Sarah Silverman - Jesus is Magic
The title of Silverman's DVD comes from a line in her show about what she and her Christian boyfriend would say to their children about religion, "Mommy is one of the chosen people and daddy thinks Jesus is magic." This captures Sarah Silverman's comic persona perfectly. In the show she plays somebody self-centred and smug who manages to say offensive things completely blithely. What you miss from the quote is the charm of her delivery - even while she is saying the most outrageous things she manages to be strangely engaging. And if you were to take what she says out of context it would sound terrible - Germans, Mexicans, Black people, Jews and the Chinese - all are mocked. Actually, I don't think that she says anything negative about the Chinese, she just insists on calling them "chinks".
Sarah Silverman, image from Sarah Silverman Online
Silverman's acute narcissism is made credible by her attractiveness; she has the undentable ego of somebody who is really fit and knows it. Not a pose that many comedians could pull off. In one scene she snogs her image in the mirror, entranced.
Jesus is Magic is actually really funny, not a sociological investigation of taboo, but I was entertained rather than laughing out loud. This was also my reaction to 'internet sensation' "I'm F****ing Matt Damon". She's not a comedian that you would take home to your parents, but (if she's anything like mine) your younger sister would think her hilarious.
Our expert in the field of comedy (and music), Clare, has just pointed me in the direction of one of Sarah's recent items on YouTube in which she encourages Jewish kids to blackmail their grandparents into voting for Obama. This really had me laughing loudly (in the office, nothing more annoying for those around you).
Sarah Silverman is at the Hammersmith Apollo on 19 October and Jesus is Magic is released on DVD on Monday 13 October.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~40~RS~)
Comments
"Actually, I don't think that she says anything negative about the Chinese, she just insists on calling them "chinks".
-Isn't that tremendously dodgy? And potentially (in this country at least) legally dodgy?
I think this review needed to highlight some of the controversy Silverman has generated with her particular brand of race humour. She had to face down a member of an American Asian rights group on a talk show, for instance (I think it was called Politically Incorrect, somewhat aptly). Needless to say he did not approve of her calling Chinese people 'chinks', even in the name of comedy.
As you say, she is 'fit' and one wonders if the same jokes would be acceptable coming out of a big fat white man. And if not, why not. Discuss.
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Of course her comments are "tremendously dodgy", that's the nature of the character Silverman is playing. I would have hoped that my description of her on stage persona as "somebody self-centred and smug who manages to say offensive things completely blithely" would have signposted what I said about "just" calling Chinese people by a racist term as a joke. I agree that some people find Silverman's humour offensive, but I think that is clear enough without my labouring the point.
Silverman's attractiveness is a key part of the character she plays - it's not that I was saying that we should let her off saying racist things because she is pretty, but that she is playing somebody in love with themselves who is conscious of the power of their sexuality. I don't know if the joke "I don't care if you think I'm racist, I just want you to think I'm thin" would work coming out of the mouth of a fat white man. Nor would her gazing in astonishment at her reflection like some brassy Narcissus.
You don't have to find her funny, but if you consider her racist I think you're missing the point.
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"I don't know if the joke "I don't care if you think I'm racist, I just want you to think I'm thin" would work coming out of the mouth of a fat white man."
-Well, no it wouldn't, but that's kind of sidestepping the issue. I know one commentator defended the humour of Bernard Manning by comparing him to Ali G - the argument being that because Sacha Baron Cohen was young, cool and handsome he got away with more racial based humour than if he was fat, white and working class. Now the counter to that is 'Ali G is a character and not his real view' 'Sarah Silverman is a character' - but does that actually justify race jokes? Maybe Bernard Manning was doing a 'character' -who really knows? Because 'it's a character' *then* it's OK to make such jokes? I honestly don't know. I don't actually have particularly strong feelings one way or the other, but I do believe Silverman 'gets away with' more because of her young hip and cool status. Some people call her on it, though as she found out to her cost on Politically Incorrect.
I don't think she is racist I think she says racist things to shock the audience into a cheap laugh. Which is pretty weak. I wouldn't go overboard with the beauty angle: in one sketch she describes herself as 'cute, but not 'out-of-your-league' cute'. I found her performance at the Secret Policeman's Ball to be, essentially a disaster with few laughs from the audience. Anyone can shock.
