We rented JIM once. Jesus is Magic was the funniest joke I remember in that whole movie. A great deal of it seemed to be saying shocking things for shock’s sake. She made a lot of prejudiced comments that irritated me, especially because it was pretty obvious she wasn’t a prejudiced person and was just doing it to get a reaction. I have also, never in the history of my life enjoyed a music video or song by a stand-up comic.
There were some genuine laughs in there, but mostly it was ‘‘Meh. Average comic with a mean streak who thinks shocking= funny. Pass.’’
That judgment is only based on her movie, though. I haven’t seen anything else besides that.
I was trying to imagine a situation in which I would find Sarah Silverman funny and this is the best I could come up with.
Remember that staircase from The Exorcist. I picture Sarah standing at the top of the staircase making fun of Brit’s dancing at the MTV movie awards when she slips and does a really graceful pratfall, sending her tumbling down the staircase. We get to watch in slow motion as she tumbles down, with cuts to super slow mo close ups of a dislocating shoulder, several of her teeth spraying out of her mouth, a jagged end of her femur punching through her $500 jeans, and we hear deep voice slomo sound of her screaming “ow, my vagina”
She finally comes to rest at the bottom, broken and bleeding, but still breathing and whining, when we cut to the top of the wall above her and there is Brit, drunk and pantiless carrying an anvil, which she drops over the side. We watch Brit, with her skirt pulled up so we can see the under side of her boobies, laughing maniacally, until we hear a splat, which will sound a lot like a fart. Then Brit will vomit over the edge and pass out.
Are you kidding me? A 19-year-old girl, like half the other 19-year-old girls in America, lets her boyfriend video her during sex who then four years later - after she’s already become famous - releases the tape for money. She was famous first. By her own efforts, not his or the sex tape’s. But it’s her fault that people think of her that way? It’s her fault that she continues to live her life after that embarrassment? Should she have joined a convent to please you?
I don’t think Paris Hilton has done anything for humanity, but comments like these are simply bizarre. (She’s also not a billionairess. She’s worth, to a good first approximation, about a billion dollars less than a billionairess.)
Then why was the sex tape such a big deal if she wasn’t famous? Why was she even chosen to star in a tv program? How many sex tapes issued today about people who haven’t yet appeared in a tv series would make such headlines?
I don’t want to derail the thread to talk about Paris Hilton. I don’t really want to talk about Paris Hilton at all. I was just replying to a comment that I thought was egregious. If the rest of you can believe it, then do so.
Because the sex tape was released very close to the debut of The Simple Life. So it wasn’t “Model and party girl leaks sex tape!” but “TV star leaks sex tape!” She wasn’t on TV yet, but Fox had already started airing commericals hyping the show. The two fed off each other and people who normally wouldn’t care about a party girl got curious because of a sex tape.
And here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the start of The Simple Life:
So basically, Paris thought it would be fun to be an actress and she bugged Fox until they gave her a show.
I think she’s funny. I mean I like cruelty and I like seeing people squirm but even I get to a point where I cant listen to her anymore. I do really like the tv show. Especially the episode where she had to get batteries for her remote. MY APARTMENT IS BEING FLOODED BY HORRIBLE IMAGES. And having to get through that wheelchair marathon “I’ll show you what it means to overcome a physical challenge!”
She’s funny, but the failure rate is high. That’s just the way it goes when you color that far outside the lines. Like her boyfriend (whom I also find fairly likeable and funny), lots of people hate hate hate her. That’s part of the appeal, and it always has been with shocking acts. She’ll never go down as a great like Sam Kinison or Lenny Bruce, but that’s the pool she’s swimming in. I’d rather see her hit and miss in that world than be another Rita Rudner.
Rita was very funny, many years ago. Few comics can sustain funny for a long time. Very few. Joan Rivers, was actually funny, but this was way back in the 60s and 70s. She has not been funny for decades, that is kind of sad. The George Carlins of the world who remain funny and edgy for decades are very rare.
Actually he was great, probably the absolute best for a good 20 years or more. I think that is an amazing run. He is not as funny to me as he was in the 70s, 80s and early 90s.
I find the commercials for her show funny, but not enough to watch her show. I’d choose her show over Carlos Mencia’s, if that’s saying anything.
Women aren’t funny? My ex-husband thought I was hilarious. He’d even laugh in my face while I was crying, because I just couldn’t stop being funny, even when miserable.
Neither are you.
Personally, I think she’s just going for shock value. Vulgarity, if done right, is hilarious (see George Carlin). But just for the sake of being “oh my god, I’m soooo naughty?” Get over yourself.
It just leaves me cold. Her deliverary sucks. Like Howard Stern, it just gets old after awhile. She’s like the female version of Marilyn Manson.
A large part of Silverman is her acting. While that joke has a certain charm in print, it loses a large part if you can’t see the delivery. If she were writing gags for Letterman, her humor wouldn’t have the same impact on paper.
Although it might be a hoot to hear Leno tell that joke.
