Sarah Silverman has made a name for herself out of getting laughs for jokes on every button-pushing issue imaginable as well as extensive discussion of bodily functions and she’s also not afraid to make a video for everyone to see about how she’s ‘schtupping’ movie star Matt Damon (and this during her then-on relationship with talk show host Jimmy Kimmel).
In talking to Silverman on a recent press call to promote the new season of her Comedy Central series The Sarah Silverman Show (which will also be airing on Logo this year), the New Hampshire-born comedian is clearly so comfortable being herself even if that means she offends a few people along the way. The plus side is she makes even more people laugh and that makes her very happy.
What else makes Sarah Silverman very happy are her legions of gay fans, who she attributes to essentially saving her show. “We wouldn’t be on the air if it wasn’t for Logo,” she explained. “Not that that’s the only reason why, but I mean—it’s funny because I was talking to some gay friends of mine, and they were just like; it’s not just that Steve and Brian (her neighbors on the show) are gay, it’s just kind of the subversive humor. It’s that kind of absurdist stuff is I guess ‘up,’ the cup of tea of a lot of people in the gay community; maybe more in general than the straight community. I don’t know, but yeah. I’m just so grateful.”
Sarah even acknowledged another popular comedian who the gays love in talking about the show still breathing life on the air. “I know that gays belong to Kathy [Griffin], but any fall over, I’m not going to take. I’m just so grateful to Logo. They didn’t even think twice about helping us, and in terms of the content, never, ever had even a request. They really are amazing over there, and I can’t express how grateful we all are for them, because we wouldn’t have had a third season without them, and they asked for nothing in return. The fact that their end of the bargain is that they get to air the episodes, it’s like, really? It’s amazing to us, too. It’s so win-win and we’re just so grateful. So totally grateful.”
While the show does often tackle touchy subjects (such as this week’s season premiere when Sarah is told by her sister that she was born with both male and female genitalia), Silverman explained that it’s not always the intention of hers or the writers. “I don’t think we ever really go, ‘What can we tackle this season?’ I think that would kind of be a slutty way to go about it. We just continue to still try to just write stuff that makes us laugh, and when a bunch of comics are in a room it takes more to make us laugh; or less. I mean, aggressively stupid goes a long way in the room and on the show.”
Joking about this week’s episode where the on-screen Sarah finds out she ‘has both,’ Silverman quoted her on-screen persona’s confusion over what her sister means. “I find out I was born with both looks and personality?” However, during the episode, Sarah has quite an adventure caring for the tiny stub that supposedly was once her penis.
What else is happening this season? “My imaginary friend from childhood comes back as an adult and we have a lesby affair,” she said. “Steve and Brian have a great [story] this season; their love as well as Jay and Laura; there’s some wedding action, and it’s very funny; there’s a new mayor in town who makes gay sex and brunch illegal.”
There are also more than a few familiar faces showing up in guest spots this year. “I go on Real Time with Bill Maher. Andy Samberg plays my imaginary friend this year. Ed Asner is in an episode as a Nazi war criminal. Let me tell you something about older actors. Ed Asner is about 80, and Murray Gershams, who is on our show, is 87, and they’re such pros that when they’re not shooting, they are in their chair sleeping. Just like containing their energy. And we have some really great pictures of elderly Nazi war criminals in set chairs sound asleep.”
While Silverman’s “I’m F&*#ing Matt Damon” video was a huge Internet success, she doesn’t necessarily have a master plan about releasing other videos but, true to form, the comedian just goes with her gut. “We shoot it in my apartment, I do it for free. We just make it because we just love doing that stuff when we think of something. I’ve been approached to do something where I have to pump out a certain amount, and it would be monetized, but it’s just not worth it because I feel like I don’t want to have to come up with stuff. It’s just like if it moves me, and I think of something, we shoot something in my apartment and put it up there. I kind of just like it that way.”
While she’s doing very well in the entertainment business, Silverman is clearly not in it solely for the big bucks. “Whenever I think of something and want to do it, I’ll do it, but I don’t like to be beholden to it in that way, and I really love the Internet. I love it as a medium. I just want to do stuff I’m super-jazzed about and not be beholden to any kind of production schedule.”
Silverman’s humor is always offbeat, including a particular body part that she talked about that constantly fascinates her and ended up as an episode of the show. “I have a real thing with necks. Like, why isn’t there bone there? There’s so much important stuff in there like in your neck and your throat. It’s crazy that evolution didn’t put something there to protect it. It makes me mad. So anyway, there’s like some times when I talk about it, and it became into this episode where I get hit with a Frisbee in the neck, and it becomes my obsession. Actually, I think it’s the second episode, if you were sent it. It turns out that, oh yeah, I have to be looking up and not anticipating a Frisbee is about to be thrown into my neck.”
While Silverman is best known for her stand-up, Comedy Central series and concert movies like Jesus Is Magic, she is also an actor and has appeared in films such as There’s Something About Mary and School of Rock. She couldn’t help but gush about her current film role in the film Saint John of Las Vegas. Of her co-star Steve Buscemi, she said, “Oh, he is so amazing. I’m so happy to know him now, and he’s just the kindest, most sincere, but like also the silliest man. He just takes my breath away. Sometimes we’d be doing a scene, and I would just be watching him. Like you forget you’re part of it, because you just want to sit and just watch him. But he’s such a great guy, and he’s so in love with his wife and his kid. Whenever his phone would ring and he would see it was one of them, he’d just go like, “Oh!” and it’s so cute.”
Speaking like more of a fan than a movie star, Silverman added about the film, “I’m so happy it’s coming out. I just started seeing ads for it on TV, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”
The Sarah Silverman Show airs at 10:30/9:30c Thursday nights on Comedy Central and Saint John of Las Vegas is in theaters now.
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