"Sarah Silverman"

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Speaker 1 Hey gang, welcome to Smartless. We are a sweet new podcast starring myself, Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman, and Will Arnett.
And we are complete idiots.

Speaker 1 So, what we do is we bring on a guest and we ask them stuff and they make us smarter. Hopefully, it's super cool.
So, please come with us and enjoy the show.

Speaker 1 Now, listen, I need to say this before we get too deep into this. I'm about to have a COVID test because it's 2020 and I get them done like once a week or every 10 days.

Speaker 1 We have to with the kids and everything. And mine just happens to coincide with us doing it.
So at some point during the podcast,

Speaker 1 I'm going to have somebody come in and she's going to come in and give me that's not true. Yeah.
Why?

Speaker 2 Why does it have to be during our time? And what is COVID?

Speaker 1 Oh, bless him and his.

Speaker 2 Why does she have to do it during our time?

Speaker 1 Because it was.

Speaker 2 Bad scheduling.

Speaker 1 Bad scheduling, but a lot of things conspiring because tomorrow afternoon I'm busy. Uh-oh.
That's always boring. With you? Wait, what? Uh-oh, you guys golfing? No, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 We have a business meeting. We're going to charity.
Oh, I see. Charity.

Speaker 1 I guess I'm busy too, yeah. Feeding kids.
Busy.

Speaker 2 Making smiles. Charity meeting.

Speaker 1 I thought you were going to say after your COVID test, you were going to have like

Speaker 1 a reveal party of the results. Oh, yeah.
You You know, people get mad because I keep doing on the subway, I used to do gender reveals all the time.

Speaker 1 I'd wear a trench coat and I'd just go, hey, you know,

Speaker 1 and I'd just reveal my gender to people.

Speaker 1 Stupid. I know.
It's so dumb. And people got mad for my gender reveals on the subway.
Well, next time you have the results.

Speaker 2 I hear a female laughing. So your guest already, I can tell, is a female or a fella who

Speaker 2 might sound

Speaker 2 like a female. Yes.
Might sound like a female.

Speaker 1 Good for you. Yes.
Good for you. That's restraint.
Look at look how much you've grown.

Speaker 2 Oh, wait, so let me guess. I know it's a woman.

Speaker 1 It is.

Speaker 1 It's a really, I don't know if you can tell by her laugh, because mostly people are laughing at what she's doing. Okay.
Is it Phyllis Diller?

Speaker 2 So she's a comedian.

Speaker 1 She's a comedian. Well, I mean, she's a lot of things.

Speaker 2 Stand-up or actor.

Speaker 1 Let me, you ready for this? Uh-huh. All of the above.
Oh, God. She started as a stand-up, then got into acting, then did sketch, then did SNL, then did her own show.

Speaker 1 One two Emmys is a hilarious, just all-around hilarious person. She's got a brand new podcast

Speaker 1 that is killing it.

Speaker 1 Ladies and gents, Sean and Jason,

Speaker 1 Sarah Silverman is on the show today.

Speaker 1 Sarah Silverman!

Speaker 1 Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, look at that.

Speaker 1 Good. Why are you embarrassed?

Speaker 2 Because you're smoking the skinniest cigarette I've ever seen.

Speaker 3 It's a toothpick.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. She's tough today.

Speaker 2 Oh, I'm so excited you're here. I know.

Speaker 1 How good is this? So cool.

Speaker 1 Look at this.

Speaker 2 Can you believe it? Nice going, Will. I know.

Speaker 1 We're all such fans of yours. You're such a super comedy, hilarious person.
There she is.

Speaker 2 Will, what's your first question? Since you've had time to work on good questions, it's your guest.

Speaker 2 Let's have your best one right now. Okay.

Speaker 1 Sarah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 How's it going? Oh, that's good.

Speaker 1 No,

Speaker 1 listen.

Speaker 3 Gender reveal on the subway is the funniest joke, by the way.

Speaker 1 So dumb, right? It's so dumb.

Speaker 3 That's a great joke.

Speaker 1 Oh, my God. I've been wanting to tell that for like four days.

Speaker 3 I've been when you said it, you know, when you hear something and you can't wait to tell a friend, you know?

Speaker 3 It wasn't quite that, but it was like almost that.

Speaker 1 Can I tell you something? So, so I'm going to tell you this, Sarah.

Speaker 1 One of my favorite jokes that I have told many times over and over, or I've retold the scene, which is people's least favorite thing to hear when you're like, hey, do you remember the scene where, was from your old program.

