By Paul Freeman [June 2012 Interview]

Those big brown eyes may appear innocent. But look closer. They twinkle with mischief aplenty. Sarah Silverman, with exceptional wit and candor, seems to stir up controversy wherever she goes. Her stand-up has searingly and hilariously targeted religion, sexism and racism. Currently on tour, she has crowds giggling, guffawing and occasionally gasping, over her provocative perceptions.

She displayed her imaginative and outrageous humor on “The Sarah Silverman Program,” which ran for three seasons on Comedy Central and nabbed her an Emmy nomination. Even Silverman herself was surprised by how far she was able to push the envelope. Shout! Factory has just released a DVD box set of the series with some enticing extras.

Silverman shot a pilot for NBC, but the network recently decided not to pick it up. She needs creative freedom for her comedy to fully blossom.

Silverman began performing stand-up while still in her teens. She was hired as a writer/performer on “Saturday Live” in 1993, but none of the sketches she dreamed up ever aired. Silverman learned more from her experiences on other innovative shows, like “Seinfeld,” “The Larry Sanders Show,“ Greg The Bunny,” “Crank Yankers” and “Mr. Show.”

An accomplished singer and actress, Silverman has appeared in a number of movies, including “There’s Something about Mary,” “Peep World,” “School of Rock” and her concert film “Jesus Is Magic.” Her latest is Sarah Polley’s “Take This Waltz,” a relationship dramedy and festival favorite, in which she co-stars with Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen. She’s proven that she’s capable of delivering memorable performances in both comedic and dramatic films.

As evidenced by her memoir, “The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee,” Silverman has no trepidation, when it comes to revealing the truth about herself. Her honesty gets her into hot water, but it’s also part of her appeal.

Pop Culture Classics was delighted to have a chance to chat with one of our favorite bedwetters.

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
I loved the Comedy Central series. Were you surprised at how far you were able to push the envelope with that?

SARAH SILVERMAN:
Yeah. Especially, looking back. We were really able to do anything we wanted, as long as we could justify it or come up with an argument that the Standards & Practices people could use, if they got in trouble [Laughs]. All they really wanted was like, ‘If you can give us a good argument, then you can do it.’ I’m good at arguing.

PCC:
Obviously the laugh is the big reward, but do you also get some satisfaction in the shock, provoking controversy, thought and discussion?

SILVERMAN:
Yeah, sure. I mean, anything that moves someone to something, feeling something, I guess. But mostly, that show was just so fun and aggressively dumb. It was so much fun. We just did a bunch of extra stuff for the box set. And it was so fun to get together. There was an extra on it where it’s just the writers talking about the show. And we got together at 11 in the morning to shoot it and everybody just got drunk and stoned and all we did was laugh. Like we hadn’t seen each other in so long, we were just completely misbehaving and laughing and the people who made the box set, Shout! Factory, they edited something great out of it. I mean, I felt so bad. I was like, ‘This was such an abortion.’ [Laughs] We had so much fun. We missed each other, you know?

PCC:
That’ll be a lot of of fun to watch. You shot a sitcom pilot for NBC. Were you conflicted about how much you would have to compromise to fit into the network standards?

SILVERMAN:
Well, that was almost the opposite, because what I wanted to do, what we did for the NBC pilot, was we wanted to do something more emotionally based, that was funny in more of real portrait of people kind of way. It was 180 degree different from the last show. But no one will see it. [Laughs]

PCC:
Isn’t there still a chance it will turn up somewhere, somehow?

SILVERMAN:
I don’t think so. That’s too bad. It was really weird and interesting and I loved it obviously. But at least we made the show we wanted to make. And also, I just like kind of sobered up, towards the end, like ‘What am I doing at network? I really don’t belong here.’ And I didn’t.

PCC:
Ron Howard was one of the producers? Seems like an odd couple, you and Ronny.

SILVERMAN:
Oh, my God. I love him. He was amazing. He was so supportive. He’s everything you think he’s going to be, like the kindest, loveliest person.

PCC:
You’ve been involved in so many edgy, ground-breaking shows, which meant the most to you, in terms of your own comedic development?

SILVERMAN:
‘Mr. Show’ and ‘Larry Sanders,’ definitely between those.

PCC:
As far as your creative heroes, ranging from Steve Martin to David Hockney, what do they all have in common? Is it just the innovative quality? The individuality?

SILVERMAN:
Just originality. I mean, I loved Steve Martin since I was a kid. I loved how absurd and silly he was. And then there was a sophistication about him, as well. I don’t think I was able to, as a 14-year-old girl, deconstruct what I liked about Steve Martin. And, of course, I liked David Hockney, only because I read in an article that Steve Martin did. I was a 14-year-old girl in New Hampshire with pictures of gay men in swimming pools on my wall, because Steve Martin liked him [laughs].

PCC:
Starting out young and with all the competition in the stand-up world, were you confident you could carve out your own niche? What was the key to doing that?

SILVERMAN:
I wasn’t ever really looking at a big picture. It’s just what I always wanted to do. And I did it. I didn’t think about it. I just kept turning up and getting on and doing stand-up, lots and lots and lots. I guess it’s kind of like your 10,000 hours, like Malcolm Gladwell says.

PCC:
You seem to manage to shake off the constraints, wherever you perform, but is there still the greatest sense of freedom in the concert performances?

SILVERMAN:
I feel free, because I don’t really like putting myself in a situation where I’m not. I own my car and my apartment and I don’t really have to make any compromises. And I don’t. Creatively, why would I? To me, it’s not worth it. I’m not wont for pricey things. I use a backpack, you know?

PCC:
And it certainly seems like you’re not afraid to reveal yourself. Have you never had any trepidation about that?

