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The Business

Behind the Scenes of Comedy Central's Raunchiest Night

Comedy Central exec Elizabeth Porter on those raunchy celebrity roasts, which are meant to be outrageous and  raunchy, but most of all utterly hilarious.

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By Matt Holzman • Mar 14, 2011 • 28m Listen

Comedy Central executive Elizabeth Porter on pushing the envelope at those raunchy celebrity roasts. William Shatner, David Hasselhoff, Flavor Flav and Pamela Anderson are a handful of the people who've had the distinct honor of being torn to shreds by their peers. This Tuesday, it's the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump. Porter tells us about what goes into producing this hugely expensive event which is a big generator of ad dollars. Porter has overseen these roasts since 2005 and it's the event that's most dear to her heart. She woos the roastee, holds their hand through the process, casts the dais of roasters and vets all the jokes. For her, the celebrity roast is meant to be outrageous and raunchy but most of all utterly hilarious. (Matt Holzman sits in for Kim Masters who's on vacation.)

Today's Banter Topics:

Hollywood-Libya connection: Film financier Matty Beckerman partnered with Saadi Qaddafi in a film fund. Now that company, Natural Selection, has gone mum.

Facebook deal with Warner Bros to stream movies, starting with The Dark Knight

Banner image of (L to R) Melissa Rivers, Elizabeth Porter and Joan Rivers, courtesy of Comedy Central.

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    Matt Holzman

    Producer, 'The Document'

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    Darby Maloney

    Producer

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