Tomfoolery - How Tom Brady Got Roasted But Not Burned

If you are one of the 100 or so NFL fans left in America who hasn’t watched The Roast of Tom Brady on Netflix, you are in for a treat. That said, it includes graphic content and is intended for “Mature Audiences”. And even if you consider yourself a mature audience member, it may not be your cup of tea, as the humor is hard-hitting and graphic. As it is, Netflix is starting to dip its toes into “live” programming, and the roast coupled with the hilarious Katt Williams: Woke Foke, the early returns on this live experiment are positive for the subscription service.?

I first experienced a roast when my dad introduced it to my buddies at my 10th birthday party - ”everyone gets to tell a funny story about Andrew, but if you do he will be able to tell one about you!” So after getting cranked up on cheese pizza and Mountain Dew, around the table we went. As most of us hadn’t even had our voices dropped, the stories were mostly to the effect of me tripping upstairs, blushing in front of girls, or getting blasted in the head at gym time dodgeball. And of course, as adolescent boys, we ate it up.? Pre-teen boys were not only allowed to make fun of each other, we had an adult encouraging it! Good times. It was such a hit we did it for the next few years as friends congregated to celebrate my rotation around the sun.?

But when Netflix set the playing field with grown-ass men (and two women, Nikki Glasser (FWIW, Nikki had the best set) and Sam Jay) and professional comedians it was immediately evident that it would be an incredibly sizzling roast.?

On one side of the podium, you had comedians who were completely comfortable spitting jokes and lambasting each other with quick, witty, highly personal, and often blue jokes. On the other side were Tom’s NFL sidekicks Randy Moss, Drew Bledsoe, Gronk, Julian Edelman, and eventually the former coach of the evil empire, Bill Belichick.

Though the roast’s host, Kevin Hart, was only occasionally funny, he did a nice job keeping the energy high and mostly getting out of the way so the footballers and comedians could roast Tom and each other.

As with my previous LinkedIn “Communication Breakdown” posts, my writings are intended to open up new ways of considering communication methods, and the roast is certainly an intense and embarrassing way to communicate. And yet Tom chose this. I don’t know if he was paid, but even if he was (I assume he was), it probably wasn’t a large amount relative to his net worth and the flack he took.?

So all that begs the question why? Why would someone who is considered by many as the greatest football player of all time, someone with millions and millions of dollars, and a face that could launch a thousand ships, expose themselves to such tomfoolery?

Tom did this because he understands, especially after their first three Super Bowls, that the best offense is a good defense.

In my opinion, Brady has political aspirations and that will be revealed this fall when he teams up with Donald Trump. It could be as little as making a few campaign stops together and/or cutting an endorsement video, or as monumental as preparing to accept a cabinet position, and in my mind, there is something brewing. Tom and Don’s friendship goes way back (though Tom has downplayed it), and though Tom’s broadcasting debut this fall on Fox is bound to attract eyeballs I believe he has bigger aspirations than just joining your living room on Sundays. Getting all your skeletons and baggage out in the open, and there are a lot - divorce, infidelity, crypto failure, deflate-gate, fake hair, and more - before your opponents can introduce them to a broad audience and define your narrative is an incredibly savvy move (Remember, Trump did a Comedy Central roast back in 2011).?

By doing so, nearly all the negative things that may be said, have already been said and many of us laughed about it. What bullets will the other side have in their chamber after this, at least when it comes to character attacks??

An additional theory I listened to from a friend in Miami was that Tom was letting the comedians do the dirty work surrounding his impending divorce. Meaning, let the?comedians call his ex a cheater and heartless and in doing so make everyone laugh so Tom doesn’t have to be the bad guy. Politicians aren’t new to using comedy to project their humorous side and appear more like us (see SNL or the annual White House Correspondents Dinner), but I’ve never seen someone go all in with humor and allow themselves to be absolutely cooked. This maneuver was intentional and expected...like something a smart politician would do.?

In that regard, the joke isn’t on Tom, it’s on his opponents.?