D2 Review: The Sarah Silverman Program

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By no means is Sarah Silverman stretching her acting chops with her new show on Comedy Central, where she plays a Jewish girl named Sarah Silverman. And it’s a good thing. It won’t win her any Academy Award, but she doesn’t need that. She’s a Humanitarian who takes in homeless people. Clearly, she’s above that. So, as Jerry Seinfeld played a comedian named Jerry, Roseanne Barr played a fat chick named Roseanne, Sarah plays an outspoken Jew named Sarah.

It’s obvious that Sarah’s been spending a lot of time hanging out with crude guys. You couldn’t find her with a tiny lap dog, huge sunglasses and the latest Christian Louboutin footwear if her life depended on it oh, no. You’ll find her in a baseball tee, Converse Chucks, Ivory clean complexion sans makeup talking about gays, the Holocaust and AIDS. Hey, at least she eats and wears underwear.

The thing I’ve always liked about Sarah is her Chris Elliott approach in her delivery. Innocent, clueless, funny. Which translates to brilliant. Her coy blamelessness about how she can tell someone they look really old and then walk away smiling is the sardonic wit that we may have been searching for. She’s like a kid who can get away with telling a person they’ve got a big butt or the really old person who talks about their constipation. And we can excuse her remarks with some sort of child-like-Alzheimer’s-like behavior. It’s like she’s creating her own disease. A combo of tourettes, ADD, and pregnancy. Ok, granted being pregnant isn’t exactly a disease but it’s something you’ll have for the rest of your life after having sex. And it can be very hormonal. Where was I? Oh, yeah, old people.

Is she out to offend? A little. Can you accuse her of being a dumb blonde? Sure. Why not? Does she pee in the shower? I’d put my life on it.

The Sarah Silverman Program delivers the one two punch that still leaves you standing wondering what the hell hit you. Then she’ll dance around a little more like Muhammad Ali, and she’ll break out into song, and you have no idea what the hell is going on. She loses you for a second or two. Then, out of nowhere, she delivers the final blow. And you’re knocked out, wondering how the hell she comes up with such absurd thoughts. And then I farted.

The Sarah Silverman Program, a fictional comedy series about the one-and-only Sarah Silverman, America’s most fearless, female comedian. The six-part, half-hour series airs Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT, beginning tonight, exclusively on The Comedy Network.

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