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I would qualify that although I don't *think* she is racist, it's difficult for me to be totally sure. No-one knows what's going on in someone else's head but the jokes she tells certainly don't help things. Certainly she doesn't play an 'obvious' character like Ali G or Borat she performs under her real name. In some ways it's a side issue. Who has the right to say such things? In the UK we don't have total freedom of speech when it comes to matters of ethnicity (especially when it comes to racial insults) and that is often for the better.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7680076.stm
Oh dear.....
"You're over-hyped Sarah" shouted one heckler. The Culture Show over-hyping someone? Surely not.... ;-) I think while some of her material is good, most of it is middling to poor, her stand up is also fairly weak. Her physical appearance and charm seem to bewitch certain people!
Apologies for posting three times, alas I cannot edit my posts.
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"I don't think she is racist I think she says racist things to shock the audience into a cheap laugh. Which is pretty weak."
I think that we have different views of what Silverman is doing. I think that she is mocking racism by assuming a character – you think that her aim is simply to shock. I'm also slightly baffled by the Ali G parallel with Bernard Manning: I thought that Tim Westwood had more reason to be upset by the Ali G character than black people.
"I would qualify that although I don't *think* she is racist, it's difficult for me to be totally sure... Who has the right to say such things?"
So much for comedy that challenges assumptions. Unless a comedian is delivering a positive message that nobody can misinterpret they shouldn't be allowed to perform.
""You're over-hyped Sarah" shouted one heckler. The Culture Show over-hyping someone? Surely not...."
It sounds like the show was disappointingly brief and that the audience were understandably dissatisfied. As for 'over-hyping' Silverman, did you read my post? "Jesus is Magic is actually really funny, not a sociological investigation of taboo, but I was entertained rather than laughing out loud." I think she's funny, I disagree with you about the nature of her material, but she's not my favourite comedian or anything.
We're just not going to agree on this one!
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"I think that we have different views of what Silverman is doing. I think that she is mocking racism by assuming a character ? you think that her aim is simply to shock. I'm also slightly baffled by the Ali G parallel with Bernard Manning: I thought that Tim Westwood had more reason to be upset by the Ali G character than black people."
-Well there have been complaints from some quarters of the Black community that Ali G is not acceptable. there is also the risk factor that people will laugh 'with' the character rather than 'at' the character. However I didn't mention black people anyway. The Ali G comparison to Manning is not my comparison, it was made by someone on a show about Manning. I can't remember who it was, sadly.
""So much for comedy that challenges assumptions."
-What exactly is she challenging? That racism is bad? Nice one.
"Unless a comedian is delivering a positive message that nobody can misinterpret they shouldn't be allowed to perform"
-Straw man argument. I'm just suggesting Sarah Silverman shouldn't be allowed to perform... (actually I'm
not, I'm just suggesting she should be called on it more).
"As for 'over-hyping' Silverman, did you read my post?"
-I was being facetious with my over-hyped comment, that's why I used the smiley.
I do think she's over-hyped, there's a lot of great US women comedy stars that deserve more attention here, because, y'know, they're funnier. But are they cute?
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Which US female comedy stars are we missing out on? I'm always interested in suggestions.
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Check out the current roster of Saturday Night Live for starters. Roseanne is doing a series of dates in the UK at the moment (not a fan personally, mind).
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I'm not keen on what I've seen of Roseanne either.
What about UK comedians? Have you seen Sarah Millican (winner of the IF.comedy award for best newcomer at Edinburgh)? I missed her show, but I think she's doing some gigs in London quite soon.
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Um, the woman that does Dobby from Peep Show? Haven't seen her show, mind, but Richard Herring (remember him, BBC2 viewers) recommends her show, I think.
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Would Sarah Silverman have left obscene messages on Andrew Sachs' voicemail? Of course not, she's a national treasure. She could teach those two something about professionalism. Erm..
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I wouldn't call her cute, weird looking more like, but she is a fresh breath of comedy air. For anyone who hasn't already seen her TV series you must do so. It is an omission from your life which you should rectify immediately.
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A fresh breath of air? Air all air. Sarah Silverman simply isn't a comedian.
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