Boston St. Patrick's Day Breakfast

Every year in South Boston on St. Patrick's Day the local politicians have a breakfast, often inviting famous celebrities to join in on the "fun". President Bush and John Kerry showed up last year. Mitt Romney is a staple.

A few years back, a couple of young Boston comics, The Walsh Brothers, performed there to silence. Hearing them reflect on it makes me cringe. Nothin' worse than a bunch of folks with no clue how to receive comedy.

Part of the "fun" is a "roast" where the pols take shots at each other, eliciting a few nervous chuckles, but mostly silence. This year, Worcester's Sheriff Glodis threw jabs from the podium at most of the guests, including a few choice shots at Boston Mayor Tom Mennino.

This year, Mennino wasn't laughing and neither were many of the other local pols. Function coordinator and state senator Jack Hart told reporters that he felt Glodis was "way out of line" and will most likely be "banned" from attending the event next year.

Jeez, he must be devastated.

Granted, the clips of the jokes he told kinda sucked, but I think the chief problem is that while they may want to be hip, slick and cool, the main celebs taking a verbal beating is the main focus of every roast in the history of roasts. I don't think these dudes know what a "roast" is.

What baffled me further was that not one person defended the dopey, unfunny sheriff. Not ONE politician OR newscaster thought to mention that the nature of a roast is to put down the honored guests.

Mennino menioned that not many people laughed at Glodis' comments. Well, the guy isn't funny, but in all fairness, these clowns are so tight that Chris Rock would've bombed there.

What I'm proposing is this: these guys should be banned from using the word "roast" during they festivities until they understand what a roast is.