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Sarah Silverman is a comic's comic — a phrase that, loosely translated, means that among her peers she's super cool. Maybe you've seen her onscreen ("School of Rock," "There's Something About Mary") but you don't recognize her name just yet. That could change with "Jesus Is Magic," a film chronicling her stand-up show that hits theaters November 11. More to the point, the movie also hits just about every nerve and hot-button topic imaginable — race, rape, 9/11, the Holocaust, masturbation, Ethiopian babies, naughty words and on and on. None of this, however, would be half as filthy or funny if it weren't for her delivery, at once sweet and self-absorbed. Directed by Liam Lynch, the movie also develops her musical numbers (such as "You're Gonna Die Soon," performed with her band, the Silver Men) from mere skits into full-blown music videos. Sarah recently spoke with MTV News' Jennifer Vineyard and shared her thoughts on what makes her laugh, why she constantly ribs boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel and the issues involved when making love to God.
MTV: So how did you get this way?
Silverman: What kind of question is that to ask somebody? [Laughs] I don't know! My dad was one of those dads who thought it was hilarious to teach his toddler to swear. My first word was "b----b------d---s---." You get such positive feedback that you get addicted. My dad is so sweet, but he says "F---" every other word: "I had the best f---ing time."
MTV: Not your typical role model, then.
Silverman: My dad made a deal with me, during my sophomore year at NYU, that if I were to drop out he'd pay my rent for the next three years as if I were still in college. It saved him thousands of dollars, and it gave me a chance to do stand-up. It worked out, because that's when I got the job as a writer on "Saturday Night Live." My mom, she sometimes asks me to stop doing certain jokes. She says, "I have a very visual mind." But I don't always take out what she wants. There was one thing in the movie, where I look like Marlo Thomas, and I catch my "father" under a glass coffee table, and my mother complained. "Danny Thomas was a great man, and he should be remembered as a good man and opening children's hospitals." So who cares if he liked watching girls under tables?
MTV: Penn Jillette once said that all standup comedy is like a riddle: "Who am I really?"
Silverman: I don't read his blog. But I'm pretty much myself onstage. I'm a lot prettier offstage, obviously, and I'm a little more arrogant onstage. I watch a lot of "America's Next Top Model," so I know what to do. I'll tell you what: When I'm onstage, I'm on, and when I'm off, I let it all hang out. My boyfriend thinks I don't have boundaries.
MTV: Do you think you don't have boundaries?
Silverman: A little bit. I'm trying to track down my therapist to see if I don't have boundaries, but she went on sabbatical. She knows I have abandonment issues, but she took off for a year. So selfish. No, someone asked me if anything bums me out, and "fat women" is what I came up with. But nothing is off-limits, as long as it's funnier than it is sad. People falling? Anything that comes out of the butt? I'm cerebral, so "Frasier." I just go by my own f---ed-up gauge, because it's subjective. Have you seen that trailer for "The Shining," where they re-cut it as a sitcom? Now that's funny …
MTV: How do you know a joke is ready to go public?
Silverman: I try them out on my comic friends. They're pretty extreme, though. It takes a lot to make us laugh, so it's got to be the most taboo, the most awful thing you can say. It's sick. Sometimes I love a joke so much that, even if it doesn't get any laughs, I keep trying over and over until someone tells me, "You're going to have to give up on the ghost getting the tushy massage. It's odd, it's not accessible." But I can't ever really know until I try it on an audience.
MTV: Like on "Jimmy Kimmel Live"? You must have an open invitation to be a guest on that one whenever you want.
Silverman: I'm obviously going to do his show, because he's my boyfriend! He's my guy! But then it's like a Catch-22.
MTV: Is Jimmy really as good a sport as he seems about you making fun of his private parts all the time?
Silverman: First of all, I don't make fun of his b---- all the time. If I did, that wouldn't make it special. It's a treat. I do it as a treat, for me.
MTV: You two are in the midst of spoofing R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" [on episodes of the "Kimmel Show"] — you call it "The Pizza."
Silverman: Jimmy plays the R. Kelly part. We just shot three more episodes. Let's just say there's a fight over me between Jimmy and a very special guest. I won't say who. R. Kelly — now, he's crazy, or he's a genius. I can't get my mind around it. I think that structurally, it's brilliant, the idea of a song as a series. I love that. I'm not sure if it's popular literally, or ironically, or whatever. But I don't usually do material about celebrities or specific people. It's more social politics, not as much celebrity mayhem. I won't say I won't talk about them, but like when I do the Scientology bit, I don't even mention Tom Cruise. I'm just talking about it as a religion.
MTV: Do you find it odd that there are so many actors right now playing Jews, when your complaint used to be that a hot Jewish girl such as yourself would never be considered for the female romantic lead?
Silverman: Like Cameron Diaz in "In Her Shoes"? I don't know. They want it to be about a Jew, they just don't want to see a Jew.
MTV: You do get to be the love interest in [an upcoming Jeff Garlin film] "I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With."
Silverman: Yeah — to a fat guy!
MTV: And you have an unusual love interest in your Comedy Central pilot …
Silverman: There is a love scene with God, and a very awkward morning after. And no, he doesn't even use protection. He probably doesn't even have sperm. But he appears, and he's black, and I go, "Are you God's black friend?" It doesn't even occur to me that it could be God, but then I learn. It's really absurd. It's just ridiculous. I dare you not to pick it up, Comedy Central. And it'll have a song in every episode.
MTV: Ever think about doing your own album?
Silverman: I wish the movie was all songs, but we couldn't afford it. We had to make the budget stretch. I'll put an album out of the movie and songs from the show, but I'm not looking to be a singer. I can sing [all right] for a comic, but I'm no Janis Ian! But if you go and tell your friends to watch the movie, I'll tickle your back until you fall asleep.
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