Still as hot as he ever was. pic.twitter.com/PPM777R1SP
— Marc Malkin (@marcmalkin) August 28, 2016
Rob Lowe says the first person he called to ask to be a part of his Comedy Central Roast was his good friend Gwyneth Paltrow.
"She said, 'Robbie, I'd love to do it. Let me do some research,'" Lowe, 52, told reporters last night after the taping of the roast in L.A. "She called me back: 'Not only am I not doing it, I don't think you should do it.' I saved the text. It was genius."
For those not familiar with the Comedy Central insult fests, they're full of over-the-top cuss-filled NSFW jokes. Lowe endured about two hours of a verbal smackdown from a dais that included roast master Jeffrey Ross, singer Jewel, NFL star Peyton Manning, Rob Riggle, David Spade, SNL's Pete Davidson, comedian Nikki Glaser, Lowe's The Outsiders co-star Ralph Macchio, British comedian Jimmy Carr and ultra-conservative politico Ann Coulter.
The group chided Lowe for his infamous Democratic National Convention sex tape he made in 1988 with a 16-year-old girl, his past substance abuse problems (fortunately, he's been clean and sober for 26 years now), his string of failed TV series and his pretty boy looks. The roasters also went after each other with jokes about 9/11, AIDS, Hitler and more.
"I'm just glad there's something left of me," Lowe said. "I think I'm in tatters still up there on that stage. But they were all so funny and I just love a good joke."
But did any of the jokes go too far? "It's like you're in the NFL—you hit hard," Lowe said. "This is the NFL. You're here to hit hard. There are other places to do soft jokes. you want to bring your soft s--t, f--king do a late night show. But if you're on a Comedy Central roast, you better bring your A-game."
Lowe's wife of 25 years Sheryl and their two teenage sons were in the audience. "That was the scariest to look out at the family," he said. "They're family, but I think they survived."
Also in the audience was family friend Maria Shriver. When the former first lady of California heard about the roast, she offered to be a roaster but backed out after doing some research like Paltrow.
It's obvious Lowe has no problem making fun of himself. He didn't even mind that footage from his sex tape was shown just about five minutes into the show.
"What you guys don't know because this is (airing on Labor Day), there's a wave of publicity that I did myself (being released)," he said. "I'm just saying you're going to be very interested in it."
The Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe airs on Comedy Central on Labor Day at 10 p.m.