At a time when tensions are high between police forces and racial protestors, comedian Jeff Ross took it upon himself to try to roast cops. This past September 11, Comedy Central premiered the special featuring Jeff Ross and the Boston police department.

Renowned roastmaster general, Jeff Ross, is an American stand-up comedian known for his skills in high-profile celebrity roasts. The overall idea of a ‘roast’ is for celebrities to celebrate the other’s birthday by taking jabs at them in a ‘laughing with you not at you’ sort of fashion. The jabs consist of jokes relating to their careers, their flaws, as well as personal matters. Due his presence on many high profile celebrity roasts, Jeff Ross has been dubbed the ‘roastmaster general.’

Ross in his ‘Roasts Cops’ special talks to Black Lives Matter activists, goes on eye-opening police ride-alongs, and roasts members of the Boston Police Department. When preparing for this special, Ross contacted around thirty departments with the offer, but the Boston force was the only one to respond.

Though it was a roast, Ross did not only tell jokes. He mentioned multiple times about what is going on in the world between the racial issues and declared his feelings towards the police force. This was no one-sided special, he got input from individuals living in low-income neighborhoods about how they feel about what is going on in the world.  

Comedy Central’s special featuring Jeff Ross was not just a roast but more of a documentary. We got to see the perspective that we usually do not encounter from the police force.

Over and over throughout the feature presentation, Ross proclaims that “we have to laugh during these times or else we all just die inside.” I believe that this is what the world needs to realize. In these difficult times, people are starting battles over simple verbal language and not being able to handle the contrasting viewpoints. A world without laughter is not a good world, everyone needs to laugh every now and then in a life. If you look around mainstream media, you can see tons of instances where people do not have backbones and are not able to handle jokes or any harmful statements at all. While it is not always best to talk down about someone, everyone needs to have self-esteem and shake their feelings off their shoulder. If you took a look at one of these Comedy Central Roasts, you would be surprised. Famous people who receives tons of hate and bullying all over the media sit down and get fired at by their friends and role-models. Throughout all of these jokes, they laugh, counter with their own jokes, and have a great time. This is a true example of how our lives should be, a life with a backbone. If we can’t laugh at our own failures, mistakes, or experiences then how can we learn to enjoy life?