HIGH DEF UNIVERSE

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Stingers and Zingers is an 8-disc collector's set that features 24 complete roasts, including Valerie Harper, Jack Klugman & Tony Randall, Michael Landon, Carroll O'Connor, Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Wilt Chamberlain, Danny Thomas, Ted Knight, Dan Haggerty, Mr. T, Jack Klugman, Ed McMahon, Redd Foxx, Joe Garagiola, Evel Knievel, Hank Aaron, Peter Marshall, Truman Capote, William Conrad, Monty Hall, Leo Durocher, Bobby Riggs, and Joe Namath-twice! Appearing as roasters, throwing zingers at the men and women of the hour, are Bob Hope, Ed Asner, Lucille Ball, Georgia Engel, Milton Berle, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ruth Buzzi, Sid Caesar, Foster Brooks, Charo, Howard Cosell, Angie Dickinson, Phyllis Diller, Nipsey Russell, Rich Little, Red Buttons, Audrey Meadows, Bob Newhart, Harvey Korman, Orson Welles, and many others.

What began as a ratings booster for the final season of The Dean Martin Show in 1973 evolved into The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, an eagerly awaited franchise of regular NBC television specials that targeted the biggest names in the world of entertainment and beyond. Roastmaster General Martin kept things loose and lively, deflecting his share of stray barbs from the guest roasters and from Bob Hope to Muhammad Ali, Johnny Carson to Lucille Ball, Gov. Ronald Reagan to Redd Foxx anybody with a thick skin and a good agent was fair game. In 1974, the show moved from Los Angeles to the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas for the remainder of the run, and the 54 raucous, unforgettable roasts ran until 1984. These original, bawdy roasts hearken back to a time before acutely sensitive Network censors, and deliver home audiences directly to the dais where the cigarettes are real, the drinks are free, and the camaraderie is heartfelt.

Sporting over 20 gut-busting hours of non-stop stingers and zingers, the newly-packaged collection also includes more than three hours of bonus programming, with comedy sketches featuring Dean, Ruth Buzzi, Dom DeLuise, Charo, Ernest Borgnine, and others; two featurettes: "Primetime Ribbing: Roasting Small-Screen Stars" and "Sports Stars: Hit 'Em Where It Hurts", as well asexclusive interviews with Ed Asner, Norm Crosby, Rich Little, Carol Burnett, Dan Haggerty, Tom Dreesen, Jimmie Walker, Tony Danza, Shirley Jones, Rip Taylor and Jack Carter.