If you wanted some laughs on Saturday, the place to be was The Plaza in Baden.
Bill Beene, entertainment editor for the St. Louis American, celebrated 10 years with the paper by being roasted. The roast, coordinated by Markiki of the Arch Ryvals, featured a variety of well-wishers that included co-workers, local comedians, dancers, a national recording artist and the MPAC Eye Candy Models.
The event was attended by some of Beene’s co-workers, including Publisher Donald M. Suggs, Vice President Dina Suggs, IT Manager David Buckner, Distribution Manager Paul Reiter, Receptionist Mary Winbush and Photojournalist Wiley Price.
City Editor Alvin A. Reid and Website Editor Kenya Vaughn were among those called upon to roast Beene.
Also present in the audience were Kevin Johnson, St. Louis Post Dispatch Pop Critic, Mo Spoon and Maranda Witherspoon of MPAC, and Keith Antone Willis, who was instrumental in Beene’s employment at the American.
The roast was hosted by Eye Candy May ‘06 model Brittney Snow and Comedian Jessie Taylor of 100.3 The Beat.
Now everybody already knows that Taylor added his two cents and for those who thought they could hang with a master, well he roasted them as well.
The roast began with parodies of Beene done by Leata and Jacque Land of The Platinum Group. These skits showed the way Beene does his job through the eyes of the couple over the past decade. Next up was some good-natured hazing from Vaughn and Reid. The first part of the roast was rounded out with an outstanding dance presentation from the MaTiff Dancers, who recently placed second at the Apollo Theatre.
The second part of the roast featured comedy from local veteran comedians. The main focus for all of the comedians was Beene’s hair.
“You’re the only grown man with a bang,” Darius Bradford jested.
Some even cracked a few times on his attire, sexuality and single life. Bradford was smooth in his delivery while Arvin Mitchell had his hands full after he cracked on some bad boys in the audience. Mitchell handled the hecklers. Local comedians Davy Dave and Eric Rivers got in some good ones too.
The show stopper was STL Slym. His stuff was raw with just the right amount of vulgarity. From the moment he got up he was F-U-N-N-Y. He dissed Beene good, including a line about his $1,000 haircut.
Making fun with his own name, Slym told Beene he was “about as thin as a Virginia slim.”
National recording artist Jzanell performed “I Don’t Know Why” off her upcoming Private Thoughts album to close out the roast.
Beene was a good sport. He even got off a few of his own. He gave props to the paper for giving him a chance a decade ago. He is especially grateful to the readers of the paper.
The roast went so well that Beene is planning an encore roast for those who missed this good time for his birthday in May.
A roast, by the by, is when a person reaches a milestone and people who really know the person make fun of them.
