I have been a Dave Attell fan for over a decade and seen him live 3-4 times. I have never thought of him as a roast comic. I was always puzzled why he was chosen as Jeff Ross’s roast companion for bumping mics. Dave Attell is a great comic but a roast comic? He has never been on a comedy central roast as far as I know and I haven’t seen him involved in roast battles. Why not pick Hinchcliffe or Glaser or Sarah Tiana? Why Attell?

In August at the Den theater, it finally hit me. Attell is a roast comic. His joke construction and skill at writing is as good as it gets so it isn’t glaringly obvious. But look closely and it’s there. Attell loves to engage with his audience. He notices audience members wearing masks and says they are the only ones who will survive, roasting the rest of us. He thrives in the back and forth. He loves to ask what you’re drinking. He loves when you heckle him. And he handles hecklers better than anyone in the biz. When I saw him a few years ago at the Chicago Improv at the late drunk show, audience members kept yelling questions at him, concluding with “What’s your favorite part of being a comic” to which Attell responded “finishing a joke.” All heckling ceased for the rest of the night.

Was Attell always a roast comic or is this a new development since Bumping Mics came out in 2018? I am not sure but I know that whatever he once was, Attell is the premiere roast comic now. He loves it so much, he brought on the feature act so they could roast each other bumping mics style at this show. I left this show thinking of course Attell is on Bumping Mics with Jeff Ross. Who else could possibly do it?

I suppose it makes sense. Attell is a wonderfully self-aware, humble guy who on his latest Rogan appearance stated at the beginning that he doubted he was interesting enough to be the interviewee for the entire show. He hates talking about himself, sucks at self-promotion, and is genuinely content to be a comic’s comic, doing standup every night in New York or whatever theatre he is at that weekend. You have to be humble and thick-skinned to withstand tons of roasting and that’s Attell.

On to Jeff Ross.

No one is more known as a roast comic than Jeff Ross, who literally calls himself the “RoastMaster General.” He has hosted every single Comedy Central Roast ever as far as I know, most recently released the Roast of Bob Saget on Netflix, and did a special titled “Jeff Ross Roasts America.” He is the founder of the Roast Battle, the guy who turned roasting into an art form.

I love a good roast joke but I when I saw Jeff Ross was on the lineup for the show we were attending at the Comedy Store in February, I was skeptical that he’d be really great. Could he do 15 minutes without someone to roast? The answer was a resounding yes. I was absolutely blown away by how hilarious Jeff Ross was. He did the best material of his career talking about the Queen of England for 10 minutes. When I saw that Ross was coming to the Chicago Improv in September, I didn’t waste any time buying tickets. He had sold me.

But I walked away with the opposite impression I got from the Attell show. Ross is only a roast comic. He can do a great 15 minutes but only that. Most of his material is just him being like I roasted X at X event and told these funny jokes there. He had just roasted Simon Cowell on America’s Got Talent and told us the jokes he told there, for instance. He did the Queen of England material again, with some additions to account for the fact that she just died but that bit is really the only material that shined. At the end of every show he does, he brings audience members of his choice up (easy targets like an overweight guy, tattooed women with lots of jewelry, etc) at the end of the show and roasts them with pre-packaged jokes it is clear he probably uses every weekend.

I left this show with the impression I thought I would leave with when I saw Jeff Ross back in February at the Comedy Store. He is who we thought he was plus some great Queen of England material.

I am grateful that Ross has elevated roast comedy. I think writing roast jokes, which by their nature are quippy one-liners, sharpens joke writing skills and the strong presence of roasts in the comedy world has only made comedy better as a whole. Ross is a great self-promoter and has loads of charisma but it is Attell who is the great roast comic. The best thing about this is that Ross knows this and roasts himself, openly talking about how Attell is the better comic whenever he shares the stage with him.

God bless roast comedy and god bless both of these comics but I am choosing Attell over Ross always.