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Sarah Silverman in New Yorker

19 years ago
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by ck
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Sarah SilvermanTaking our cue from Heeb Magazine and that Kelsey dude, we’d like to point you to an interesting interview in this week’s New Yorker with everyone’s favorite hot Jewish babe comedian and Heeb Magazine cover girl, Sarah Silverman. The interview touches upon Silverman’s provocative, almost enigmatic brand of comedy, and we are treated to some of her best lines:

“Her constructions are minimal but the turn is sharp. “I was raped by a doctor,” she says. “Which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.” … Everybody blames the Jews for killing Christ,” Silverman says. “And then the Jews try to pass it off on the Romans. I’m one of the few people that believe it was the blacks.” She skewers hypocrisy and self-righteousness, but there are times when her narrative ingredients—rape, dead grandmothers—threaten to overwhelm the delicate balance of a joke (rape being one of the last remaining taboos in today’s sexual politics; grandmothers being what they are).

The article also touches upon accusations that Silverman’s use of the term chink in a comedy routine on Late Night with Conan O’Brien was racist. Guy Aoki, of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans protested to the Network and debated Silverman on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect where Silverman got frustrated—“It’s not a racist joke,” she said; “it’s a joke about racism”—and called Aoki a “douche bag.” She later added:

I got in trouble for saying the word “Chink” on a talk show, a network talk show. It was in the context of a joke. Obviously. That’d be weird. That’d be a really bad career choice if it wasn’t. But, nevertheless, the president of an Asian-American watchdog group out here in Los Angeles, his name is Guy Aoki, and he was up in arms about it and he put my name in the papers calling me a racist, and it hurt. As a Jew—as a member of the Jewish community—I was really concerned that we were losing control of the media. Right? What kind of a world do we live in where a totally cute white girl can’t say “Chink” on network television? It’s like the fifties. It’s scary … There are only two Asian people that I know that I have any problem with, at all. One is, uh, Guy Aoki. The other is my friend Steve, who actually went pee-pee in my Coke. He’s all, ‘Me Chinese, me play joke.’ Uh, if you have to explain it, Steve, it’s not funny.

Is it any wonder Silverman, who I adore by the way, is the toast of hipster Jews everywhere? She performed at Jewcy’s first fundraiser, wrote a passage in the new Bar Mitzvah Disco book and graces the cover of Heeb. Her brand of humor may offend some but only an idiot would think that she’s actually racist. In fact, quite the opposite is true, and that’s the point.

Having said that however, keep in mind that some of the self same Jews that celebrate Sarah Silverman’s cutting edge comedy are very sensitive themselves. Probably as a result of ancestral malnutrition that was a chronic condition in the dinghy eastern European ghettos and shtetls of their forefathers. And all that tay sachs and lactose intolerance running around – the point is, these people have delicate dispositions. So while you are free to buy Heeb and visit various uh… other people’s Web sites, don’t ever make fun of them. They can’t handle it, and then they get all excitable and indignant and you may trigger an asthma attack. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Sarah Silverman is currently appearing in the film Jesus is Magic, an adaptation of her stage show. Visit the Web site for theatres and listings!

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ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

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36 Comments

  • great post, very informative. I’m wondering why the opposite experts of this sector don’t understand this. You should continue your writing. I am sure, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!

  • Hello there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Looking through this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept talking about this. I most certainly will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

  • I’m impressed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The problem is an issue that too few men and women are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy that I stumbled across this in my hunt for something regarding this.

  • Her argument is that she was allowed to say “chink” because it was part of her joke. I wonder why she’s afraid of uttering “nigger” or “kike” if she can say anything she wants in the context of a joke. Dumb broad.

