The Demented Sarah Silverman

Katie Couric Talks With The Comedian Who Pushes Boundaries, Tackles Taboos, And Gets Just Plain Silly

(CBS)  Comedian Don Rickles perfected the art of the insult … Lenny Bruce pushed the boundaries of obscenity … now, Sarah Silverman is following in both their footsteps, with a little help from a straight-man, as CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric is about to show us ...

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In the pantheon of great dogs from television and film there's Lassie, Rin-Tin-Tin, and … Doug?

Doug is the real-life sidekick, confidante and best-friend of comedian Sarah Silverman, and one of the stars of "The Sarah Silverman Program," now in its 3rd season on Comedy Central.

"I got him from a shelter about nine years ago," Silverman told Couric. "He isn't trained at all. I mean, all he does on the show pretty much is, you know, lie on the bed or lick his own butt. These are things he does naturally and we just work around it."

Doug's laconic acting style is perfect for the off-beat, off-color brand of humor that has made Sarah Silverman one of the hottest comics working today.

"I was trying to describe your humor," Couric said, "and I was thinking, well, 'irreverent' really isn't strong enough. So I came up with the word 'demented.'"

"Ooh, I like 'demented,'" Silverman said. "I've been trying not to say 'retarded' because I do feel like it's not nice. 'Demented,' yeah."

In her comedy she covers everything from racism to the Holocaust (sometimes in the same joke).

"I really believe this to be true," she said in her stand-up act, "I believe if black people were in Germany in World War II the Holocaust never would have happened. I do. … Or, not to Jews."

"I've had people, a Jewish person in the audience, like, die laughing at jokes about Mexican people and black people. And then you do a joke about Jews or the Holocaust, and it's like, 'Whoa, that's not funny!'"

"It depends on your perspective and the prism from which you're watching your humor, right?" Couric asked.

"That's beautiful, thank you," Silverman said, smiling.

Silverman sings:

"I love you more than bears love honey,
"I love you more than Jews love money,
"I love you more than Asians are good at math …"

From the beginning, it was clear Silverman was a natural. The youngest of four girls growing up in a middle-class Jewish family in New Hampshire, her parents divorced when she was 6. She struggled with depression … and something else:

"As we grow up in our childhood we have all these dysfunctions that drives us to be whatever we're driven to be," she said on stage. "For comedians it's definitely, like, any kind of humiliation. For me that was bed-wetting well into my teens."

"Is that a physiological condition? Is it an emotional condition?" Couric asked.

"Well, my father was a bed wetter," Silverman said. "My oldest sister was a bed wetter. My father's father was a bed wetter. Silverman tradition! But it's funny that, you know, when you're young and you're growing up, you think it's gonna be your deepest, darkest secret of your life. And then you grow up. And it's not."

But it was long before this dark period in her life that Silverman learned she could make people laugh. When she was very young - two or three - her father used to get her to say cuss words.

"Yeah, he thought it was hilarious to teach me dirty words, you know? And I would say them, you know, as, like, a three-year-old and get this wild laughter, you know? And it became addictive. And it's, like, that kind of shock value, you know, became something that I was constantly seeking out."

"I was raped by a doctor … which is, you know, so bittersweet for a Jewish girl."

Shocking material delivered with a disarming, child-like innocence became her stock-in-trade.

"I don't want to be labeled or straight, I just want people to look at me and see me, you know, as white."

By dealing with subjects that sometimes cross the line, Couric asked, is it hypocrisy that bugs Silverman? Or is it just people who have intense points of view that she just wants needle?

"A lot of times it's having a strong opinion and then just going the opposite direction, you know?" she said. "And hopefully, some kind of, you know, absolute value of it comes through, you know?"

Outrageous or not, everything seems to be working.

Earlier this year Silverman won an Emmy for a video spoof she made for fellow comedian (and boyfriend) Jimmy Kimmel, in which she sang about "having sex" with Matt Damon.

"For some reason the timing was right or, I don't know what," she said. "Everybody went nuts for it. We couldn't believe it. We kept checking the countdown on YouTube, 'Oh my God!' You know? It was weird and wild.

And last month she released "The Great Schlep," a public service announcement urging young Jews to go to Florida and convince their grandparents to vote for Barack Obama.

"The people who vote in Florida are old Jews," she said, "and they're not planning on voting for Obama for a lot of reasons - his name, you know he's got a crappy name, to them it sounds Muslim, and of course he's not, but they have these old fears."

"The Great Schlep" aims to educate grandparents in Florida with the implicit threat that if they don't "see the light," they're not going to see their grandchildren.

"Yeah, you want another visit this year? Vote Obama!" she says.

It's just another example of Sarah Silverman's twisted take on serious - and not-so-serious - subjects, some ripped from the headlines of her own life, like the time her dog got into a bag of pot brownies …

And what was she doing with them?

"Uh, holding them for a friend," Silverman said. "So I took him to the vet and I swear to God … I had to, like, put saliva - I had to spit on his gums."

Silverman ends every episode of her show talking to Doug about the life-lessons she's learned that day:

"Whether you're gay, bisexual, it doesn't matter. You know? Because at the end of the day they're both gross."

It's all pretty silly stuff … which is exactly how Sarah Silverman likes it …

[peaceologist]

Re: Curic vs Silverman
Demented adj. 1. Insane, 2. Crazed
Either Ms Curic is deliberately offensive or pathetically ignorant. Why do people allow her to interview them and why does CBS allow her to interview anyone? Surely everyone can see how she operates with that cloying grin while sticking the knife in. Why? What for? I haven't even seen Sarah Silverman's program and have no idea what her humour is like but Ms Curic has no business calling it demented.

