Skinny

The annual California Roast, in which a top politico gets skewered by his colleagues, has been a Sacramento tradition since 1982 when then-Speaker Willie Brown got nailed. Tuesday night it was Speaker John Pérez’s turn at the Radisson before 670 diners and he took it all gracefully – the gibes about weight, being gay, lack of a UC diploma, etc. – although one got the feeling that his tormentors’ bills were going to suffer an early death or at least the two-year limbo. He also gave as good as he got, as when he quipped about Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg’s ability to close deals: “Until the Chilean miners, Darrell was frontrunner for biggest cave-in of 2010.” The array of roasters included Tom Ammiano, Cameron Smyth (who did a star turn, by the way), Bob Blumenfield and Audra Strickland. One of the biggest laughs of the night came from the Republican Strickland, who was dismissive of those who complain about being “screwed by Republicans who don’t know what they’re doing.” “That happens to me every night,” she said. Her husband Tony is in the state Senate. Well, we thought it was funny…