Speaker 1 So I'm going to start in the middle, from the Sarah Silverman program, where you did on Comedy Central. It's such a funny show.
It's so good. And you did this bit.

Speaker 1 By the way, I don't know if you could do it today. It was the episode where you wanted some good news, so you decided to get an AIDS test.
Right? Yeah. And

Speaker 1 first of all, there are like 80 jokes crammed in this tiny scene. And you go, she goes, have you ever had unprotected sex? And you said, is there any other way?

Speaker 1 Then she said,

Speaker 3 in the 80s, and you said, no, yeah. She goes, did you ever have unprotected sex in the 80s? And I go, oh my God, yes.
And she goes, you did. You had unprotected sex in the 80s.
And I go, oh,

Speaker 3 no,

Speaker 3 I thought you said in Haiti.

Speaker 1 So then she says, tell me how many times. And so you take a piece of paper and you start writing and you hand it to her.
And she goes,

Speaker 1 what's that? And you go, that's the number. And she goes, there are two numbers.
And you said, yeah, for the front and back. And she goes, they're the same number.

Speaker 1 And you said, yeah, I'm kind of OCD like that.

Speaker 1 It was like a domino effect of jokes. It just like started and it was just non-stop.
Fuck me, man. I've told that.
That's such a funny bit. And it's such a...

Speaker 1 You're just everything about that scene was, again, I don't know. I think people might be offended today.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 There are a lot of problematic things looking back, but you know, such is comedy. It's not evergreen.

Speaker 1 Right. So, so that's my thing: is like you've always been such a, I don't know, such a fucking stupid word, edgy, but you know, cutting edges.

Speaker 1 Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 Prayer hands.

Speaker 1 Yep, go ahead. Prayer hands, prayer hands.
That, um, do you, what is it? It's like, it's always about the messenger of the joke.

Speaker 1 It's never really about the so you can say, like, on the Sarah Silverman program, you could do a joke about AIDS like that, and people embrace it and laugh because it's you saying it.

Speaker 1 So what do you think is the difference between you saying it and somebody else saying it and not getting away with it?

Speaker 1 It seems like you get away with a lot of stuff because you're so fucking funny, but it's some of it's pretty dark.

Speaker 3 I think it's the intention. behind it.
Like, this is a math term, but it's kind of like the absolute power of the joke.

Speaker 3 Like, especially back then, I always said the opposite of what I thought, you know, and that was the joke kind of.

Speaker 3 And then hopefully the truth transcends that I don't really feel this way, not to break it down in the least funny possible way. But it is also interesting, too, because like that comedy I did,

Speaker 3 you're right. It was like, oh, it's okay because you know I don't mean it.
But then it also is kind of like, we're liberal, so we can say anything.

Speaker 3 So we could say, you know, the words that are unsayable or whatever. Like, you know, I don't mean it.
So I could say it.

Speaker 3 Like, there is kind of like a liberal like doucheiness about it, I think, and in retrospect. I mean, I don't know.
It's a weird balance. I think you're right.

Speaker 1 I was thinking about that the other day, which is like what's been gone is things have gotten so serious because everybody who's not liberal is so serious and so dark and so real about their negativity or hate or racism or whatever it is that it's taken all of that away.

Speaker 1 You're like, well, I don't even want to joke about anything, a lot of things that are rough or maybe pushing boundaries because you feel like I don't want it to be taken the wrong way because there are so many people who mean it.

Speaker 3 Right. Yeah, there's not enough distance.
You know, it's like so close. Like, people go, oh, it's so funny.

Speaker 3 I saw like a comment in Spanish of something that I wrote and I go, ooh, you know, I have a fan that's Spanish. He just, then I pressed translate and it was just,

Speaker 3 why don't you stick to comedy? And, you know, leave politics out of it. I was like, oh.

Speaker 1 So, wait, I'm sure you've had your share of criticism. Like, we all have like positive, negative.

Speaker 2 But is there someone in your life that mattered to you who said that you may have taken certain materials too far or something like that which of your friends have you offended sarah and lost forever i've actually kind of made friends that started out as like them calling me out right interesting you know i would guess and please correct me but i would guess that one of the things that appeals to you about about comedy about thinking of funny stuff and crafting it into something you know in order to deliver it to an audience is about identifying that which makes some of us uncomfortable, as opposed to some people look, it seems to me, look at other things

Speaker 2 that makes them excited about comedy.

Speaker 2 With you, it seems like there, you have an affinity for, as do I, trying to identify the thing that all kind of makes us a little bit uneasy because it's, it only exists in our smallest place.

