Famke Louise has single-handedly killed the celebrity-bashing show The Roast by scoring horror figures. “That program will not return to Comedy Central for the time being.”
It was very much discussed in 2016: the Dutch version of the well-known American TV show The Roast. The people of Comedy Central had roped in none other than Gordon for the program and it was a great success with 464 thousand viewers. A year later, even 603 thousand people watched main guest Giel Beelen.
Famke in abyss
The third edition with Johnny de Mol also scored well (514 thousand), just like the one with Ali B a year later (427 thousand), but in 2021 things went wrong when the sympathetic but very boring Hans Klok was invited. Only 236 thousand people watched. And Famke Louise did not make up for it last year with only 232 thousand viewers.
And now? Now it appears that the program has been consigned to the TV graveyard. “That program will not return to Comedy Central for the time being,” says ratings authority Tina Nijkamp in her podcast Tina’s TV Update. “Last year in January, the last episode was shown with Famke Louise and it only scored 232 thousand viewers.”
No more celebrities
The heyday of The Roast is long behind us, says Tina. “We know the program mainly from those episodes with Giel Beelen, Gordon and Johnny de Mol. Giel Beelen’s scored the highest, namely around 600 thousand viewers, but this program will not return for the time being.”
Why not? “I honestly think it’s because they can no longer find celebrities who want to participate, who are interested in getting roasted. Such a panel is of course also, yes, it remains to be seen whether you should want that as a celebrity, because of course you would also be roasted yourself.”
Speculation
Celebrities who criticize others can of course also count on muck – read: juice – themselves. “Many celebrities may no longer be interested in that these days and I also think that Comedy Central may opt for more positive programs at this time instead of being negative. But hey, that’s speculation.”
“But in any case: that program will not return for the time being. I think it will be a long time before we see that on television again.”