Name the friend and list the true, harmless things you already tease them about. Hemmingway writes a roast of four to six lines from that list, each line ending on its joke, and finishes on something kind. It is for a friend who is in on it.
It teases only about what you list. It does not dig for other material, guess at embarrassing stories or add an insult to fill a gap.
What keeps a roast friendly
- Roast choices, not traits. Lateness, a terrible playlist, the bread maker: fair. Looks, weight, race, disability, health and money trouble are not material, and the tool is told to leave them out.
- Make sure they are in on it. If you are not certain they would enjoy it, ask. A roast of someone who did not agree to one is just being unkind with an audience.
- Keep their secrets. Nothing they told you in confidence, and no exes in front of the new partner.
- End warm. Fill in the box about what you like in them. The last line is what they take home.
An example
Asked for a roast of a best mate, Kofi, for his 30th, from three habits, that he has been five minutes away for fifteen years, owns a bread maker he has used once and quotes the same film at every quiz night, plus the fact that he is the first to turn up when anyone needs help moving house, a roast along these lines is what to expect:
Kofi has been five minutes away for fifteen years. We have stopped asking where from.
He owns a bread maker. He has used it once. It has had a quieter life than any of us.
At every quiz night he quotes the same film. It has never been the answer.
But when anyone needs help moving house, he is the first to turn up. Five minutes late, but first.
Before you read it out
Ask of each line: would they laugh if they read this alone? Cut any line that gets a wince. Keep it under a minute.
For a full speech with some teasing in it, see the best man speech generator or the birthday speech generator. For jokes about a topic, there is the joke generator. If you would sooner say something nice, the compliment generator does the opposite job.
Common questions
Is the roast generator free?
Yes. Hemmingway has a free trial with no card needed, and this tool opens it with your answers filled in. You sign up once, and the roast is written in the chat.
Can it roast me?
Yes. Put yourself in the first box and list the habits you are happy to be teased about. It writes the roast in the same friendly way.
Will it write a savage roast?
No. It teases about habits and choices and stays off looks, race, disability and anything a person cannot change. If the aim is to hurt someone, this is the wrong tool.
Will it sound like AI?
It is built not to. Hemmingway-1, the model behind it, came first on sounding like a person in our own blind test, Human-Likeness. It still helps to read it aloud and change any word you would not use.