  • she sucks, as KSB so astutely pointed out, it’s comedy with a net. She’s well known in the comedy world for sleeping with men to further her career, and co-opting material, persona’s ex..from more talented comedians. Her racial jokes aren’t really subvesive at all. What she’s really good at is self promotion, and sadly, although there are female comedians who are a lot funnier,prettier, smarter, and more subversive than she is, she’s slept with only men who have enhanced her career. It’s a long list, which is more a testiment to her lack of talent than her promiscuitiy

  • She is so Ugly!
    Not all Jews like her or her awful comedy.
    She should be banned from all media.

  • Her jokes are the musings of an insane mind masticating on degenerate thoughts. This “lady” is a racist skank who who deserves nothing better than to be force fed the sh*t she is accustomed to spewing from her mouth.

  • Hey, george. You do realize that while Sarah Silverman was not intentionally trying to bash Asians, using a derogatory term like that on mainstream television isn’t something that we, Asians like to have people laugh about. Sarah Silverman is innocent behind her intent, but she should’ve kept a better head about it. If you think we should get over it and not let it bother us, why don’t you think about this the next time you see someone making a mock Asian-American accent, or something else to ridicule us.

  • Is this funny to you when told by a German comedian?

    “How do you fit 500,000 Jews in a car? Two in front, three in the back, and the rest in the ashtray.”

    “unlike pizza, Jews scream when placed in an oven.”

    “What’s the difference between a Jew and a canoe? A canoe tips,”

    It sure is funny to me because I’m not a Jew, but would understand why Jews would be offended if told on Conan Obrian.

  • I have a joke everyone!!!

    “I was telling a friend that I had to serve jury duty and I wanted to get out of it. So my friend said ‘When they hand out the questionnaire, write something horribly offensive like “I hate NIGGERS” then there’s no way they will choose you. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it, to say something so mean, so I wrote — I love KIKES.”

    Imagine how funny that joke will be to Jews and blacks if told by an Asian American on national TV. When Anti-defamation league and NAACP attacks just blame that they are not getting the joke. Covert racism is same as overt racism…just under disguise.

  • people should grow up and learn to laugh at the tragic nature of life, a tradition as old as time itself. i think mr aoki and his group ought to move to a country like iran where people might appreciate his point of view.
    -from a polack in detroit

  • Wow. Sarah is soooo HOT. She only gets away with what she says because shes so damn hot.

  • This is my firts visit here, but I reposting in its entirety my comments from another blog on Silverman:

    For a long time, I tried to figure out why I found Silverman so painfully unfunny. Then it occurred to me – it’s comedy with a net. For all the supposed outrageousness of her act, I always get the feeling that she will continue to get gigs. One – she’s a woman, and so can say things that would get a male comic ostracized. Two – being Jewish doesn’t hurt. It gives the image of being a minority, but that really can’t apply to show business. Third – she travelled in show business circles while she was starting out. Dating Jimmy Kimmel may not be a great mate selection, but it certainly opens more doors. Would a female black comic making jokes about Jews, Jesus, and Asians be able to get a film deal and ass-kissing profiles in The New Yorker or Slate?

    When Sam Kinison did his “What were Jesus’s last words routine?”, you did not know what the impact would be on his career. When Chris Rock did his black people vs. n***** act, there was no way to be sure he would ever get work again. With Silverman, I never get that sense of seeing an act that may be too edgy to ever be repeated. Basically, her schtick is, “Can you imagine a nice Jewish girl talking like this?” Answer – yes, but is that it?

  • If SS really wants to be foul and cutting edge why doesn’t she make some jokes about Muslims? Christian jokes, Jewish jokes — it’s all been done before. Sarah, make some jokes about Mohammed fucking a six year old — you’ll get a standing ovation. Make some jokes about how Khomeini says it’s okay to fuck a camel but you have to make sure to kill the camel after to ease its shame and humiliation..Or how a muslim can wipe his ass with a stick (ouch) or a rock. Great tip for those on a budget.