Speaker 2 And you want to kind of bring that out and amplify that and share a common sort of reference point.

Speaker 3 So are you finding that you're frustrated that outside outside sources seem to be narrowing those borders and those walls and and now you have to kind of think twice and three times about that or do you not listen to that i think like what you said edgy or you know i know it's corny or whatever but it's like you can't have it both ways like if you do something that is risky you have to be risking something like there are consequences like you can't get mad that there are consequences and i don't mind i like like when young people you know like students or whatever like they teach me new language I'm into that because I feel like they're always on the right side of history and I want to like learn new words and pronouns, even though I fuck up all the time.

Speaker 2 Fire, by the way, is a new one for something that's good, okay?

Speaker 3 That's not that new. Fire.

Speaker 1 No, it's brand new. It started yesterday.
That's not new, granddad.

Speaker 1 I had a guy tell me, I had a guy tell me on Twitter, it made me think about, you know, there's an ad that came out for Biden with Sam Elliott doing the voice for it. I don't know if you heard it.

Speaker 1 And so I just, I retweeted, I said, the, the VO VO master, right? Because he's just like the voiceover idol of mine. Like he's so good.
All I said was VO master.

Speaker 1 And this guy responded, stick to comedy. And I thought,

Speaker 1 I was like, wait a second. Do you do voiceovers, Will?

Speaker 1 Who's asking?

Speaker 3 You have to be one thing. You have to be the one thing I know you as.

Speaker 1 Right. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 You are a monolith.

Speaker 1 And it was within my, and I'm like, I can't even comment on voiceover.

Speaker 1 Like, wait a second.

Speaker 3 Also, like, whoever's saying that, what do they do for a job? Are they a critic? I hope that they are only a critic.

Speaker 1 I hope so, too.

Speaker 1 So, speaking of sticking to what you do,

Speaker 1 you started doing stand-up when you were young, right? Like

Speaker 3 17. 17.

Speaker 1 That always blows my mind when stand-ups started. How did you scare the courage

Speaker 2 for courage at 17, don't you? I did.

Speaker 3 I was a bedwetter until I was almost 16. So by the time that

Speaker 3 I did stand-up, but, you know, nothing is humiliating. You know, nothing competes with that kind of humiliation.

Speaker 1 But how did you know how to write at that young of age? Like, how did you know how to craft and construct a joke?

Speaker 3 I mean, I wasn't good.

Speaker 1 You know, I just did it.

Speaker 3 I wasn't a good comedian.

Speaker 3 I like did like jokes about, you know, I went to a high school actually that was really, they'd have an assembly on Mondays and Fridays and they'd let me do like a couple minutes. No way.

Speaker 3 And I had a math teacher that would let me like tell a joke at the beginning of every class as long as I shut up the rest of it.

Speaker 1 Oh, wow.

Speaker 3 And it was nice. It was like, it was really encouraging.

Speaker 1 I studied piano. I know this is where everybody passes out.
I studied piano and classical music when I was much younger.

Speaker 1 And I remember in high school, my dentist told me that he and his wife were throwing a Christmas party. And I would, would I come over and play background music at the party on the piano?

Speaker 1 And I'm like, yeah, totally. Wow.
And serve drinks. Yeah, and serve drinks.
And wear this outfit.

Speaker 2 And couldn't you park cars? Or

Speaker 1 do you mind wearing a mask?

Speaker 1 The point is, when I was done, he handed me $100 and I was blown away that I got paid for a talent that I got something in exchange, you know, for the years I, you know, put into honing this craft.

Speaker 1 Do you remember the first time you got paid as a stand-up and like what that was like? Did you report it? And do you remember how old you were?

Speaker 3 When I was 19, I did a road gig at a club called Joker's Wild and

Speaker 3 what's the town that has Yale in it? But it's like besides Yale, it's gross. Okay, sorry.
I mean, wonderful. So it was like this low-rung, mob-run

Speaker 3 place called Joker's Wild. I was the MC.

Speaker 3 For six shows, I got altogether $100.

Speaker 1 Less than Sean got for them.

Speaker 3 And they harassed me the whole time and kept asking me to do cocaine.

Speaker 3 And I had to find my own place to stay. And I stayed with these elderly cousins of friends of my mom's that were both deaf.
It was like a rough week. It was really odd.

Speaker 1 And you're all jetsed out. Oh, really?

Speaker 3 You're all jetsted out? No, I did not. I did not do cocaine.
But

Speaker 3 yeah, and the headliner that week, I won't say his, you probably wouldn't know him, but he ended up kind of losing everything. He was like, at that point, he was married.
He just had a kid.

