You come off a little sexist, but let me see if I understand where you’re coming from. What I’m guessing is that you don’t like stereotypical female behavior or ramblings. My example:
I’m female, but I don’t really care for female singers. I tend to not like their delivery of emotion (I really hope that made sense), and they tend to be more, I don’t know, whiny. They also seem more likely to blame their problems on other people, and are a tad bit vengeful. I don’t really care for that. Men tend to not be like that, in general (there are exceptions, obviously), but do you understand what I mean? I also think that the male singing voice is more pleasant.
[tangent] I will admit that I don’t care for women in general. I grew up with a mentally unstable mother who also happened to be a rabid feminist, and on the flip side, I have a great relationship with my dad. Most of my friends are men, and my girlfriends share the same views I do. I also feel like the feminist movement is more for women who want to be better than men, not equal - which is why I don’t care for most feminists. Perhaps I’m sexist toward my own gender, I don’t know. [/tangent]
Oh, and I don’t think Sarah is funny. I don’t find mean, smartass children very amusing.
Well, you called her “rather attractive,” so clearly you’re missing something. She’s youngish and she’s not Carol Leifer or Elaine Boozler. But clearly her “I just learned the F-word and I’m gonna shock all the grownups” schtick is the large part of her appeal. It might work if she didn’t give the impression she does: that she’s so clever. Because she’s not. She’s a glib, facile, exhibitionist.
She’s not funny, I can’t exactly explain why. I’ve never laughed at anything Dennis Miller has ever said either. There’s just something about some people.
Several times I have tried to watch her program, or her stand-up act, while late at night and bored at work. It never happens. The commercials alone are enough to make me gag. I have no problem with shocking humor or anything, but she just seems to be really bad at it. I can’t say anything she’s done was funny to me.
I’ll admit that the show is better than the commercials, but still. I would almost rather watch anything else than more Sarah Silverman. I know there are many who would disagree with me, but I guess it’s just not my thing. I will give her another look though, if I come across it on while I’m at work or sitting around the house, just because it’s possible I have been too quick to judge her comedic style.
I think her character is pretty much the same kind of thing as Cartman from South Park.
Not exactly the same, but very much the same kind of thing.
Cartman is more explicitly evil (though not so in earlier episodes, to my recollection) while Silverman is instead just something like “thoughtless” rather than evil.*
But anyway, I interpret jokes from both of them under a similar rubric.
-FrL-
*On some accounts of human nature, this makes her a more reprehensible specimen of humanity, but I am not here to philosophize.
I can see that opinion. For my point of view, I guess it also has to do with her voice. I don’t know if it really is her voice or if not, I actually can’t look it up on Youtube for once (darn customers…), but I just find it irritating. I know that is really irrelevant to a lot of things, but the “kid voice” is kind of an odd thing. I can handle it if it is coming from a kid character (ie. adult making voice for kid character) but when a woman does the kid voice to try to be funny, it just kind of leaves me with nothing. I also find her less than attractive, and not that her jokes are offensive, but I just don’t care for them. Of course, this is the point where I admit to agreeing to disagree. There are some things you like that I don’t, and vice versa. I don’t want that to come off as snarky, I appreciate the discussion, but I don’t believe I will enjoy her show or comedy in the future. I will, although, give it another chance with your Cartman interpretation in mind.
I’m really funny and I’m kinda hot,
And the odds are that you’re not.
So put down your beer and your pot
And watch my show.
It’s a program,
Sarah Silverman Program, The
Sarah Silverman Program.
Isn’t this kind of like asking if a particular piece of artwork is “good”?
Comedy is an art form. I don’t think you can say definitively that a comedian is funny or not funny any more than you can definitively say that an artist is good or not good.
You can say that you don’t like a piece of artwork, but that doesn’t in any way mean that it isn’t good.
That being said, obviously if I put fingerpaint on my dog and let him loose on a canvas, it will likely be pretty damn bad art. But, quite a few people enjoy Silverman, so obviously she is evoking the funny part of the art form to more than a few people.
No, it is more like an opinion poll. Everything you wrote is correct, but also very obvious. Some people liked Earnest, I am guessing in a poll on this board, he would rate rather poorly. That does not invalidate that he had an audience.
These threads are about opinions and conversation. It is like a coffee chat in some small place on the corner that serves espresso and biscotti. What is the name for those places?
I look at SS’s style of comedy, the scattershot, unfocused insults, the random, look-at-me vulgarity, and I say the same thing many do when they wonder what quality others see in certain modern art works: “Hey, my kid could do that!”
See…I think Silverman is thoughtfully evil. When she rips her targets – going for the jugular – knowing they’re in the same room with her, well…that’s a concerted effort to hurt them.
Who is that (new to me) comedianne…a bit on the heavy side, Italian, digs black men…she’s a fucking riot! She comes off as clever, funny, and it’s easily identifiable as an act; not meanness for it’s own sake. What the hell is her name??
Well, sure, but only in as much as both are perfectly valid questions. No, there’s no objective answer, but the point is in discussing why you think what you think.
I think Silverman is dreadful, for example. On its own, that statement is pretty meaningless, but if I expound, less so. I think her delivery is terrible, as she leans heavily on every supposedly shocking line, leaving massive pregnant pauses to let her audience know she’s just said something naughty. I think her punchlines are weak to non-existent - it speaks volumes to me that she named a whole show after the line “Jesus is magic”, which is barely a gag anyway and would be rejected by most any stand-up I’ve seen in the last five years (and I’ve seen some shockers).
People seemed to fawn over her Hilton-bashing (largely on the basis that Hilton deserved it, as far as I can tell), but honestly, if you’re going to make a joke out of humiliating someone you should at least be funny while doing so; it’s not really enough to merely be rude. Silverman’s effort was no different to just outright calling Hilton a slut, which while true is hardly funny. The porn song is rubbish, seeming to rely on the fact that it’s, um, about porn to make it funny, while containing not a whiff of a gag. And finally, while she’s supposedly shocking, I’ve seen more offensive things in Tesco’s. Didn’t we get over this parade of comedians, each professing to be more offensive than the last, some time back in the 90s?
By contrast, I do think her Aristocrats version is pretty decent, but that’s not much to show for a supposedly top-flight career in comedy, and doesn’t really demonstrate any standup skills whatsoever.
And now you’re perfectly welcome to disagree with me, and we can have a discussion about why. Same as with art.
