The Netflix roast of Tom Brady was familiar territory for Julian Edelman.
The former wide receiver, who spent his entire 12-year NFL career playing alongside Brady in New England, explained why roasting the former quarterback brought him back to their playing days.
“I thought it was a fun night. Everyone had super thick skin and we all knew what we were there for, and that was to make fun of each other,” Edelman said of the Netflix special, in an interview with People. “I mean, it felt very similar to a locker room — we just did in front of people, which you would feel would be a little inappropriate, but it was fun.
“It felt like a big therapeutic session between everyone that was there, if you know what I mean.”
The roast featured a number of stars, including Rob Gronkowski, Kevin Hart, Kim Kardashian and Nikki Glaser, who launched brutal jokes at Brady.
Edelman referred to Brady as “Leonardo DiCaprio’s ex-girlfriend’s ex-husband” during the roast — while Kardashian joked that Brady reminds her of her stepdad, Caitlyn Jenner.
Glaser trolled Brady about his ex-wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, moving on with her jujitsu coach, Joaquim Valente — and the world fell in love with her bold delivery and raunchy sex jokes.
Edelman, Brady and Gronkowski won three Super Bowls together with the Patriots before the wideout became the first of the three to retire in April 2021.
Gronkowski took his talents to Tampa Bay, where he teamed up with Brady again on the Buccaneers in 2020 to win what would be his fourth and final Super Bowl in February 2021.
The All-Pro tight end hung up his jersey for good in June 2022, and Brady announced his retirement (for the second and final time) on Feb. 1, 2023 after 23 seasons.
Edelman and Gronkowski attended a celebration for Brady to commemorate his career in the Bahamas last March, when they partied on a yacht and tossed around the football on the beach, as seen in social media photos at the time.
Brady will be inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame on Wednesday at Gillette Stadium, where more than 100 of his former teammates, including Gronkowski and Edelman, will be present, the team announced.
Randy Moss, Willie McGinest, Devin McCourty, Vince Wilfork, Ty Law, James White, Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk, Matthew Slater, Dan Koppen, Logan Mankins, Matt Cassel, Brian Hoyer, Drew Bledsoe, Rob Ninkovich and Patrick Chung will make a return to Foxborough for the occasion.
Brady, who turns 47 in August, will become Fox Sports’ lead NFL analyst this fall after agreeing to a $375 million contract with the network in 2022, and will be in the booth with Kevin Burkhardt.
Brady is replacing former NFL tight end Greg Olsen, who won a Sports Emmy for his work as Fox’s top NFL analyst last season.