Speaker 3 And he was such a nice guy, mostly impressions. But then I heard a friend of mine was in NA with him, and he did a brilliant thing.
You know, comics are so dark.

Speaker 3 They're very close to criminals, you know.

Speaker 3 But

Speaker 3 he would go to open houses and use the bathroom and steal all their drugs, you know, all their medications and stuff.

Speaker 1 Wow.

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Speaker 2 My next question is: what's the perfect balance for you from comedy? Like, what do you like to do that balances you out on any particular day or week or month?

Speaker 3 Hobbies or I'm so boring. I love

Speaker 3 television.

Speaker 1 Television.

Speaker 2 Watching television.

Speaker 3 Ozark. Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 Here we go.

Speaker 1 I got it. Oh, my God.
Great interview, guys.

Speaker 1 She hasn't said it's good yet. Let her finish.
Ozark, what? Ozark what?

Speaker 3 So, it's such a solid B of a show. No.

Speaker 3 It's a God. I just, I thought,

Speaker 3 so anyway, you don't need to, but

Speaker 3 I just am a big fan of all of you.

Speaker 2 Like what? Most of you.

Speaker 3 Like, individually, I could go off, but I just want to say you're, and you're, you know, all of you are brilliant actors brilliant performers but their your directing is like it's really beautiful and i thought season three was phenomenal

Speaker 1 and that's all you get that's a lot thank you i will take it that'll get me to sleep tonight and will your your um the reese's commercials

Speaker 1 yeah

Speaker 2 sorry not sorry unbelievable

Speaker 2 sorry um so you like watching uh drama stuff or do you watch it all what about like like reality shows? Like what about Bachelor? Do you have like a guilty pleasure like that?

Speaker 3 I am watching The Bachelor with my lover. Yeah.
Yeah. And we have a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 My wife loves that.

Speaker 3 It's just fun. It's so dumb.
Yeah. But it's so fun.
It's just big laughs all throughout. But besides that, I like dramas.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 Do you want to act in one of those or do you just want to watch them?

Speaker 3 Yeah, I would like to act in one of those, but I love watching them.

Speaker 3 I think it's like watching comedy can be, when it happens, I'm like, I enjoy it, but it's never never my go-to because it's just kind of a little more stressful than right you know watching a thriller or i would say it's like you know doctors don't run home and watch craze anatomy right yeah it's like you've never said that sean that's a fucking lie you've never said that sean always says that he does yeah but uh a thriller yeah i'd love to be in a like a or like a tactical is that right like a born a born movie or like a oh yeah you know what i started um recording because they've been playing them.

Speaker 3 I'm I is uh um old Columbos from the 70s

Speaker 3 and they're so good. Oh, Columbos.
They're like watching a 70s movie. Like they're on film and they Peter Falk, right? Peter Falk.

Speaker 3 And the episode we watched was Ruth Gordon in a rare role as a rich lady.

Speaker 1 Oh, I love her.

Speaker 3 She's my favorite. Harold and Maude.
Yes. Of course.
And my favorite movie is Where's Pop?

Speaker 1 Every Which Way But Lose? Huh? Every Which Way But Lose. With Cleanest With.

Speaker 1 Any Which Way You Can. Sure.

Speaker 1 One of my favorite lines in any movie when the orangutan is on the thing and she goes, what are you doing? Eating all the yogurt yolks crapping all over the place.

Speaker 1 That's one of my favorite lines.

Speaker 3 She always leads with her thumb. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Let me ask you this. So, Sarah, can I want to go back to when you started doing, do you remember?

Speaker 3 Hi, you guys.

Speaker 1 Hi, Sarah.

Speaker 3 I'm just happy to see your faces. Sorry.
Go on. No, no, no.
We'll let it all this. We'll make it clean.
No, we don't have to.

Speaker 1 I'm only asking questions because Sean gets really mad if we don't stick to asking questions.

Speaker 2 He doesn't like conversation.

Speaker 1 He doesn't like conversation. And then he feels that the people in the middle of the country in Wisconsin are mad if we're not getting information out of our guests.

Speaker 1 So our guest today is Sarah Silverman, just to remind everybody. Sean, happy now.
And

Speaker 1 Sarah, I just wanted, I was thinking about you being 17, being on stage, and you're trying to write jokes, and you were joking that like they weren't any good.

Speaker 1 But can you remember like your first joke that you thought was funny that maybe still is? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 My friend Eric Noyes said, does my breath smell like tacos?

Speaker 3 And I said, I don't know. Do you put shit in your tacos?

