Satire ridicules things, doesn't just mentions them. She just mentions racist points. She describes extremely unethical situations and some people lough.
This is like South Park with only Eric Cartman and the first-season Kenny.
The racist points she mentions are already ridicules by them self and by mentioning them she ridicules the people that uses them in real life. So she makes satire of people, not things.
shareyou think all she does is mention, because she doesn't explain everything to her audience. you don't find it funny, first of all, because you don't get it. sarah silverman is a smart comedian. think about what's going on in her act.
for example, in the movie she talks about the trouble she got into for her "i love ch****" joke. she never once explains the joke, or why it was ironic that groups were angry at her for it. the point of the joke is that most people are uncomfortable with race and racism, and end up taking positions (to make themselves feel better, as sarah in the joke) that are analogous to saying things like "i love ch****" or "i love ni*****". get it?
people shouldn't need everything explained. it shouldn't be about seeing a comedian and hearing what you believe parroted back at you and then you standing up, applauding, shouting "i support that!" think about what's going on with sarah silverman and you may get some important other thoughts going in the process.
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also, some of what that joke illustrates can be seen in people's hosility to "jesus is magic". we don't want to understand anything about racism, we want people to tell us that they aren't racist, and that we're not racist. that doesn't work.
You're missing the point. This particular movie is a tragedy, not a satire. I cannot believe she let this be released in it's current form. Did you see the audience? They were bored silly, and they are her FANS !!!
Hopefully she can recover and make something coherent in the future.
Lol
eviltimes, i had the exact same thought
poor, poor audience
If you have to explain WHY someone is funny
usually it's because they are NOT funny
"WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW, huh?! WHO'S ON TOP & WHO'S ON BOTTOM NOW!"
[deleted]
"Comedy," Steve Martin famously said, "is not pretty."
I just watched "Jesus Is Magic" on cable tonight. This was the first time I've ever seen Sarah Silverman really perform. I remember her from "School Of Rock", but I had the reaction of, "I know I've seen her in something before". What is it about her that is appealing, quirky, silly and at the same time, just so...wrong? Her "take-it-to-the-edge", style humor, well, help me out here people, what is it about her that I like and at the same time find really boorish?
Her ability to shock an audience with racial reproach and religious ridicule, isn't new. Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison and Richard Pryor, have all laid it out there before, to sell-out crowds. Howard Stern make millions on the air with his libidinous, raunchy and often times foul-style comedy. Rappers sing about drugs and guns and sex and yet they walk away with Grammy after Grammy. Even our televisions are tuned into peoples lives 24/7, while they go about their days and nights, revealing their most intimate thoughts and moments, good or bad. We turn on the internet and can watch a tragic plane crash or the execution of a former dictator, ten minutes after it happened! It's the car crash we've all driven past and had to peek at. We are a voyeuristic and morbidly curious society.
So why then, when Sarah Silverman told the bit about an Aunt who survived the Holocaust coming out with a cool looking tattoo on her arm as the result
of being in one of the 'better' camps, did I suddenly feel all NOT tingly inside?
Actually I sort of felt like I had just witnessed something really embarrassing and having to pretend like I didn't.
And yet her songs about Jews driving German cars and 'doodies' made me laugh out loud. I do think her dry sense of humor and wit borders on comic...well not genius, but definitely comic-really-really-smart and quirky.
I don't know. I love a good-stand up comedian. Eddie Izzard, Janeane Garafolo,
Albert Brooks,(back in the day).
But Sarah Silverman...I just don't know how to describe her. Is she offensive? Trying too hard? Not trying enough? Too in-your-face?
"Comedy," Steve Martin famously said, "is not pretty."
I just watched "Jesus Is Magic" on cable tonight. This was the first time I've ever seen Sarah Silverman really perform. I remember her from "School Of Rock", but I had the reaction of, "I know I've seen her in something before". What is it about her that is appealing, quirky, silly and at the same time, just so...wrong? Her "take-it-to-the-edge", style humor, well, help me out here people, what is it about her that I like and at the same time find really boorish?
