At Comedy Central Roasts, someone always has to fall apart, or lick faces as part of a desperate, coke-fueled bid for attention, or parry Andy Dick's wandering tongue by wrapping a tasteful jacket around his head. That's all par for the course. But it's not often that the whole thing is set to the hilariously disturbing staccato laughter of George "Frogman" Takei.
My favorite part of this, apart from Shatner's reaction shot at the end, is the moment when Takei stops laughing, and the comparatively quiet nervous laughter of the audience fails to fill the air. It's so awkward. You can almost hear everyone thinking, "How long do we have to pretend this is funny instead of annoying?"
Fortunately, having seen a number of Brokeback Mountain parodies, Jeffrey Ross knows what is both annoying, funny, AND close enough to topical, and rushes to the stage to plant a big kiss on Takei. A relieved audience laughs heartily in appreciation.