‘Roast of Trump’ best left unserved

A celebrity roast of Donald Trump provides insight into the honoree’s character.

Anyone who is thinking of supporting Donald Trump for president might want to view the Comedy Central Roast of Trump. This was recorded in 2011, and several roasters referred to Trump’s possible presidential candidacy. You can find it on YouTube.

In these roasts the humor is raunchy and vulgar. The language is foul. I’m not sure I understand all the jokes, and I’m a little ashamed to admit that I do understand many. The roasters — a collection of has-beens like Larry King and celebrities who seem to do nothing but appear on roasts — poke fun at the roastee, in this case Donald Trump.

Well, it’s much more than poking fun. The roasters skewer Trump. No aspect of his life seems off limits. Multiple jokes refer to his several young wives and his sex life. These jokes are often funny. They’re funny because they exaggerate some aspect of Trump. They have to have a whiff of plausibility, some grounding in reality, in order to be funny.

If, for example, a roaster were to poke fun at Trump for being poor or short, that wouldn’t be funny. Trump is not poor; he’s extremely wealthy, and he’s tall. There’s no platform from which to exaggerate for humorous effect.

But when a roaster crudely jests at how Trump’s ego intrudes on his sex life (it has to do with Trump being more interested in himself than in his partner), that’s pretty funny. It references things that are true about Trump — his massive ego and his several beautiful young wives — and exaggerates a little.

Jokes like this could not have been a surprise to Trump. He (or his people) must have known the nature of the humor employed at these roasts. So the question is: Why did he appear in such a forum? Is this a way to appear presidential?