Her ability to shock an audience with racial reproach and religious ridicule, isn't new. Eddie Murphy, Sam Kinison and Richard Pryor, have all laid it out there before, to sell-out crowds. Howard Stern make millions on the air with his libidinous, raunchy and often times foul-style comedy. Rappers sing about drugs and guns and sex and yet they walk away with Grammy after Grammy. Even our televisions are tuned into peoples lives 24/7, while they go about their days and nights, revealing their most intimate thoughts and moments, good or bad. We turn on the internet and can watch a tragic plane crash or the execution of a former dictator, ten minutes after it happened! It's the car crash we've all driven past and had to peek at. We are a voyeuristic and morbidly curious society.
So why then, when Sarah Silverman told the bit about an Aunt who survived the Holocaust coming out with a cool looking tattoo on her arm as the result
of being in one of the 'better' camps, did I suddenly feel all NOT tingly inside?
Actually I sort of felt like I had just witnessed something really embarrassing and having to pretend like I didn't.
And yet her songs about Jews driving German cars and 'doodies' made me laugh out loud. I do think her dry sense of humor and wit borders on comic...well not genius, but definitely comic-really-really-smart and quirky.
I don't know. I love a good-stand up comedian. Eddie Izzard, Janeane Garafolo,
Albert Brooks,(back in the day).
But Sarah Silverman...I just don't know how to describe her. Is she offensive? Trying too hard? Not trying enough? Too in-your-face?
You don't have to come on the forums and lie just because you didn't like it. I have watched this show many a time, and the audience is not even slightly bored. Lots of laughter and only 1 or 2 jokes fall flat the entire show. It was a success.
shareppl that love her think that those that don't aren't as smart as they are. i think she's awesome, but i don't think that she's all the complex
actually, she doesn't think she's all that complex either...as seen in her nightline interview when she says she's just "trying to be funny," not trying to make any statements
I think she's somewhat funny. I laughed a number of times during the movie. However, I think it's ridiculous to say that she's a smart comic. I don't see it that way at all. I think she just found a niche that she can exploit and it's worked out for her. Anybody could do what she's doing, she's the just one doing it, that's all. I don't fully understand the "race-jokes" but I'm glad she does them because I think political correctness is a serious problem. Although I'd argue that her approach to the race issue isn't really funny (it's always just so non-chalant and pointless with a total lack of punchline), I'd also say that it's probably not racist and might even be a good thing, overall, for race relations, etc.
I liked how she told the joke about her "n****r" joke, and said when the black people were in her front row audience she didn't tell the joke. It's creative, because I think that IS the "n****r" joke, and that she might be trying to make the point that if you have the joke but aren't willing to say it in front of certain audiences, it IS a racist joke! But THAT'S the joke, and that's the point... while some could interpret her story as reason to see her as a racist, I see it as just the opposite . . . the story's probably not even true, and she isn't afraid to say the joke in front of the potentially world-wide audience that this movie could reach.
All that said, I can't shake the feeling (from her numerous film roles, television appearances (back in the day on that Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn show), to her stand-up, her movie, and her current comedy central show) that this girl is a total narcissist. Sometimes I can't bear to sit through her self-elevating rants to get to the next funny joke. I was wondering if anybody else is annoyed by this quality in her? And I understand she's probably doing it to be funny. . . but, as they say, "be careful what you pretend to be, because sooner or later you won't be pretending anymore.")
i think she's funny but her jokes do come really close to being too much.
shareTotally agree with you. I first watched her on Conan, I thought they had good chemistry, but she didn't come up to be a good standup in JIM and I was very disappointed.
share"you don't find it funny, first of all, because you don't get it. sarah silverman is a smart comedian. think about what's going on in her act." (THIS from an individual with the handle "bobdicks"? Is that code for "web-surfer for life"?)
Obviously, it has to be a reflection on our IQs if we don't "get" Ms. Silverman's humor in this slapdash, pastiche of "comedy." It can't be that much of her material falls short of the mark.
Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor and others all pushed the boundaries and endured much more controversial (and fertile) paths than Sarah S. So trying to pass her off as a trailblazing, convention-buster is b.s. Much of her humor is from the "sh*t, p*ss, *beep* school of comedy. Yes, I admire her anti-PC stance. That doesn't make her a comedic genius. At best, she marginally funny. I couldn't help but wonder how much of the laughter was reedited on the soundtrack so she wouldn't appear to be "dying" on her own DVD.
She comes across much better on television. That's why I rented this dvd. I find her irresistibly charming but how far do you think she would have gotten if she wasn't quick-witted, witty, and sexy as hell? (Okay, I think she has youthful sex appeal and self-assurance galore.)
