Sarah Silverman: Back on Comedy Central
Frazier Moore

NEW YORK—Sarah Silverman is answering a reporter’s question during lunch at an open-air restaurant when a car alarm goes off. She persists a few moments as the car horn throbs. Then, in an exaggerated whisper, she pretends to shout an ultimatum at the horn: “Shut! Up!!!”
An instant later, the horn stops. “Wow!” giggles Silverman, pleased with her masquerade of power. Of course, the character she plays on “The Sarah Silverman Program” would have wasted no time taking direct action. On last week’s season premiere of the Comedy Central series (airing 10:30 p.m. EDT Wednesdays), the conveniently named Sarah was rudely awakened by Sunday morning church bells. She was plenty steamed.
Still in her pajamas, she barged into the sanctuary where the service was in progress, and gave the congregation hell.
“Who are you people praying to: Jesus of Noise-rith?” she screeched. From there, the twisted narrative somehow whisked Sarah into the arms of anti-abortion activists. By the end of this episode — which managed to mock all sides of the abortion rights debate, but most of all, mocked Sarah — its story came full circle: When assured by an anti-abortion zealot that the bomb meant to blow up the abortion clinic had been set for the middle of the night, thus sparing any humans, Sarah fumed, “You were gonna blow up a big noisy bomb at 5:30 in the morning when you know I’m asleep?!”
Thus does the series (which Silverman co-writes and co-produces, as well as stars in) channel the same shrewd, often shocking, wrongness that fuels her standup act. Like Standup-Sarah has always done, TV-Series-Sarah keeps the audience on edge by being cute, obnoxious and depraved. Aimless in the town of Valley Village, she is looked after by her sister (played by Silverman’s real-life sister, Laura), her gay-couple neighbours (Brian Posehn and Steve Agee) and Laura’s dimwitted policeman beau (Jay Johnston). Rounding out the support system: Doug, a Chihuahua-pug mix played by Duck, Silverman’s real-life pooch (and, oddly, the show’s only character with a made-up name).
This week’s episode centres on Doug, whose zesy displays of personal hygiene (or is it more than that?) become a source of fascination for Sarah. She gets a little too close to the subject. Then she gets busted. Maybe somewhere in this tale is an exploration of what is, and isn’t, a sexual offence. “I’m not a monster!” argues Sarah when she pleads her case in court. “I’m just a curious eccentric.” Welcome to another day in comedy for Silverman, who, on other days, has tapped how-dare-she topics like AIDS, 9/11, rape, the Holocaust, even the children of Britney Spears (whom she christened “adorable mistakes” while hosting the MTV Video Music Awards last month).
All this from someone whose worldview holds that “everything constantly moves in a circle. So when it’s good it’s good, and when it’s bad it’s about to be good. I’m an optimist that way.”