Speaker 1 That was in high school.

Speaker 3 But I found an old notebook. Like I save all my notebooks.
I found a notebook from when I was like 19. And there were jokes in there that were so bad.

Speaker 3 And reading it written, you know, it goes,

Speaker 3 and a lot of my jokes early on were like, I don't know, I'm just,

Speaker 3 and so it was like, um, I don't know why my goldfish died. I put it in a tank.
Dot, dot, dot, beat,

Speaker 1 top,

Speaker 1 a tank top. Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2 Do you have a set time each day that you dedicate to, all right, I'm going to stare at the wall. I'm going to think of stuff I can write down for a possible performance or script or whatever it is.

Speaker 2 Or do you just kind of just let stuff happen to you? And you always have a little thing in your pocket and you could be at a red light. You can think of something and you write it down.

Speaker 3 Mostly the latter. Yeah.
When I'm my best self, I do, sometimes I'm just sitting in a chair.

Speaker 3 And it really is like, I remember someone calling me and I was just sitting in a chair in my room and that they're like, what are you doing? And I'm like, working.

Speaker 3 And I know I was being defensive, but I do feel like a lot of it is just sitting, you know,

Speaker 3 stillness, if you can.

Speaker 1 I thought about the title for your memoir memoir if you haven't got one already, and I want you to consider

Speaker 1 goldfish in a tank top.

Speaker 3 That does sound like a comedian's, doesn't it sound like a comedian?

Speaker 1 That would be great.

Speaker 2 You have to put the ellipses in between tank and top.

Speaker 3 Goldfish in a tank, dot, dot, dot,

Speaker 3 turn page, flip over, top, and then in parentheses, get it, right?

Speaker 1 Upside down question.

Speaker 3 L-O-L-J-K-J-K-J-K.

Speaker 1 Sarah, I have to ask the cliche question to another funny person. Like, what do you like? Favorite food? What the fuck happened to you as a kid that made you funny?

Speaker 3 Well, I mean, I think I was extremely hursuit. You know, I was growing up in New Hampshire.

Speaker 3 Really, I didn't know Jews. I didn't, you know, I didn't go to, like, a lot of people go, oh, all the bar mitzvah season and all that stuff.
I didn't have any of that. Like, my parents are atheists.

Speaker 3 They call themselves agnostic to be more polite

Speaker 3 or or Jewish to be even more polite.

Speaker 3 But like, there weren't Jews. So we, like my sister says, we thought being Jewish just meant being a Democrat because that's how we were different in New Hampshire, you know?

Speaker 3 But I think because of that, I was like, I was really hairy too. And

Speaker 3 yeah, like my dad goes,

Speaker 3 you know, you want your dad to just think you're so beautiful.

Speaker 3 And he does, but he's like in high school, he goes, if you want to spend a summa getting electrolysis, I'll pay for it and i was like why would i do that jesus oh no never mind oh he really just meant it to be nice but then i think he was horrified because i was like why would i do that

Speaker 1 we should be acknowledging this by the way i'm sorry well you know you don't need to do the brain scratcher anymore why yeah i want to be thorough Did they just stick a thing up your nose for the

Speaker 2 shallow ones are thorough as so is the saliva one now.

Speaker 1 I mean if it doesn't dude, if it doesn't hurt, if there's no pain, then it's not fucking valuable have you not learned that lesson in life

Speaker 1 my dad was right when he said God you're stupid what the fuck is wrong with you you'll be nothing

Speaker 3 you're not listening to your cry right in between the times that he never told me he loved me you know what's interesting about that so you know how that like makes people go into show business like My mom only, she just read People magazine and she didn't look up from it.

Speaker 3 She didn't come to my games. She didn't, you know, so it's like, I think a part of me wanted to get get into People magazine.
You know what I mean? Like, and I think all of us have, I'm sure that.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 2 Sarah, you mentioned that your parents didn't go to your game.

Speaker 1 My dad did. What game?

Speaker 2 What sport did you play?

Speaker 3 Every sport. I was, you know, listen, I'm not bragging.
I

Speaker 3 was a fast pitch pitcher for the state of New Hampshire

Speaker 3 of softball. Sure, no, no.
And not to minimize it.

Speaker 3 And, you know, and I played soccer and I played basketball. I still play basketball, although I haven't since COVID.
And now I'm like, do I still play basketball?

Speaker 3 Because like my bones are so rickety now.

Speaker 2 But when you do play, you're not going down to like the local park and doing a pickup game. You have an organized game, a bunch of your friends get together.

