Friars Club roast: Quentin Tarantino's turn on the spit

The Friars Club roast is a venerable showbiz tradition, as old as Beverly Hills and twice as beautiful. It involves honouring a revered figure of world cinema by telling them how shit and stupid they are. But in a loving manner, and with kindness. Yesterday, it was the turn of Quentin Tarantino (second from left), seen here with Federico Castelluccio, Peter Greene and Michael Madsen Photograph: Bobby Bank/WireImage

The routine goes something like this. Quentin Tarantino is introduced to wild and prolonged applause. He is then kissed and fondled by the likes of Kathy Griffin and Rosario Dawson. At this point, presumably, he thinks he's all set for the time of his life
Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage

At which point a comedian (perhaps one named Jeffrey Ross) steps up to knee him in the nuts. Sometimes metaphorically. Sometimes not Photograph: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic

None of them come to praise him. They all come to bury him. Here, in full funeral regalia, is the actor Patricia Arquette. Later she will dance on his grave Photograph: Elizabeth Pantaleo/EMPICS Entertainment

The prospect of a good old-fashioned celebrity roast is guaranteed to get the comics crawling out of the woodwork. You thought Jerry Lewis was dead? Here he is, growing younger by the second as he watches Tarantino turn, turn, turn on the spit Photograph: Elizabeth Pantaleo/EMPICS Entertainment

And here's Lewis again at the end, returned to the fresh(ish) face looks of his 1950s heyday and bearing an eerie resemblance to fellow comic Rob Schneider Photograph: Elizabeth Pantaleo/EMPICS Entertainment

Rosario Dawson is laughing fit to burst. On stage, Tarantino is being ribbed and roasted. But what are the gags, exactly? Stay tuned for some choice highlights ... Photograph: Evan Agostini/AP

Several of the roasters accused Tarantino of being a foot fetishist, citing his lusty close-ups of Uma Thurman's feet in Kill Bill. This was a cue for Eli Roth's typically sensitive quip that the director 'has got a bigger collection of shoes than Dachau'. Insert canned laughter here
Photograph: Startraks Photo/Rex Features

Other roasters poked fun at Tarantino's lantern jaw. 'Only a jaw like that could blow both Weinsteins at once,' remarked Jeffrey Ross. Harvey Weinstein, presumably, is still chuckling as you read this, right now ... Photograph: Elizabeth Pantaleo/EMPICS Entertainment

Do we have time for another joke? It transpires we do. On to the stage steps comedian Whitney Cummings. 'There are so many old white conservatives here,' she says, 'that during the silent auction, someone tried to put a bid on Samuel L Jackson' Photograph: Elizabeth Pantaleo/EMPICS Entertainment

But here's the thing about the Friars Club roast: the roasters are only having a laugh. In actual fact, they love Quentin Tarantino. He's their buddy. Perhaps they are even a little scared of him too. And so, once the roast is complete, the likes of Eli Roth and Samuel L Jackson rush hastily up to make amends Photograph: Evan Agostini/AP

With that, it's over. Ribbed and roasted, Tarantino is left clutching his commemorative statue and looking back over an illustrious career that has brought him friends and enemies and, on this week's evidence, a weird mutant mixture of both. 'You changed the face of cinema,' the roasters told their lantern-jawed pervert of a guest. 'We just wish that cinema would return the favour' Photograph: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic