Dead Tree Alert: Sarah Silverman Lagniappe

To compare Sarah Silverman to Borat or South Park is absurd. She isn't convtraversial in any way. The chink and other racist jokes are standard amoungst hack road comics. Of course she does steal from better comics as well, but this woman is simply not talented. This program is just desperatly awful.

I am on your side here James. She is a unique young female comedy voice who kind of reminds me of Lisa Lampenelli. I've seen her stand up specials, her movie, her brilliant part in "The Aristocrats," they are all hilarious. To call her a hack is to not pay attention to what she is doing. I think her comedy in the 22 minute TV format will work better as well. I hope the show is a smashing success.

Although the Borat movie and and South Park do have low brow humor that sometimes borders on bad taste, they both have intelligent social satire that makes up for it. And they are funny. They are nowhere near on the same level as this retarded poop-fest that tries to pass itself off as a show. I even read the reviewer from the New York Times compare it to Curb Your Enthusiasm and I almost vomited. Here's Sarah Silverman in a nutshell: "I like to eat poop, and black people smell funny. My vagina hates thinks gay people are gross."

The Sarah Silverman show was not funny. I don't see how some people (especially reviewers) are enjoying this travesty of a show.

Comparing Silverman to Cohen is a joke. Cohen bravely commented on American society and people's preconceptions in his program Da Ali G Show. Silverman sings about pooping in her pants and cookies.

There is no content, just a string of idiotic scenes intended to shock the viewer. "Wow I cant believe she said that, she looks so cute" lines and scenarios.

Please don't watch this show, it's awful, it needs to go off the air ASAP.

Southpark has been doing this comedy for along time except funnier. How more edgy can you get than with kid. Silverman's show is "been there, done that".

I love the show! I'll be the first to admit, Sarah's character can be a little grating over time, but Steve Agee and Brian Posehn never fail to crack me up.

Well, I'm not exactly fond of Sarah Silverman, South Park, or Sascha Baron Cohen, because their jokes tend not to be as funny as the ones that actually take a lot of thought. I'm not exactly saying this is the highest of comedy, but it's not the lowest. They all do have their faults. Of course, everyone has their opinion, but these are facts.

South Park- Issac Hayes, who plays "Chef" left the show for a while because of an offensive joke made in the script of the show.

Borat- This list goes on forever. The legal trouble this man, Sascha Baron Cohen has gotten into is tremendous. Not only did he offend almost an entire country, but he also tricked many people into being in the movie who did not want to be.

You may try and argue that they are just jokes, but it's only a matter of time until Sarah gets it, too. To compare these three are nuts. It's like trying to (in Sarah fashion humour) compare different types of poop.

Sarah Silverman is not funny. She would better be suited as a pornstar (a** to mouth being her signature)

TTMA (posted March 20, 2007), I absolutely disagree with you. A question for you at the end.

Regarding Sascha Baron Cohen's movie Borat, you say he offended "almost an entire country" & "tricked many people into being in the movie who did not want to be."

The movie grossed $26 mil. its 1st weekend in the US & Canada. It's the highest earning 1st week release, ever, for films released n less than 1,000 screens. During it's 2nd week, due to it's success, it opened in many more theaters and made $29 million.

As humans, we can all be offended, but we don't pay money to be. I'm sure there were many people who didn't find the movie to their liking (the people I know who didn't like it just thought it was a stupid movie; they weren't offended by it.), but millions of people went to this movie, and most of them stayed because they enjoyed it.

The way you define your "facts," as opposed to "opinions," the movies Showgirls and Glitter (Mariah Carey's bomb) were more offensive than Borat.

Finally, unless the production staff, film crew, microphones, and cameras were invisible, "many people" were in fact not tricked into being in the movie. Unless tricked means not reading a contract someone asks you to sign (that's called stupidity).

Borat and Sarah Silverman's jokes work because some people are easily offended. That's the humor. Telling a joke about the concept of racism is not the same as being a racist. It's amazing that of all people you rush to defend, it is those people who are in the film who were NOT joking, and make offensive remarks because they actually meant them and then got upset and say they were tricked.

Sure, there was some deception involved in the Borat film, but there's deception in a police officer or news magazine pretending to be a child in an internet chat room in order to catch a child molester (on camera, recently). A character like Borat was necessary for people to let their guard down to expose how they (and we all) really think, otherwise the "offensive" issues would have remained hidden (so they wouldn't offend anyone).

Silverman is trying to get people to talk about these subjects, and of course, to make people laugh. Much better than your approach which is to keep people silent and sacrafice any attempt to change attitudes that you believe really concern you.

I do think it's admirable that you've attempted to engage in discussion though. I just don't think you're going to have an effect by criticizing specific people without actually discussing the issues you claim bother you so much. The only thing you really accomplish is building a barrier between other people and yourself.

Yes, some people may realize later that they may have laughed at jokes that others didn't think were funny.

But you may already be realizing that once people know that they have to filter everything they say and hide parts of themselves from you (especially those beliefs and feelings - like laughter - that you may not find offensive but that are not shown to you, just in case), very few will want to be close to you, emotionally or otherwise. And rightly so, because the message you send is, "I only accept the parts of you that I agree with. If you say make a comment or joke that I find offensive, you're wrong, because that cannot be funny. It's not my opinion, but a fact." It's cliche, but really, we have way more in common than we have differences. If you won't listen to others (especially those that make people laugh, for God's sake), flaws and all, without judgment, that shows real fast. I'd rather keep you away from me and the people who know that I don't get to decide whether somethings funny (my brain does that, and lots of other things that I can't control).

If people like Sarah Silverman can't even talk about issues that get people so upset (and do so through humor, which actually makes people willing to talk about them and see how ridiculous they are... e.g. see the Borat movie), I guess we all must pretend that the issues don't exist.

It's disgusting that I can say something that I do not find offensive at all, or mean to be towards anyone else, but if someone else hears me and decides that my intentions are otherwise (EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT!), that I am factually wrong. THAT is offensive. And so is comparing real, living human individuals to excrement (or as you referred to these people, as "different types of poop"). THAT is offensive.

Finally, my question: you say their jokes are not as funny as ones that actually "require a lot of thought." I can tell you've really thought out the whole notion of their humor instead of reacting emotionally. Can you please give me a few examples of jokes that are funnier, ones that require a lot of thought. I'm serious and curious, because I don't have any idea what you're talking about.

Thanks