Speaker 3 I have gone to pickup games and I do play pickup games, but the two games I've been playing out here for the past couple of years, I don't know anyone there outside of that game. Like, I don't.

Speaker 1 What's the difference between a pickup game and a game?

Speaker 2 It's all strangers. Yeah.

Speaker 1 You just show up and you say, hey, I want to play. All right.
Well, maybe I'll sign up for one. Yeah.

Speaker 3 But the last time I played outside, I played with this guy. We smoked pot together.
You know, he was adorable, whatever. Thank you.
And then we were all playing.

Speaker 3 And then at the end of the game, we finished. And that guy had left a little early.
He had taken like five different people's car keys. No way.

Speaker 3 And then pressed them to see what went boop boop and then got in one and stole one of the guys' cars.

Speaker 2 Wow. This is the cute stoner.

Speaker 1 He's all stoned up. He's all weeded up.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Well, I like to smoke pot when I play basketball because

Speaker 3 I become incredible or terrible, but it's a grab bag I'm willing to.

Speaker 1 Oh, hang on, hang on. We'd love to get you to repeat that for a PSA if we could, real quick.

Speaker 3 Hi, I'm Sarah Silverman. You know, when I play basketball, I feel marijuana enhances my game or puts me into a ball.
But either way, it's worth the risk.

Speaker 1 But you also like to smell it when you're not playing basketball.

Speaker 3 I like to have a puff at night.

Speaker 2 Oh, that's nice. Sure.
A little night, night, puff, puff. Now, do you follow professional basketball? Are you a Laker fan?

Speaker 3 You know, I like watching it. I mostly like watching like a close game in the last half, last quarter.
I'm not, I don't have like a team that I'm obsessed with or something.

Speaker 2 It's tough to watch the first three quarters.

Speaker 3 I like any underdogs. I mean, but then again, I also like the Warriors just because I love Steve Kerr.
And

Speaker 3 I like the Lakers and I like the Celtics, but only just because of various reasons.

Speaker 1 So, Sarah,

Speaker 1 your resume is so crazy because not only you're an incredible stand-up, but you've been part of some just great, memorable shows, you know, SNL,

Speaker 1 iconic shows, I should say, SNL, Mr. Show, Larry Sanders.
I mean, it's incredible that you got to be part of all these things that for somebody like me were shows that really

Speaker 1 that really kind of spoke to you.

Speaker 1 I'm trying to

Speaker 1 give me a second. I'm trying to fucking cry.

Speaker 1 Jesus, you just broke it. Now I'll never get there.

Speaker 1 Now I'll never get there.

Speaker 1 But these are shows that like, you know, Mr. Show and Larry Sanders were, they showed me, I was like, oh, wait, I want to do that kind of shit.
Yeah, they're like comedy gold shows. Oh, my God.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Like,

Speaker 1 yeah, set the standard.

Speaker 3 I mean, I have to be on all of those are iconic shows that I had nothing, you know, I was like Zealig.

Speaker 3 I just got very lucky and ended up in, not true. I'm not being modest.
I just, you know, I didn't, I had nothing to do with creating the, you know, I mean, but yeah, it is.

Speaker 3 It's, I've been in a lot of like very culty

Speaker 3 Star Trek Voyager.

Speaker 1 I know, I love that. Wait, what was your time like at SNL? And, uh, and do you watch it now?

Speaker 3 Yeah, I watch it. I watch it and I'm a fan of it.

Speaker 1 Take the pause out and post. No, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 I mean, it's, I had the year that I was there, I would never want to take back. It was like hard hard and it was long and it was frustrating.

Speaker 3 And, you know, but I got along with everybody, you know, and stuff. It was really a different time, you know.
I mean, it was, I mean,

Speaker 3 they didn't have computers. Like, we wrote our sketches on legal pads and gave it to a room of typists.

Speaker 1 Right. Wow.

Speaker 2 Well, how did you like living in New York?

Speaker 3 I love New York. Yeah.
I moved there when I was 18. I love New York.
I love just walking through the streets.

Speaker 2 Do you wish you still live there?

Speaker 1 Because I'd love to live there, but I have to live here for other reasons.

Speaker 3 I'd love to live there too, but I, I mean, the last time I had an apartment there, it was $450.

Speaker 3 You know, I lived on a five-floor walkup where I, you know,

Speaker 3 we had, there was a guy who lived on our floor. We had our own bathroom, but it was a building that had a lot of like padlocked bathrooms in the hallway that the apartments shared.

Speaker 1 It was a real dark kind of place.

Speaker 3 And then this guy who just got out of prison lived in on our floor.

