Lando Calrissian, Brock Baker as Yoda, Nat Baimel as Luke Skywalker, Michael Schroeder as George Lucas.

Aaron Couch of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the episode brought "Star Wars fan-favorite characters together to share their best zingers about the Sith Lord."

"They say girls want a guy that reminds them of their Dad. That's why I've been using my vibrator so much. It is big, black, mechanical and it has to choke me to finish the job." ~ Princess Leia

"I fell in love with Leia Organa the moment I laid eyes on her. I was excited because heard she liked making out with brothas. But then I realized she meant literally." ~ Lando Calrissian

"Jokes I will tell. Sometimes punchline comes, set up before, it does. Fuck." ~ Yoda

"Luke, are you sure you didn't pork your sister? That Kylo Ren of hers feels like he's missing a midichlorian or two." ~ Darth Vader

The Roast of Harry Potter[]

Published: December 1: 2016

Featuring: Joe Starr as Harry Potter, Julia Prescott as J.K. Rowling, Hal Rudnick as Severus Snape, Piotr Michael as Dumbledore, Ron Babcock as Lord Voldemort, Brad James Gage as Ron Weasley, Bree Essrig as Hermione Granger, Connor McSpaddon as Draco Malfoy, Keith Carey as Hagrid.

"Hagrid you fat piece of shit. Half giant, half human and halfways to a massive heart attack." ~ Draco Malfoy

"Hagrid is so fat, his patronus is the Hamburglar." ~ Severus Snape

"Ron's family is so poor, all the kids sleep in one room. Which is tough on Ron when I'm fucking his sister." ~ Harry Potter

"Mr Potter, the only reason I haven't ended your life yet was is that I was in love with your mother Lily. Do you remember when you looked into my mind? We both know what you saw. Decades of me wanking it to your Mum." ~ Severus Snape

The Roast of Batman[]

Alfred_Pennyworth_Screen_Junkies_Batman_Roast — Alfred Pennyworth Screen Junkies Batman Roast

Short clip from *The Roast of Batman*

Published: February 11, 2017

Featuring: Bryan Morton as Batman, Hal Rudnick as Jared Leto Joker, Johnno Wilson as Heath Ledger Joker, Josh Robert Thompson as Mr Freeze, Jason Kaye as Alfred Pennyworth, Hayley Marie Norman as Catwoman, Matt Ryan King as Robin, Luke Sholl as Bane, Greg Hess as Christopher Nolan.

"You're an attractive white man with all the money in the world. How could you be that angry all the time?You look like the Crow, but your life says Kardashian." ~ The Joker

"Thank you for being here Bane. And please give my thanks to Satan for lending you his pacifier. What accent do you think you're doing exactly? Is it British? Puerto Rican? I don't know what you're doing. Talk like a bloody person! I don't know how many times you bumped your noggin trying to climb out of that pit, but you sound like Voldemort snogging Scooby Doo in the ear." ~ Alfred Pennyworth

The Roast of Beauty and the Beast[]

Sierra_Katow_as_Mulan_in_Screen_Junkies'_Roast_of_Beauty_of_the_Beast — Sierra Katow as Mulan in Screen Junkies' Roast of Beauty of the Beast

Short clip from *The Roast of Beauty and the Beast*

Published: March 15, 2017

Featuring: Barak Hardley as Beast, Alison Haislip as Snow White, Joe Starr as Peter Pan, Sierra Katow as Mulan, Dhruv Raj Singh as Aladdin, Andrew Pifko as Walt Disney, Courtney Miller as Ariel, Dick Masterson (aka Dax Herrera) as Gaston, Zan Alda as Jack Sparrow.

"Al and I were both bonding backstage because we both invented an alter ego to get what we want. Isn't that right, Prince Ali? Sorry, there's a little bit of a difference, though. I did it to save my people, and he did it to get laid." ~ Mulan

"Jack Sparrow is here. Why is Jack a sex symbol? You look like the smog over Beijing put on a hat." ~ Mulan

"Ariel, honey, I know, you've been a human for, like, a day, but you've already set back women's rights for, like, a century." ~ Mulan

"Oh boy, you let a woman fight in one war and they never shut the fuck up about it." ~ Gaston

External links[]

Screen Junkies Roasts page on IMDb
Roast (comedy) page on Wikipedia that explains the concept of a roast