The Roseanne roast: More jokes that won’t make it to TV

Comedy Central’s roast of Roseanne Barr was never going to be an exchange of niceties: Much like Roseanne herself, roasts are about extremes and shock value. Wishing otherwise would be about as successful as opening a strip club on the grounds of Downton Abbey.

Yet the special, taped Saturday at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, still made waves.

Roastmaster general Jeff Ross made a lot of jaws drop with a crack about the mass shooting at a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo., which left 12 dead and 51 injured, and now has suspect James Holmes charged with 142 criminal counts, including 24 first-degree murder charges.

PHOTOS: Comedy Central’s roast of Roseanne Barr

After jabbing fellow roaster Seth Green, saying he resembled the 24-year-old Holmes, Ross said, “I’m kidding. You are not like James Holmes. At least he did something in a theater that people remember.”

The joke won’t air on the Aug. 12 broadcast, said Ross, who noted that his line-crossing was a tribute to Roseanne in observance of her own “unapologetic comedy.”

The Ministry was present for the roast taping and can tell you that plenty of the material won’t make it to air. Some bits didn’t even make it to the podium.

“I fought for a lot,” panelist Anthony Jeselnik told us after the show. “There were some that [Comedy Central] was like, ‘You can’t even say this in the room.’”

Like his own Aurora joke, which referenced Ross.

“I think it was, ‘Jeff Ross, you really killed tonight. And you did it the old-fashioned way, by putting on a costume and walking into a theater,’ ” Jeselnik said.

Jeselnik also had some words for host Jane Lynch that were eventually struck down by network Standards and Practices.

“ ‘Jane, your show has changed television. In the three years since”Glee”has been on the air, gay kids have been on TV more than ever. Because they keep on killing themselves,’ ” he recalled.

Wayne Brady had a sexual-scatological quip that you’ll never hear, involving Ellen Barkin’s 1980s career choices and George Michael’s fist, but the game show host did have some musings on jokes about Aurora — something other comedians, including Dane Cook, have taken heat for.

“You can’t cry all the time. It happened, horrible. People died, and it was a tragedy,” Brady said. “My daughter, we’ve been to a couple movies since that, watching something like ‘Brave’ ... and my 9-year-old said, ‘Daddy, I’m so scared.’ And that’s why we had to stay.”

“Because then I’m afraid to let her go to the 7-Eleven, and then I’m afraid to let her leave the house.”

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