New Delhi, May 14 -- Roast comedy works around a fascinatingly self-referential format. The roast is the roast because it claims to be the roast.

It is a format I have always watched, from classic Dean Martin roasts to the inimitable Don Rickles putting his friends through the wringer, to its mostly middling current incarnation, because amid predictable and easy gags, occasionally someone rises to the top with outstanding material. At Netflix's The Roast Of Tom Brady two years ago, comedian Nikki Glaser killed so hard that she was catapulted into higher visibility gigs, like hosting the Golden Globes and the Time 100.

She, therefore, instantly became too good for Netflix's latest live event The Roast Of Kevin Hart. Aired this week, this...