Sarah Silverman - Jesus Is Magic (2008)

Average rating

(54%)

Starring:	Sarah Silverman \| La'vin Kiyano \| Bob Odenkirk \| Brian Posehn \| Laura Silverman \| Brody Stevens
Director:	Liam Lynch
Studio:	Warner Music Ent.
Run time:	72 mins
Genres:	Comedy
Languages:	English
Released:	October 20, 2008

The film comprises Sarah Silverman's performance before a live audience interwoven with stylish musical numbers and backstage intrigue. Comedians Bob Odenkirk and Brian Posehn also make appearances along with Silverman's band, The Silver Men. Known as one of the funniest and most provocative people in comedy, Silverman has been compared to the legendary Lenny Bruce. Despite the current political climate, she takes on such pitch-black topics as September 11th, unwanted body hair and the Holocaust and spins them into decidedly un-PC comedic gold.

Screenshots

Rating of 3 stars out of 5
Time Out

This film is essentially a live stand-up performance with a few slick, sick and twisted pop promos thrown in for good...

Highest rated reviews

25 out of 26 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5 stars
Silverman is gold.

A Customer from Worcester, 26th October, 2008

Currently the sharpest, smartest, sassiest, and, let's face it, funniest stand-up going (see the fact that she was the funniest out of the 100 comedians in the documentary, The Aristocrats, for proof).

'I was raped by a doctor, which is... so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.'

Funny like Bill Hicks, funny like Sam Kinison, funny like Lenny Bruce: ie; taboo pricking, diamond sharp and suffused with subtle contextual winks. It's comedy with a tough intellegence - the only comedy that matters, really (nb: she's way funnier than Bruce, btw).

'I want to get an abortion, but my boyfriend and I are having trouble conceiving.'

If Silverman has a target - other than herself - then it isn't ethnic minorities or religion, it is, in fact, lazy thinking. She turns bigoted ideas and stereotypes on themselves. She is a caricuture of the casually offensive. It is transgressive comedy at it's deadpan best.

But never mind all that, let's talk about what a great stand-up she is: standing stock still, yet converying so much with facial expressions, and clear, weighted delivery. Clever wordplay, bait-and-hook double punchlines, the lot.

'I think the Holocaust was totally uncalled for.'

And like all comedy that matters, hers is very divisive. Slate had this to say:

'Through her stand-up, however, Silverman has become an important member of a guerrilla vanguard in the culture wars that we might call the 'meta-bigots'—other members include the South Park kids, Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Ali G', and the now-AWOL Dave Chappelle. The meta-bigots work at social problems indirectly; instead of discussing race, rape, abortion, incest, or mass starvation, they parody our discussions of them. They manipulate stereotypes about stereotypes. It's a dangerous game: If you're humorless, distracted, or even just inordinately history-conscious, meta-bigotry can look suspiciously like actual bigotry.'

Sarah Silverman is funny.

Read all highest rated reviews

18 out of 18 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4 stars
Missing The Point

A Customer from London, 25th October, 2008

I have not seen this particular DVD but have watched some of Sarah Silverman's comedy series on TV and seen her live in London. However, I have to stick up for her against the existing 2 reviews from August & October 2008. I'm doing this so other, more, shall we say, 'enlightened', viewers, will not be put off by misunderstanding of her comedy. It's completely missing the point of her comedy (and alot of contemporary comedy) if you expect her to be 'endearing' and, to see a stage act as proving she is evil and ill-tempered is a bit like saying Woody Allen you see in his films, is the Woody Allen in real life: there will be similarities but, after all, some/most of it is an act. Indeed, I think she is a fine comedy actress. Without dissecting too much, her comedy throws away alot of presumption, expectation, and, yes, she is often intentionally nasty/uncaring as part of her persona. In other words, she surprises (comedy is often full of surprises) and cuts through prissy, conventionalism we often see on TV and in society. So there.

Read all highest rated reviews