But consider this. When that plain-looking young woman with the dishpan delivery utters some of the same jokes that Sarah S. uttered, the audience just sits and stares. (Actually, I think one or two of these audience non-reaction shots may be genuine outtakes from the "show.") Even Silverman knows that if her cuteness factor and charisma were not way above average (which she alludes to in one of her skit), her "jokes" would go nowhere. Not because "delivery is everything" (which I'm sure is the message of that after-the-credits coda) but because most of this is straight-to-dvd material and she either does/or doesn't realize that the joke is on her.
But I suspect she knows that the joke is on us--all the way to her bank.
That said, what I wouldn't give to share her bed for just one night.
i don't know, man. no doubt, lenny bruce, george carlin, richard pryor, these comedians are a lot more important and innovative than sarah silverman will ever be. i'd never say she's pushing the boundaries, just that there's intelligence behind her act (though apparently i missed the OP's point). there's a very deep, genuine appreciation of absurdity and despair in her comedy... and the jokes really are smart. i'm not sure why everyone in this thread found the jokes so stale... whatever though. i'm just clarifying, i think sarah silverman is a great comedian; she doesn't need to be richard pryor to earn that, really.
shareyou know "bobdicks" is the best handle you ever saw.
shareTHEY'RE JUST JOKES!!!
shareI thought the girl at the end was hysterical. A lot of comedians today like to make you feel uncomfortable and question whether you should actually be laughing. Andy Kaufman did it best and sort of paved the way for a lot of comedians today. It still happens with a lot of the indie comics in the Comedians of Comedy movie and it happens here. I know I'm not taking a very controversial stance by saying that, but if you really think about it, Jesus is Magic and Comedians of Comedy really show concrete examples of what Andy Kaufman's legacy has accomplished.
Sarah Silverman has a great set-up where right when you're about to start to think she's being genuine she says something outrageous to *beep* with you. Jokes pretty much are supposed to make you expect one answer out of the punchline and then the comedian says something totally different. She takes that to a new level, because as soon as you might kind of agree with her, she says something offensive. The whole movie was kind of a joke in her style because by the end of the film you start to trust her because when she's making out with herself and making her friends leave the dressingi room you're thinking "Ok, she's super over-the-top, that's her act, and it's funny" and then they show you the same jokes with an ugly girl and pretty much ridicule you for laughing at Sarah Silverman in the first place just because she's a cute girl saying ugly things. The audience is supposed to feel shallow for thinking she's funny when the ugly girl isn't. I don't think she's making a poignant statement about beauty or society, I think she's simply making a "Now that I've gained these people's trust, let's offend them in one of the only ways still possible by making them feel gulty."
Granted, I thought over an hour with Sarah Silverman became a little draining because her shtick is specific enough that you get used to it, so she has to progressively become MORE offensive to hold your interest. If not for the songs, this would have seemed really repetitive. However, I still really appreciate what she's trying to do. She's not just about pushing the envelope by making Holocaust and 9/11 jokes, she's trying to make people laugh on multiple levels. That's what comedians do.
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Remember the joke, "People say the jews killed Jesus, then people defend the jews, and say, no, it was the Romans. Well I'm one of the few people that think it was the blacks." Now, come on. You have to see that is satirical. Blacks are a race that get blamed for things. There is no historical connection that you could think she was serious, or anything else than making a clever point. Pointing out prejudice and how it is not based on facts just looking for a scape goat. I think she does that in a very smart way.
shareShe's just a witless idiot. It'll win over some witless minds, the rest of the world will overlook it (or bitch about it), but it's sole purpose was to reach those few kids/idiots and put $$$ in her pockets. No other reason for the release.
"Nigg*r Nigg*r Nigg*r" how clever... *yawn*
If you don't think she's funny, why the hell did you watch it in the first place? You are not paid critics. Why would you possibly watch a movie that stars someone you don't like in the first place, and then come to talk about the movie on the message board?
I personally thought it was great, but I had seen/heard most of the material before. It still made me laugh more than quite a few stand-up acts do, however, and certainly a lot more than any comedy movies I've seen in a while. If you're a fan, it's definitely worth the watch, but don't get your expectations terribly high.
And if you're one of the people that thinks she's racist... well, once you've reached the point where you need to explain a joke to someone, you've really gone past the point of wasting time.