Jeffrey Ross Lifschultz (born September 13, 1965) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director and producer. He is nicknamed the "Roastmaster General" for his insult comedy, his multiple appearances at celebrity roasts held by the New York Friars Club, the Comedy Central Roast television series, and the Netflix historical comedy series Historical Roasts. In 2009, the Chicago Tribune called Ross "the new millennium Don Rickles." His directorial debut, the 2006 documentary Patriot Act: A Jeffrey Ross Home Movie, won the prize for Best Film at the Comedia film festival held at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.

Ross was raised in Newark, New Jersey, until he was in second grade; then his family moved to Union, New Jersey, and later to Springfield, New Jersey, where he attended Jonathan Dayton High School. He is Jewish and has a younger sister named Robyn. His mother Marsha died from leukemia when he was 14 years old. His father died of drug-related causes when Ross was 19 years old and attending college. His father owned and ran Clinton Manor Catering, a business that was started by Ross's great-grandmother. The business was located in Newark, and later moved to Union.

Ross attended Boston University as a broadcasting and film major with a minor in political science. He graduated from the Boston University College of Communication in 1987. Ross also worked as the music director at the university's student-run radio station WTBU in addition to working for the university's public radio station WBUR where he was an audio engineer.

Ross began performing stand-up in 1989 after attending a comedy class. He appeared on A&E's An Evening at the Improv in 1994. By 1995, he was performing at iconic New York clubs like the Comedy Cellar and Stand Up NY. That same year, he was invited by the New York Friars Club to participate in a roast of actor Steven Seagal.

Ross became a regular at the Friars Club roasts and was given the title of "Roastmaster General". The Friars Club's first televised event was the roast of Drew Carey that was broadcast on Comedy Central in 1998. Ross credits a particular joke that he made at the expense of attendees Bea Arthur and Sandra Bernhard at the 1999 roast of Jerry Stiller for taking his roasting career to the next level. That same year Jimmy Kimmel hired Ross as a writer on The Man Show and Ross also wrote some of the punchlines for Billy Crystal's monologue at the Oscars in 2000.

In 2003, Comedy Central began producing their own celebrity roasts. Ross has been a roaster at all Comedy Central roasts since the 2005 roast of Pamela Anderson. During his Comedy Central Roast appearances, Ross became known for dressing up in edgy and sometimes controversial costumes: He roasted Charlie Sheen dressed as Muammar Gaddafi; he roasted Rob Lowe dressed as Purple Rain-era Prince on an episode that aired five months after the musician's death; he roasted Roseanne Barr dressed as the late football coach Joe Paterno during the height of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal; he also roasted James Franco wearing cornrows and a neck tattoo in reference to Franco's character in the 2012 film Spring Breakers.

Ross has participated as a roaster on the following Comedy Central Roasts:

Ross has also written for, performed in or produced the roasts of the following celebrities: