I’m cute and Jewish! And Jewish! Did I mention that I am of Jewish heritage? VAGINA! PUSSY! VAGINA! PUSSY! Aren’t I shocking? And cute! And Jewish!
No. Don’t like her at all. Shoot her into the sun.
Funny women: “Moms” Mabley. Maria Bamford. Kathy Griffin has her moments. Whoopi used to kill. So did Lily. Phyllis Diller. And if you want to hear vulgarities from a woman, go with Lisa Lampinelli. She doesn’t do much for me, but she’s funnier than Sarah.
I would rather watch and sleep with Tina Fey.
[QUOTE=anamnesis]
Her jokes can be a little hit or miss at times, but I still love her. It seems like some of her material falls flat, but I think it’s intentional. She even seems to recognize when her bits are lame and intentionally mocks herself just to be absurdist. Her punchlines are also nicely constructed. Her style reminds me of Stephen Lynch, a singing comedian whose songs start out cute and innocent, and then spiral into something completely vulgar, inappropriate and offensive.
A lot of what I like about her is that (like Stephen Colbert) it’s hard to tell where her character ends and her actual personality begins. Stephen Colbert has obviously created an alter ego for himself because he’s very different when he’s not in character, but Sarah seems to act the way she does all the time regardless of who she’s talking to, so I have to wonder whether she means most of what she says. She delivers her lines in such a consistently deadpan, matter-of-fact way rather than in a joking manner, and there’s little separation between her and her character. I think she might be borderline nuts, but that’s part of what I like about her.
Her sister Laura is also really cute, but in a different way. The funny thing is that I would never guess them to be real sisters! Sarah’s cute, but I think her sister is even cuter … like Sarah gives a shit what I think. 
[/QUOTE]
This about sums up my feelings, except I’m not familiar with Stephen Lynch. (Disclaimer: And I don’t find her shocking. And even though I do think she’s hot, I’m not entertained by any sort of “cute girl says bad word” type of vibe.)
I thought Jesus is Magic was just okay, but I love the show. I find it incredibly entertaining; definitely not a laugh every other second type of thing, but I really enjoy the hell out of it.
[QUOTE=Sunrazor]
You just made me think of Don Rickles in shoulder-length black hair and a mohair sweater, sneering into the camera, “Ya hockey puck!”.
[/QUOTE]
This created a vision in my head, not of Rickles, but of Flip Wilson in drag as Geraldine and I cracked up. But to me, Don Rickles was funny–even though he was funnier dealing with hecklers than with his actual stand up.
Sarah Silverman is just not funny. My husband and I (who do not share the same sense of humor-he is puzzled over Monty Python for one example), look at one another when her ads come on and shake our heads. She’s obnoxious-“look at me! I use vulgar language and put myself in awkward situations!”
I have not seen the “eating pussy” bit, but if it is funny (and I don’t think it is), it is funny because a child is saying, and that is not Sarah on the show, correct? So how is using a child that way funny?
I like Ellen, Lily Tomlin, early Roseanne, Margaret Cho, Tina Fey, Carol Burnett, (even Phyllis Diller-what the hell), Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Amy Sedaris, Lorraine Newman, Whoopi, and many others. There are lots of funny women; Sarah Silverman is not one of them.
I read a New Yorker article about her a few years ago–how she was “pushing the envelope” of comedy and blurring the lines between comedy and pathos etc. Whatever. I liked Andy Kaufman’s stuff, and IMS, he also “blurred the lines of comedy” but he was also funny. IMO, Sarah blurs the lines between funny and unfunny.
Ok, think I’ve made my point. Can you tell I can’t stand her? 
I can’t recall seeing Sarah in anything apart from this year’s MTV awards where she ripped on Britney.
That bit was awful, I didn’t think it was funny at all (and not because I like Brits. I just didn’t think it was well done). But I don’t know how much of the not funny was because she really was shooting a fish in a barrell.
If the rest of her acts are like the MTV bit, then no, I don’t think she’s very funny.
I can’t disassociate her from the nagging harpy role she played in School of Rock. I’ve chuckled at a few things she’s said (I haven’t watched her show though), but she’s not ROTFLMAO funny. More like somewhat amusing.
I think Sarah has a 20% funny rate, which isn’t TOO horrible (no comedian I’ve seen gets past 60% or so), but her unfunny bits are often painful and desperate-sounding. She either tries too hard to be shocking and forgets about The Funny, or she relies on the shocking and doesn’t KNOW how to get to The Funny (i.e. she sometimes ends up there out of sheer luck).
When she’s good, she’s great, when she’s bad. Uuuuuugh.
Take her film (JIM). I like mainly the song-videos. Especially “The Porn Song” and “Maybe It’s Like.” Most of the standup part was dull.
I’ve seen her do really good standup bits. But then there’s the recent award show performances. Egad.
I just finished reading Ebert’s “You Movie Sucks”. And JIM makes the cut. Strangely, his favorite part is the early “Gonna Do Show” song which is my least favorite (of the video-style songs). He then digs into “You’re Gonna Die Soon” which is not great but still fairly decent. I don’t know what his problem was.
I think one of her current problems is that she is surrounded by “buddies” who aren’t telling her that she needs to fix her act and get back on track.
[QUOTE=HoldenCaulfield]
This about sums up my feelings, except I’m not familiar with Stephen Lynch.
[/QUOTE]
Off topic: I love Stephen Lynch. Both his material and his delivery are pitch perfect every time.
And he was really good in the Broadway musical version of The Wedding Singer, believe it or not.
[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
I have not seen the “eating pussy” bit, but if it is funny (and I don’t think it is), it is funny because a child is saying, and that is not Sarah on the show, correct? So how is using a child that way funny?
[/QUOTE]
Sarah is pretending that this is what the child said to her. No actual child was harmed in the making of this joke.
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase]
Sarah is pretending that this is what the child said to her. No actual child was harmed in the making of this joke.
[/QUOTE]
That wasn’t clear in the previous post. Or maybe it was and I didnt’ read it closely enough. I’m not of the camp that thinks having kids say shocking stuff is funny, anyway, but I’m glad to see that SS didn’t use a child that way. Now, the bit about no child was harmed–that was funny! You should get your own show!
[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
That wasn’t clear in the previous post. Or maybe it was and I didnt’ read it closely enough. I’m not of the camp that thinks having kids say shocking stuff is funny, anyway, but I’m glad to see that SS didn’t use a child that way. Now, the bit about no child was harmed–that was funny! You should get your own show!
[/QUOTE]
I’ve been saying that for years. Nobody listens. 
People who refer to her as an ‘insult’ comic are so not getting it. Its difficult to describe but she most definitely does not use vulgarity just for the sake of cheap laughs. Its not funny because its shocking, but because its all brutally honest. Its sort of a combination of child-like honesty with very adult themes.
Jesus Is Magic was a little hit and miss, but overall it was pretty damn funny. “You’re gonna die soon” was gleefully faux-mean spirited. “I love you more” also. All the songs were extremely catchy and well written lyrically.
But her Comedy Central show is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. The latest episode’s joke about her being on the other end of the abortion vacuum being like, “tying someone’s tie for them”, if you don’t think that’s utterly hilarious, well she’s not for you.
I’m another who feels almost all female stand up comedians are NOT funny. At all. I have extremely high standards for comedy and also think that only a few male stand ups are truly funny. But Roseanne, Whoppie, Joan Rivers, not funny. Phylis Diller?! Way too schticky. Plus, like Joan Rivers, her entire bit consists of making fun of how unattractive she is. Lily Tomlin was a genuine talent, but that was nearly two generations ago! Janine Garafalo used to be a very funny actress and not bad stand up, until she became a self-righteous, ignorant, hypocritical c*nt. Ellen Degeneres used to be kinda funny. Then she decided she had to save the world with lesbianism.
A big problem with practically all female stand ups (past & present) is that they insist on telling ‘chick’ jokes. Not jokes for women, but jokes exclusively from the female point of view. Kathy Griffin is one of the few female stand ups who doesn’t seem to always do this. Also Carol Leifer (though she’s mostly a writer now). Margaret Smith was good, though she ran out of material a long time ago. Tina Fey is very good, but she’s not really a stand up.
Sarah Silverman is pretty much the best female stand up working today. Though I’ll admit that the fact that I also think she (and her sister) are incredible pieces of ass may be effecting my opinion a little.
[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
…But her Comedy Central show is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. The latest episode’s joke about her being on the other end of the abortion vacuum being like, “tying someone’s tie for them”, if you don’t think that’s utterly hilarious, well she’s not for you.
[/QUOTE]
From what’s given, I can’t even picture which end she’s supposed to be on. It doesn’t really sound like she’s the fetus, but then, it doesn’t sound like she’s the abortionist, either. Could you explain why you find this hilarious?
[QUOTE=RickJay]
Evidently you never saw Ellen DeGeneres’s stand up act. She was hysterical - an exceptional comic, one of the very best.
[/QUOTE]
“Byyyyy Mennen!” is a reoccurring joke in our house.
I don’t find Silverman funny at all. She reminds me of a female high school bully with her put-downs, like the riff directed at Paris Hilton at the MTV Movie Awards earlier this year. I’m the furthest thing from a fan of Paris Hilton and I think a well-timed Paris Hilton joke is funny, yeah, but nasty digs like she gave when Hilton was sitting right there in the audience looking like she’s about to cry, is the opposite of funny. It was uncomfortable to watch. She seems to excel at kicking people when they’re down. She’s just mean. Not funny, MEAN.
I really liked Jesus Is Magic. The show, not so much. I think part of the problem (and this could count for ALOT of the comedy out there today) is that some folks don’t seem to know when to STOP THE JOKE, and it goes from being funny, to uncomfortable, to “OK, we get it. MOVE ON!”
My favorite line from Jesus Is Magic:
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
Right! She reminds me a lot of Howard Stern, except without the brain-dead naked women. Shock for shock’s sake has been done to death.
[/QUOTE]
That’s a terrible, terrible comparison.
Stern does 5 hours or more of radio 4 days a week (5 days a week before satellite). About 10% of that consists of (sometimes) brain-dead naked women. Much, perhaps the majority, of the remaining 90% is very funny social commentary on various subjects of the day. Very little of what he says or does is “shocking,” not in these days of pie-fucking teenagers in movies.
Silverman is very borderline for me. I get a very big laugh from her about 25% of the time, chuckles another 35%, and the rest is dreadfully unfunny. She ATTEMPTS to shock, which is almost impossible, at least to me. “The Aristocrats” is a notable exception, although the shock wears off after 90 minutes. But she’s great on the Stern show…
Joe
She’s funny in the way that Andrew Dice Clay is funny. As in, not at fucking all. I wouldn’t cross the road to see her if I had free tickets.
Mean?! You’re kidding, right? Everything she says is a joke.
And sorry, when you’re a billionairess who is world famous for one thing and one thing only (namely sucking c*ck on video) and you still revell in your fame, well you deserve all that and more.
Like I said, if I have to explain it…
OP checking back in – imagine my astonishment to find this column linked in my daily AlterNet email this morning. Interestingly enough, most of the points the author hits have been cited by one or another poster here.
