The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts

2 10 Muhammad Ali Let’s situate The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast in Muhammad Ali’s career. Billy Crystal performed startlingly dead-on impersonations of Howard Cosell and Ali at the Thrilla in Manila. Even Ali was tickled; clearly, Crystal was going places. The roast aired on February 19, 1976, one day before Ali took on Belgian heavyweight contender Jean-Pierre Coopman in a match he won easily.