Donald Trump (and the Situation's bad jokes) bring strong ratings to Comedy Central roast

We don't know whether to credit Donald Trump's Justin-Bieber-on-fire hairstyle or Mike "the Situation" Sorrentino's joke-grenades, but "The Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump" brought in 3.5 million total viewers on Tuesday night, beating out a lot of previous roastees. Yes, that's right: Take that, Hasselhoff!

Sorrentino surely deserves at least some of Comedy Central's gratitude, as his slew of bad punch lines drummed up a whole lot of free publicity for the show before it aired. In one groaner that was cut from the broadcast, he told Snoop Dogg, "You know you have so much in common with Donald Trump. Trump's ancestors were into real estate, and your ancestors were considered property."

Immediately after taping, fellow roaster Lisa Lampanelli told TMZ that the Situation's performance was widely booed. "The greatest thing was that when the Situation tanked really bad, he came up to us after the show and said, 'That was good, right?'" she said, laughing. "I should go through life that delusional!"

Other roasters suggested that everyone knew the Situation would bomb before he took the stage in his aviator sunglasses. "He's a crackhead. It's gonna be a disaster," comedian Whitney Cummings told the Huffington Post on the red carpet before the start of the show.

So maybe Comedy Central knew he'd die out there too? After all, watching the Situation humiliate himself on camera couldn't hurt ratings -- isn't that the whole premise of "Jersey Shore"?

-- Melissa Maerz

RELATED:

Incoming! The Situation gets lobbed with grenades for Trump roast performance

The Situation nearly booed off stage at Comedy Central's Donald Trump roast

Photo: Mike Sorrentino. Credit: Charles Sykes / Associated Press

Comments

[Mario Pellegrini]

Trumps response to the ugly and raunchy Roasters was so bad that he cannot be elected president. He sounded worse than the Roasters because while the panel displayed the dark side of our society He joined in rather than criticizing their behavior. The audience would have applauded wildly if he condemned the behavior. If he runs for president all his opponents have to do is to play the remarks he made on the roast. You could see that he hated what happened but he could not say so. That shows a weakness that cannot be overcome. He made it worse by saying it was OK because it raised a lot of money, What a sellout. And I would have voted for him. I hope he can live this down.

[Dani]

I feel for the kid. Some times crowds are tough. Sure his jokes weren't funny, but I also don't think the crowd was too receptive of him either.

[Sharaz]

R.I.P Greg Giraldo Comedy Central couldn't find anyone to replace your immense talent so they brought in this loser.

[len connors]

Cannot believe that Don Trump sat there and listen to the point 5 IQ people comment about him and his wife and daughter without walking of the stage.
The show was disgusting and should not have aired

[pittguy]

It's a Roast Mario, not a tea party. He was well aware what he was getting himself into. Have you ever seen a roast before? It's for our entertainment. Drops people egos down a notch or two. It's about witty people getting together and having a free for all on everyone partisipating. It's not a political debate.