Byrne Roasted, but Christie Feels the Heat

The event was billed as a 90th-birthday roast for former Governor Brendan Byrne, but it was Governor Chris Christie who got burned.

Five former governors shared the dais at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center last night with an assortment of professional comedians as well as Byrne and his wife, Ruthi Zinn Byrne. The roast raised $110,000 for NJPAC’s education programs.

The evening started tamely enough, with Christie, serving as roastmaster, sharing warm thoughts about Byrne. Former Governor James Florio followed suit. In fact all of the other gathered governors – Tom Kean, Jim McGreevey, Donald DiFrancesco and Richard Codey – were on good behavior.

But the comedians? They had their own agenda. After all, how many barbs can you fire at a beloved, scandal-free 90-year-old? Christie made a much better target.

TV personality Joy Behar was the first to mention the George Washington Bridge affair. When she heard the news of Christie’s possible involvement in the traffic jam, Behar says she wondered, “What the hell’s he doing standing in the middle of the bridge?”

Christie, sitting just to Behar’s right, playfully objected to the remark, pointing out that it was a night to toast the honoree.

“Let me put it this way,” Behar responded, “you’re a guy who appreciates your toast.”

New York comic and professional roaster Stewie Stone, pondering Christie’s presidential possibilities, asked: “How are they going to fit a round guy in an oval office?”

Comedian Reese Waters chided Christie for his desire to follow, “a fine Republican tradition of taking jobs from black men.”

Even Republican Assemblyman Jon Bramnick got into the act. He was one of several speakers who stated his regret that Byrne’s name had been taken off what is now the Izod Center in East Rutherford. But Bramnick assured Byrne, “There are naming rights available for a small bridge near Fort Lee that no one wants to be associated with.”

In the end, it was Byrne who surprised the crowd of 160-plus politicians and business people with the evening’s most cutting remark. Commenting on his statue recently erected in Newark, Byrne said, “It was supposed to be Governor Christie, but they didn’t have enough money to pay for all that bronze.”

Ouch.

Read more From the Editors articles.

By submitting comments you grant permission for all or part of those comments to appear in the print edition of New Jersey Monthly.

Required
Required not shown
Required not shown