Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

A goodbye “roast” was given to Meredith Vieira of the “The View” this past Friday. What should have been a funny grand farewell turned into an embarrassing awkward goodbye show fit for someone that might be leaving a local cable show.

Mario Cantone, Joan Rivers and Gilbert Gottfried joined for a Friar's Club-style roast with Vieira giving as good as she got. "You guys put a show together that looks like it took the time that Bill takes to comb his hair," she said, as the camera panned to bald executive producer Bill Geddie.

No one was sure why Gilbert Gottfried showed up. Mario Cantone was only there because he had been a guest 31 times and Joan River’s half way awkward joke was when she cracked, "It's going to be very hard to do 'The View' without you and without Star -- oh, sorry, that's next week!"

Kelsey Grammer made a quick appearance but only to (jokingly) plug his new movie XMen:3. Seriously.

Barbara Walters also tried her hand at comedy but failed miserably. She seemed so uncomfortable reading the teleprompter. She peaked with "We just hope that given your drinking habit you're able to tell 'Today' from tomorrow and, more importantly, Matt Lauer from Al Roker." My inside source at ABC tells me that Barbara is actually furious at Meredith for leaving “The View” and can’t believe ABC didn’t try to counter the offer given by NBC.

All in all, the farewell show was a total bore. I was able to watch Katie Couric’s farewell and they had such stars as the cast of “Jersey Boys,” Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood and many others. This doesn’t include the many prerecorded goodbyes given by various A-List celebrities. My source at ABC also told me that as soon as Meredith’s farewell show was over, she immediately got in her SUV and never looked back. Good for you Meredith!