This show for cut-ups may cut deep.
Comedians will take to a Williamsburg stage to disparage, insult, and mock each other in “Roast Battle,” a no-jokes barred competition for the most devastating take-down, at the Knitting Factory on Aug. 29.
Three of the comedians on the card will have a home-venue advantage: Will Miles, Kenny DeForest, and Clark Jones are the hosts of “Comedy at the Knitting Factory,” a weekly show that will kick-off the funny festival on Aug. 23. The friends and sometime-roommates took over the show’s hosting duties from Hannibal Burress at the beginning of this year.
The comic triumvirate may not have to face each other — the Battle is a series of one-on-one diss duels, with winners determined by a panel of judges — but they say that friendship is the best preparation for a roast.
“We pretty much roast each other on stage during the show anyway,” said DeForest. “Most of my friendships are based on roasting each another.”
Miles says that the festival of insults will be a challenge, because his comedy is more story-based.
“That’s the show I’m most nervous about,” Miles said. “I’m from Chicago, so I spent plenty of time roasting in school. But I’m not a roast guy.”
And Jones says there are some lines he will not cross.
“Sometimes you write something that could hurt someone for real,” Jones said, but he wants to avoid that. “Let’s talk about that shirt a guy’s got on. That’s whack. He should not have worn that. Kenny looks like a hipster basketball coach.”
“Or those jeans Clark’s got on,” said DeForest, about the comic’s hole-riddled jeans. “He looks like Nirvana’s first black fan. Straight out of Forever 21.”
The insult event’s co-creator, Rell Battle, says that most comics go right for the personal characteristics of their opponent. He recalled one notable insult: “We had one guy who said that this fat dude he was battling had just finished filming ‘Planet of the Apes’ — where he starred as the planet.”
The competition is not place to hold back, said Battle.
“Roast battle is vicious,” he said. “This is not nice. This is for people who want to hear s— spoken well. If you’re the PC police, get the f— out.”
Brooklyn Comedy Festival Kick-off Party at the Knitting Factory [361 Metropolitan Ave at Havemeyer Street in Williamsburg, www.bkcom
Roast Battle at the Knitting Factory. Aug. 29 at 11:30 pm. $15 ($10 in advance).