SILVERMAN:
I don’t know if it’s fearlessness, as much as it is a compulsion. I think some things I say, maybe on Twitter or whatever, might get me in trouble, but, I don’t know, I have a need to express myself. To me, Twitter is like a message in a bottle and I like to keep it free. There was a place that was like, ‘Well, we could sell ads, where you put your pictures and stuff and we could split the money.’ And I said, ‘Great.’ And then, they said, ‘Okay, you have to put this many things and this many videos’ and I was like, ‘Oh, no. Never mind.’ I’m not going to be beholden to anybody, content-wise. It’s not worth it.

PCC:
Even though the honesty can get you into trouble at times, do you think that’s the key to the success of your humor, that it’s the appeal, too?

SILVERMAN:
Maybe. You’re right, it can get me into trouble. But that’s the risk. The risk of expressing yourself is you’re not going to be for anybody [Laughs] for everybody, whoops. And it can be polarizing. I know that I’m polarizing. It’s not what I set out to be. But that’s the way it is. I’m only for you, if I’m your cup of tea.

PCC:
But are you conscious at all of knocking down the false idols and poking fun at the absurdities of society or is that just part of your nature?

SILVERMAN:
I don’t take it on like it’s my responsibility, but, if it’s on my mind, I might say something. I don’t know. I laugh.

PCC:
It never disturbs you, when people express their outrage about your comedy?

SILVERMAN:
No. Anyone sending me hate mails and hate Tweets, I protect their right to do that, just as much. That’s the beauty of freedom of speech.

I’m a sensitive person, but I’m pretty thick-skinned about that. I see so much of people’s anger coming from their hurt childness. I have an understanding that when people write me angry letters, it has very, very little, actually, to do with me.

PCC:
Is there any form of humor that actually offends you?

SILVERMAN:
Even humor is art, even though people drink during it... and hustle. it’s subjective. Not everything is going to be for me. Not everyone is for me.

PCC:
What impact do you most want to have through your art?

SILVERMAN:
I don’t know, I feel like, I don’t have a plan. I’m not like looking towards having some sort of legacy [Laughs] or something like that. I’m just being.

PCC:
The film ‘Take This Waltz,’ did that present new challenges to you? What drew you to that project?

SILVERMAN:
Well, Sarah Polley, I just think she’s great. I’m a huge fan of hers. And I loved working with her. It’s not going to be a big movie. It’s not going to be ‘Battleship’... luckily.

PCC:
But it might reach people and touch people?

SILVERMAN:
Yeah, I know, when I saw it, It stayed with me. It made me think about stuff.

PCC:
Do you still feel that there’s a career-changing, magical role out there for you?

SILVERMAN:
Oh, maybe, but I also know that I only have so much control over the things that I don’t make myself, so... People see me in a specific way. And that specific way is not always what I’m interested in doing. [Laughs]

PCC:
What have been the biggest challenges for you, over the course of the career?

SILVERMAN:
I don’t know. I think that, when I first started doing stand-up, the first 10 years, the people in the audience aren’t there to see you. And so, it was exciting and scary and people would leave angry and not like me. You know what I mean? So that was different. And then, after a certain point, people came to see me, specifically. And I feel like, do you give the audience what they’re expecting, because they saw my last special or whatever? Or... Who am I? Before people came just to see me, they would come and be surprised by what they saw.

Audiences want to be surprised, but they also want to see what they have seen before, in a weird way. And I think that can really make comics stuck. Especially, when you look at iconic comics from the ‘80s, that were like - ‘the tough guy,’ or ‘the guy with the weird voice.’ They now still live and a lot of them feel beholden to stay these characters that defined them, but are now also making them be like dated caricatures. It’s scary to break through and just say, ‘Who am I now?’ And just continue with that. And that’s what I strive to do. Who am I? In some ways, I’m still the same, inherently, and in some ways, I’m exploring different things.

‘Jesus Is Magic’ was very race-based. And I’m older and wiser than that. I’m different. I find slightly different things funny. And a whole bunch of the same things funny, too [Laughs]. The shows are going to be really loose. I’m always kind of in a state of flux, you know?

PCC:
But whoever you are at any given moment, the onstage Sarah is pretty much the same as the off-stage Sarah?

SILVERMAN:
Sometimes. I’ve been saying a lot more exactly what I mean, where there was a time where I was saying kind of the opposite of my feelings and the hope was like a kind of absolute value would transcend.

I know people enjoy it. I always say, ‘Keep your expectations low, you’ll have a nice time.’

PCC:
Though you don’t like to look at the big picture, any goals you’re still burning to achieve?

SILVERMAN:
I just want to keep moving forward, like a shark, don’t stop swimming. But, no, I don’t like looking at the big picture too much. I like just staying, seeing the dots.

PCC:
Maybe a music album at some point?

SILVERMAN:
Yeah, maybe.

PCC:
And continue to be involved in using your celebrity for positive things, like LGBT rights?

SILVERMAN:
Yeah. I’m definitely focusing on equal rights for everyone and fighting against the war on women, through the election. I mean, it’s a real difference, between what could happen - progress or literally going back to the ‘50s or some odd picture of Americana that is like a horror movie. I can’t believe it’s real. But, of the two choices for President, one wants to overturn Roe versus Wade and keep people from marrying. Someone that actually believes that there are people that deserve less rights than him is un-American, to use their own words.

PCC:
It’s amazing that the polls are so close.

SILVERMAN:
Terrifying. Really, really, really, Really scary.

PCC:
Great talking with you.

SILVERMAN:
Thank you. Sorry I wasn’t funnier [Laughs].

For more about Sarah Silverman, one of the funniest, bravest comedians of our time, visit www.sarah-silverman.com