Goumba Johnny Wins “So You Think You Can Roast?”

Once a year, the legendary Friars’ Club holds a major celebrity roast to raise money for charity. This year they roasted Today show host Matt Lauer; Al Roker was the roast master and Mark Krantz produced the event, as usual. I was part of the writing team, under the leadership of master comedy writer Larry Amoros.

Other roasters not usually known for telling jokes were Katie Couric, Meredith Vieira, Brian Williams, and Jeff Zucker, who performed alongside comedians who often do tell jokes— Richard Belzer, Jeffrey Ross, Bob Saget and Pat Cooper.John (Goumba Johnny) Sialiano from KTU Radio, was also one of the Roasters as a result of winning the Friars Club competition, “So You Think You Can Roast?”

This event will go down in roast history as one of the most special, since Tom Cruise came out as a surprise guest, and did a very funny bit, about how he and Matt were really good friends, and that when Matt does his famous “Where In The World Is Matt Lauer” shows, only Tom really knows where he is.