Speaker 3 And my roommate and I were walking downstairs and he was walking behind us with a friend and he dropped a box of bullets.

Speaker 3 Bullets were just running down our legs, running through our legs down the stairs. And neither of us acknowledged it.
We just acted like it was not happening. We were so scared.

Speaker 1 That's hilarious.

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Except now, the dastardly desk clerk is saying he can't confirm your connecting rooms. Wait, what?

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Speaker 1 Sarah, who do you find absolutely hilarious? Like either growing up or now, like who you're just like, oh my god, I can't get enough of blank because they're so funny.

Speaker 3 So many people I know, if I start out, have you seen Kate Burlant? She's incredible. I love Tignotaro.
I love

Speaker 3 Zach Galfanakis. I love

Speaker 3 Kyle Dunnegan, this guy, Kyle Dunnegan.

Speaker 3 He just, you know, they're people that just make you.

Speaker 3 He acts like that for me.

Speaker 1 Zach kills me. He kills me.
So funny.

Speaker 3 And then he's just got this huge heart, too. And, you know, he's just like a good, such a solid, lovely person.

Speaker 3 And he's so funny. You know, that's, I like it.

Speaker 2 What about back in the day, somebody who made you laugh that,

Speaker 2 well, I guess you can't really say who made you laugh back then, but based on how your sense sense of humor has changed now, kind of doesn't.

Speaker 2 I mean, there's certainly television shows and movies that I thought were funny back then that I would watch today and go, oh no, that doesn't hold up. Or, or my sense of humor has just changed.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I mean, I've gone so many directions. Like, my friend Mark Cohen, years ago, when I first started, he put a nickel on his head and say Jewish Ash Wednesday.

Speaker 3 And I cried because I was so sensitive. And then I went like 180

Speaker 3 you know, but I'm the same inside, you know, but like I was so upset by that, you know. Oh, really?

Speaker 2 Yeah, an example of how people change, people's tastes change.

Speaker 2 And you kind of have to find yourself trying not to factor that in when you're thinking of stuff that might be best suited for something that needs to appeal to a wide audience because the people who are financing this don't want it to appeal to a narrow audience.

Speaker 2 Do you have to

Speaker 1 think I

Speaker 3 deserve

Speaker 1 i

Speaker 3 prefer to be niche right you know what i mean like

Speaker 3 yeah yeah you know it's there's a lot of rules in the mainstream right that's why i'm doing this podcast now yeah

Speaker 3 and uh called the sarah silverman podcast and the one cool thing about it is like even if you're on cable or streaming or something i mean you can really say anything I think I said fuck way too many times in the first few episodes because I felt so free.

Speaker 3 And you have to have the kind of get those same lessons that you have when you do stand-up where it's like, now it's just gratuitous. It's lost any power.
It isn't cool. You're using it as a crutch.

Speaker 3 But I had to kind of learn it over again because I was suddenly so excited to. get to say anything I wanted that I was like, fucking this and fucking that.

Speaker 3 I listened back and I was just like, oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 What I always thought you did such a great job of doing, and you do it when you were like on a panel, like on a, um, your guest on a talk show or whatever, you found ways to,

Speaker 1 I think a lot of people, you were for a long time considered kind of like dirty, or you would do, you would dress jokes up.

Speaker 1 You, you never knew what you trojan horse, like you'd come in and you dress it up and be kind of super bright about it, and then the punchline would be really dark.

Speaker 1 And you found a way to constantly, it's kind of going back to Sean, I feel I sound like an old man, like you were edgy, but you found ways to push the boundary and you didn't necessarily swear, but you did not shy away from making jokes that were hit really hard.

Speaker 3 I never felt dirty.

Speaker 1 Like everyone would be like, she's a putty mouth.

Speaker 3 Like, she's dirty. And I guess I am, but like, I never feel that way because I was raised in a house where you used just the words weren't taboo, you know? So it's not like I swear a lot, really.

Speaker 3 It's more like I use technical language or explicit maybe, you know.

Speaker 1 Yeah, right. You didn't say, you didn't say fuck a lot.
You didn't do that at all. Like you found a way to bring people to a punchline that was potentially really,

Speaker 1 they hadn't heard it before, and it was kind of dangerous. And you were kind of pushing the boundaries.
Can I ask you this?

Speaker 1 So, are there any kind of Jason asked you if you want to do like a drama or anything like that, but are there any like comedy people for Reels that you would want to work with or comedy directors that you think, like, oh, I could.

