Silverman's father and stepmother are buried under one tombstone that reads: "Janice and Donald, who loved to laugh." The loss was a starting point for Silverman's "cathartic" Netflix comedy special, PostMortem. She spoke with Terry Gross about their final days, finding the joy in grief, and she reflects on the boys' club of the comedy scene when she was starting out.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. I'm happy to say that comic writer and actor Sarah Silverman is back for a return visit. Her stand-up comedy is always original, brave, and funny. Whether it's talking about sex, abortion, being Jewish, racism, or just daily life, she's willing to take risks to make a point and make it funny.
She regrets a few jokes she told in the past and later apologized for them. She has a new surprising comedy special, which I'll tell you about in a moment. But first, more about Sarah. She was a writer and featured performer for one season on Saturday Night Live. She played a writer on The Larry Sanders Show. From 2007 to 2010, she starred in the series The Sarah Silverman Program.
From 2017 to 2019, she hosted the Hulu series I Love You, America, in which she had conversations to help her understand people she didn't necessarily agree with. She's been in several movies, and she's a regular on the animated series Bob's Burgers. She recently roasted her friend Conan O'Brien at the Kennedy Center ceremony, at which he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Her memoir The Bedwetter was adapted into an off-Broadway musical. It was recently reworked, played at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and she's hoping it will move to Broadway. Now she has her fifth comedy special. It's called Postmortem. Toward the beginning of the special, she's talking about sexual fantasies and sex talk. Not surprising territory for her.
And then she quietly makes an abrupt turn to this.
Oh, my dad and my stepmom Janice both died last May, nine days apart. And, oh, that one needs work. Um... But they really did, and I was really close with both of them, and my dad was my best friend, and they both gave me so much, and most recently about an hour of new material, so let's do this.
Sarah Silverman, welcome back to Fresh Air. I think this is a very meaningful and funny special, and I'm grateful that you did it. Oh, man, thank you. Thanks. Sarah, I don't remember you ever doing anything as emotional as this new special. What made you think about doing a special about your parents' death?
Oh, well, it wasn't something that I sat and thought about and decided. It was my last special was coming out as they were dying. And so. After they passed and I started doing stand-up again, I was at zero again, which is where I'm at right now.
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