\n\tWho wants to beat up a Beatle?<\/p>\n
\n\tBefore Kevin Hart took the hot seat at this year\u2019s live roast on Netflix, the spot was offered to none other than Paul McCartney<\/a>, sources tell Variety.<\/p>\n \n\tIn an attempt to follow up 2024\u2019s blockbuster Tom Brady roast with another \u201cGOAT,\u201d the producers at one point approached the greatest living songwriter and rock star. McCartney, of course, decided to let it be.<\/p>\n \n\tComedian Jeff Ross, the \u201cRoastmaster General\u201d and executive producer of the franchise, confirmed to Variety, \u201cWe did ask Paul McCartney at one point. To me, that would be a fantasy roast. Paul McCartney doesn\u2019t need anything, but a Paul McCartney roast would be good for the world. It would be so funny to me because he is so loved.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNetflix declined to comment. A representative for McCartney did not immediately respond to Variety\u2018s request for comment.<\/p>\n \n\tNetflix stand-up comedy chief Robbie Praw told Variety ahead of the Netflix Is a Joke Fest that the company had \u201cthrown around a lot of names\u201d for a potential roast. According to a 2025 report from Puck, one of those names was Will Smith. Sources indicated to Variety that the roast could have helped Smith rehabilitate his image by becoming the butt of the joke after his Oscar slap.<\/p>\n \n\tNetflix\u2019s roast franchise started in 2024 with a skewering of NFL champion Brady, which was hosted by Hart and was nominated for an Emmy for live variety special. While the format is reminiscent of the long-standing Comedy Central roast series, the idea was to make the Netflix offerings more eventized with true superstar subjects. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThere are a lot of B-list celebrities who want to get roasted. I want it to be like the Super Bowl of roasting,\u201d Ross told Variety<\/a> in November. \u201cTom Brady I held onto for three years. He retired, unretired, got divorced, then we decided to do it at the Netflix festival. To get a whale sometimes takes a while. We have another festival coming up in May, and I\u2019m pretty confident we\u2019ll have a roast in the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n