[ezeeriter]

sooo... her father taught her dirty words, and when she repeated the words, everyone laughed and applauded. shock value, indeed... brilliant writers, comedians, actors, media personalities, etc. don't have to resort to crass behavior or language to entertain their audiences. sorry, sarah... i am not in the least amused by your dysfunctional sense of what you call "humor".

[cattlekate]

You want to see disgusting, try watching Bill O''''Reilly or Sean Hannity. Posted by wontread at 05:36 PM : Oct 19, 2008

LOL, AGREED! But I only flip to FAUX to affirm their skantily-clad-gals'' 24/7 slander and libel against Obama.

As a "feminist-left" (McCain''s words) old woman, I find there is too much gratuitous sexual content on cable, and I would like to have an a la carte option with Comcast. McCain used to support it - but won''t now that he owes FAUX.

I don''t want FAUX, nor MTV, nor the DTC drug advertising rampant on Lifetime. I''ll take the Comedy Channel only for Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, and South Park.

[bm6005]

BTW *** are all of the political comments doing in an article about a comedian?

[bm6005]

OneAmerican7

Hey MORON. David Gergen pointed out yeterday that in the last 20 or so years the middle class has lost $600 billion in wealth while the top 5% of the richest Americans have gained $600 billion in wealth. You do the math simpleton. Just keep listening to ******** & Hammity!

[bm6005]

REDICULOUS!

Posted by stick1771

Please learn to spell!

[bobnjersey]

[And again, Barack Obama will raise your taxes. This will make even the wealthiest working Americans destitute and starving.]
[Posted by OneAmerican7 at 09:15 PM : Oct 19, 2008]

it will ... why didn''t that happen before when the marginal tax rate was much higher?

there''s a terrorist behind that tree there just to the left of you ... you should go check that out.

[gheemaster38]

Wuz really funny is that I never heard of her!!

[soldat44]

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14093

May God have mercy on his soul.

[bekumbokem]

SS is not funny. The only reason CBS interviewed her is she is a supporter of hussein obama. That''s it. She is disgusting - reminds me of that degrading stuff you see on SNL. These people have no respect for anybody-least of all each other. I am so tired of Katie''s sycophantic interviews of everybody liberal-although I did not see this one; I can only imagine. It must have been pukey

[hotwitch]

She really needs to pluck her eye brows.

[julialily]

It''s very hard to be openly gay, lesbian or bisexual. They usually got harassed, beaten up, pushed around and called all kinds of slurs. They would say all sorts of horrible things for the wrong reasons.

So I think for GLBT, they''d better find some online community or something like that, to come out first, where they may feel support, happy, free, just like the one **BiLoves dotcom**. Also members there are very active. Hope you are the one.

[buddagal]

Silverman is hilarious -- an equal-opportunity shooter. I was a little disappointed to find her so predictably left-leaning... but she''s smart enough -- and young enough -- to grow up and see the light eventually.

[amazedd]

Posted by antoniof123 at 03:20 PM

You''re NOT allowed to marry your siblings.It''s desthpicable!

[shyann12]

There is a place for Sarah Silverman humor.
It is a surprise that she would allow Katie to put words into her mouth. I take no offense at this type of humor. My thoughts are Katie showed her lack of class when she interviewed Governor Palin. Fun is fun
and why CBS would allow her to attempt to humilate our VP candidate should be a matter of discussion. Palin''s remarkable strength and good sense came through loud and clear for all Americans to see.

[wontread]

As an old biddy, I find this woman''''s "humor" foul and base. I don''''t understand why she is on the Comedy Channel. Her shows are disgusting.

Posted by cattlekate at 03:48 PM : Oct 19, 2008

You want to see disgusting, try watching Bill O''Reilly or Sean Hannity.

[wontread]

It is pretty hard to imagine that our NETWORKS can''''t find anyway to be funny without *** and trash talk anymore. That just shows you how desensitized Americans have become. This is not a good thing.

Posted by stick1771 at 03:55 PM : Oct 19, 2008

We have not been desensitized. It is a simple difference in taste. She raises issues in a unique way, and in a funny way. You may not agree with her jokes but that does not mean those jokes are immoral.

The morality lies in the issues she raises, not in the manner in which those issue are raised.

Do you even watch the shows?

[cattlekate]

HA! I see this article is sponsored by the AARP. Well, that''s me and my opinion is that Sarah''s "humor" lacks intelligent parody such as what we get from Trey Parker''s and Matt Stones'' South Park.

[cattlekate]

As an old biddy, I find this woman''s "humor" foul and base. I don''t understand why she is on the Comedy Channel. Her shows are disgusting.

[pepl_git_rdy]

It never ceases to amaze me how hateful and vituperative so-called %u201CChristians,%u201D and conservatives are. This woman is frikkin%u2019 BRILLIANT. Her delivery, her timing, her topics are ABSOLUTE GENIOUS.

Ms. Silverman is saying things and getting attention for what needs to be said. OH MAI GAWD. You can%u2019t say that. You can%u2019t talk that way. Would it be different if was being delivered by Dennis Miller? Rhetorical question, obviously. (for all you Haters %u2013 look it up %u201Cr_h_e_t_o_r_i_c_a_l.%u201D

I%u2019m not saying that right wing, conservative, religious zealots are dumb, ignorant, uneducated, fearful, hateful and extremists . . . who are more interested in %u201CTMZ,%u201D %u201CMorry,%u201D and %u201CJudge Judy%u201D that the %u201CCBS Evening News,%u201D I%u2019m just saying...

But it%u2019s o.k. when Bill O%u2019Riley or Rush Limbaugh say the exact same things but not nearly with so much cleverness, inventiveness or %u2013 most importantly %u2013 the thoughtfulness and conscience ?????