Sarah Silverman - Jesus is Magic
The title of Silverman's comes from a line in her show about what she and her Christian boyfriend would say to their children about religion, "Mommy is one of the chosen people and daddy thinks Jesus is magic." This captures comic persona perfectly. In the show she plays somebody self-centred and smug who manages to say offensive things completely blithely. What you miss from the quote is the charm of her delivery - even while she is saying the most outrageous things she manages to be strangely engaging. And if you were to take what she says out of context it would sound terrible - Germans, Mexicans, Black people, Jews and the Chinese - all are mocked. Actually, I don't think that she says anything negative about the Chinese, she just insists on calling them "chinks".
Sarah Silverman, image from Sarah Silverman Online
Silverman's acute narcissism is made credible by her attractiveness; she has the undentable ego of somebody who is really fit and knows it. Not a pose that many comedians could pull off. In one scene she snogs her image in the mirror, entranced.
Jesus is Magic is actually really funny, not a sociological investigation of taboo, but I was entertained rather than laughing out loud. This was also my reaction to 'internet sensation' "". She's not a comedian that you would take home to your parents, but (if she's anything like mine) your younger sister would think her hilarious.
Our expert in the field of comedy (and music), Clare, has just pointed me in the direction of one of Sarah's recent items on YouTube in which she encourages Jewish kids to blackmail their grandparents into voting for Obama. This really had me laughing loudly (in the office, nothing more annoying for those around you).
Sarah Silverman is at the Hammersmith Apollo on 19 October and Jesus is Magic is released on DVD on Monday 13 October.
Comments