  • I am mostly Asian and I just saw the preview for “Jesus is Magic” and it looks hilarious – I plan to watch it. I read more on the web about Silverman and her “chink” comment and found this website. The offensive part to me is: why didn’t she use the “n” word instead on TV? I understand it’s not that funny if she makes ethnic jokes about “her own people”, but why pick on Asians and not another group that can really do damage to her career? Well she kept her job. And people who are hurt by “chink” just need to shut up, chill out, and remove stick from ass, right?

    While doing organizing work on a college campus a year ago I saw the message board the “campus crusade for christ” put up by the cafeteria, asking people what they thought about the “passion of the christ”. One person wrote: “I’m Jewish and I think ‘passion’ is anti-semitic”. I wrote my comment right next to it: “I’m Asian and I also think ‘passion’ is anti-semitic”. We got bigger fish to fry in this fascist state right now. We ought to do it together.

  • If Silverman was trying to make a joke about racism with the use of the word “chink,” why didn’t she go all the way and say “I like niggers”? Because that would’ve started s#!tstorm that would’ve never gone away. She picked “chinks” because she fails to understand that any racial slur is a slur nonetheless and like quite a number of passive racists, assumes the other party is just being thin skinned.

  • TM, if that’s the case, then my comment stands unchanged.

    can you imagine the PR that encino yeled would receive if he hooked up with sarah silverman? my ass could soon be worth a million bucks! who’s got her number?

    lightbulb: start a blog based solely on my mission to sleep with sarah silverman.

  • there was once a comment on Jewschool which for some reason I found hilarious.it went like this “A question for Jewish hipsters.. what the f#ck is your point”?

  • As to the disappearance of comedienne (and actress, too, for that matter), I think it speaks to the perception that to use differently gendered words for the profession is to distinguish between the professional abilities according to gender. Combine that with the fact that every male comedian I’ve ever met says that women just aren’t funny, and you can understand why women comedians want to have the same value, even on a literal level, as their male counterparts.

  • Darn, I should really learn how to use HTML in these comments, but I guess it is in my nature to be Stoic

  • I’m torn. She is pretty funny, but then you get this:

    What parts of the stage show did you decide to drop when you made the movie?

    I cut this whole bit about how the Bayer aspirin corporation allegedly performed experiments on Jews during the Holocaust. It’s like, “How does that experiment go? You give them the aspirin and they’re like, ‘My headache is better than the hunger, but not as bad as how much I miss my family. It feels much better than when I was in labor and you sewed up my vagina.’”

  • I was just kidding about Jewlicious and Jewish boobs. I didn’t honestly actually think you guys would pick up on the topic. HEADLINE: FUNNY JEW WITH NICE BOOBS

    Anyway CK I thought you were agreeing with me in the comments. Whatever. I got to admit that the few jokes I’ve seen quoted from this Sarah Silverman totally crack me up. If she’s this good a comedian then more power to her.

    By the way, what ever happened to the word comedienne? Did it disappear in the 90s when I wasn’t looking?

  • I think SS’s very funny, but it’s true that her humor is too “blue” for a lot of people in general. I know that she’s going to be invited back to do roast after roast for the Friar’s Club. Me? Not so much. Even if I became a standup comedian, I’d always be too concerned with being a positive role model for Judaism to pursue the blue…but I guess everyone’s got her niche…

  • Sorry, the Heeb editor’s name should be “Neuman.” Next time I look before I spell.

  • Speaking as an avid Heeb fan, I nevertheless say make all the fun you want. Unlike certain other publications, the Heeb crew really don’t seem to mind; in fact they revel in even the nastiest criticism, seeing it as evidence of a job well done. The only time I’ve seen editor Josh Newman respond to criticism in a serious way was when the New York Times referred erroneously to the magazine’s “anti-Zionism.” In that instance he needed to respond or risk losing funding. Even then, Newman refuted that charge calmly, reasonably and with a sense of humour in an editorial. He didn’t say “Waah waah the New York Times people are a bunch of brownshirts,” and manufacture insulting graphical parodies of the Times’s masthead. Certain other publications would do well to heed his example.