Speaker 3 You know, I haven't done a lot of comedy. Well, this is the thing:

Speaker 3 the things I've been in in comedy, like in movies, it's like

Speaker 3 this has changed a lot. But since, you know, it's the angry girlfriend or the angry roommate or the

Speaker 3 sleaze bag

Speaker 3 executive, or, but it's like, so I go, after a while, I go, I just don't even want to be in comedies because the access I have to comedies is, I can't be a comedian in a comedy playing a straight role.

Speaker 3 It doesn't, it's stupid of me. It doesn't, I don't make money from doing movies.
I lose money making movies. I

Speaker 3 can't get the least amount of money. I can't be on the road.

Speaker 3 So that's why it's like dramas or something where I'm in like someone else's domain is, it just makes sense. I just want to play.

Speaker 3 If I'm in a comedy, I want to be funny in it.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 3 And otherwise, you know, I just want to do interesting things. You know, I like acting, but I like doing everything.

Speaker 1 Sarah, I don't even know where to go. I mean, we could talk to you all day.
It's so fun having you here.

Speaker 3 I've been talking for so long. I can't

Speaker 3 talk to you. I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1 We're taking a lot of your time.

Speaker 3 It's very generous. I'm so happy to be just seeing you and talking to you.

Speaker 3 But we'll wrap it up. Someone wrap it up.

Speaker 1 We're going to wrap it up, but we're going to say you're an absolute delight.

Speaker 1 You're a comic Titan. I'm going to say that.
I find you to be so fucking consistently hilarious. You've made me laugh so many millions of times.
So thank you. Royalty.

Speaker 3 Yeah, royalty. Doesn't it make you feel older? I remember when Joan, when you'd go, oh, Joan, you're a legend.
She'd be like, fuck you. I'm still vital.
You know,

Speaker 3 like it makes you feel done.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 3 The next thing I do, you know, how like your agent will go, ooh, but we got with or and for the credits. And you go,

Speaker 1 who cares?

Speaker 3 Why is that a thing? I want and introducing. That's really.

Speaker 1 Sure.

Speaker 3 I want them to fight for that.

Speaker 1 My thing I keep going to is I'm asking my, my, I'm like, I want to fight for, in advance, fight for my position in the in memoriam segment on like the Emmys and stuff.

Speaker 3 Oh, I'm already working on my research.

Speaker 1 I want to get the final

Speaker 2 card.

Speaker 1 Fuck, and I want to bring down the fucking house. Do you know the song, Will? Do you know the song you want to play? $5 foot long.

Speaker 1 $5.

Speaker 1 $5

Speaker 1 foot long.

Speaker 1 I love that fucking song.

Speaker 1 We love you, Sarah.

Speaker 2 Thank you, Sarah. Bye, Sarah.
Thank you. Bye, Sarah.

Speaker 1 Bye, Sarah Silverman. Bye.
Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 So funny. Always,

Speaker 1 you you know, there's that gross word again, but always edgy, dark. Like, she's the kind of comedy you choose when you really want to.
It's like truth comedy. You know? Yeah.

Speaker 1 I always thought of her, and she's one of the cool kids. Like, she was just so funny in such a great, real, like, way.
You're like, shit, man, I just don't want to fuck up around her. Yeah.

Speaker 1 She's so funny.

Speaker 2 I just don't want to be unfunny at any time.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I don't want to be a fucking loser. God, you're so stupid to even think that.
And then I just don't even get out of my car.

Speaker 2 I'd love to go see her do stand-up.

Speaker 1 I don't think I've ever... I saw her do a stand-up at the improv in Melrose, and her opening joke was about rape.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Just to sort of drop the flag and say, here it comes.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 So you have to be a fan and be open-minded. But I am, and I'm a huge, huge fan.
Well, I think, you know, and she made such a great point.

Speaker 1 She's made a lot of jokes that has taken people aback over the years or whatever, but she's right. It's all about intention, and her intention is good.

Speaker 1 She's a good person, and she's going the right direction. And she wants, I think, that

Speaker 1 sometimes she has to make jokes like that to kind of shed light on the other side.

Speaker 1 And that's her style. Yeah.
And I love it. I respect it.
And she's got a new podcast, the Sarah Silverman Podcast, and it is great, of course. I've heard it.
It's fantastic. Yeah, it's super good.

Speaker 1 And she's a stone-cold babe. Yeah, she's a stone-cold babe.
She's a babe. She's a stone-cold babe.
And you know what? The second thing is, yeah, we can say that. The third thing is, um,

Speaker 1 smart

Speaker 1 was

Speaker 1 smart.

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