Transcript

RE-RELEASE: Sarah Silverman | SmartLess

From SmartLess · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 36 min · 6,998 words · 46 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "RE-RELEASE: Sarah Silverman | SmartLess", an episode of SmartLess published June 12, 2025 (36 min, about 6,998 words). It mentions 55 people, works and ideas, including Sarah Silverman, New Hampshire, COVID test, The Sarah Silverman Program, Mr. Show.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: COVID test, Sarah Silverman, AIDS test, Charity
  2. – 10:00: Pronouns, Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program
  3. – 15:00: Joker's Wild, Sam Elliott
  4. – 20:00: Any Which Way You Can, Eric Noi, Reese's, Reese's
  5. – 25:00: New Hampshire, Electrolysis, Mr. Show, People magazine
  6. – 30:00: Kate Berlant, Mark Stewart Cohen, Mr. Show, New York, New York
  7. – 35:00: Sarah Silverman
  8. – 35:51: Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Podcast

Notable quotes from "RE-RELEASE: Sarah Silverman | SmartLess"

  • Now, listen. I need to say this before we get too deep into this. I'm about to have a COVID test because it's 2020 and I get them done like once a week or every 10 days we have…
    about COVID test · at
  • That is killing it. Ladies and gents, Sean and Jason, Sarah Silverman is on the show today.
    about Sarah Silverman · at
  • Hey, do you remember the scene where was from the your old program? So, I'm going to start in the middle from the Sarah Silverman program where you did on Comedy Central. Such a funny show.
    about The Sarah Silverman Program · at
  • Feel like they're always on the right side of history and I want to like learn new words and pronouns even though I [ __ ] up all the time. Fire, by the way, is a new one for something that's good.
    about Pronouns · at
  • When I was 19, I did a road gig at a club called Joker's Wild and what's the town that has Yale in it, but it's like besides Yale, it's gross. Okay, sorry. wonderful. So, it was like this lowg mobun.
    about Joker's Wild · at
  • Funny? well, I think I was extremely her suit, you know? I was growing up in New Hampshire really. I didn't know Jews. I didn't, I didn't go to, like a lot of people go, oh, all the bar mitzvah season and all that stuff. I didn't have.
    about New Hampshire · at
  • Of some just great memorable shows, SNL, iconic shows, I should say, SNL, Mr. Show, Larry Sanders. it's incredible that you got to be part of all these things that for somebody like me were shows that really that really kind of spoke to I'm.
    about Mr. Show · at
  • Yeah. And called the Sarah Silverman podcast. And the one cool thing about it is like even if you're on cable or streaming or something, you can really say anything. I think I said [ __ ].
    about The Sarah Silverman Podcast · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Sarah Silverman — Person · 8 mentions · first at
  • Sean Hayes — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Hey gang, welcome to Smartless. We are a sweet new podcast starring myself, Sean Hayes, Jason Baitman, and Will Arnette.
  • Sam Elliott — Person · 1 mention · first at
    On Twitter. I was made me think about, there's a there's an ad that came out for Biden with Sam Elliott during the voice for it. I don't know if you heard it. And so I just I…
  • Ruth Gordon — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Peter Faulk. And the episode we watched was Ruth Gordon in a rare role as a rich lady. I love her the best. She's my favorite. Harold and Ma. Yes, of course.
  • Eric Noi — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah. my friend Eric Noi said, Does my breath smell like tacos? And I said, I don't know. Do you put [ __ ] in your tacos?
  • Steve Kerr — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Underdogs. but then again, I also like the Warriors just cuz I love Steve Kerr and yeah, and I like the Lakers and I like the Celtics, but only just because of various reasons. So Sarah, your resume is so crazy because not only your.
  • Kate Berlant — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Have you seen Kate Berlant? She's incredible. I love Tegotaro. I love T's great. Zack Galanakis. I love Kyle Dunigan. This guy Kyle Dunigan. He's a He just the people that just.
  • Mark Stewart Cohen — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah, I mean I've gone so many directions. Like my friend Mark Cohen years ago when I first started, he'd put a nickel on his head and say Jewish Ash Wednesday and I cried cuz I was so sensitive and then I went like 180.
  • Clint Eastwood — Person · 1 mention
  • Jason Bateman — Person · 1 mention
  • Joan Rivers — Person · 1 mention
  • Kyle Dunnigan — Person · 1 mention
  • Peter Falk — Person · 1 mention
  • Phyllis Diller — Person · 1 mention
  • Tig Notaro — Person · 1 mention
  • Will Arnett — Person · 1 mention
  • Zach Galifianakis — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

  • People magazine — Book · 1 mention · first at
    That like makes people go into show business? Like my mom only she just read People magazine and she didn't look up from it. She didn't come to my games.

Companies & orgs

Products & tech

  • COVID test — Product · 2 mentions · first at
  • SmartLess — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Hey gang, welcome to Smartless. We are a sweet new podcast starring myself, Sean Hayes, Jason Baitman, and Will Arnette.
  • AIDS test — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Today. It was the episode where you wanted some good news, so you decided to get an AIDS test, right? Yeah. And first of all, there are like 80 jokes crammed in this tiny…
  • Reese's — Product · 1 mention · first at
    That'll get me to sleep tonight. And Will, your the Reese's commercials. Reese's Reese's. Sorry, not sorry. Unbelievable.
  • Where's Papa? — Product · 1 mention · first at
    And my favorite movie is Where's Papa?
  • Any Which Way You Can — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Every which way but lose. Huh? Every which way but lose with Clint where she goes any which way you can. Sure. Any which way with the one of my favorite lines in a movie when…
  • Electrolysis — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Beautiful and he does but he cuz like in high school he goes if you want to spend a summer getting electrolysis I'll pay for it. And I was like why would I do that? Jesus. Oh…
  • Every Which Way But Loose — Product · 1 mention
  • Harold and Maude — Product · 1 mention
  • Ozark — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

  • Charity — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    With you. Wait, what? oh. You guys golfing? No, no, no. We have a business meal. We're going charity. Charity. Got it. Got it. Got it. I guess I'm busy, too. Yeah. Feeding…
  • Pronouns — Concept · 1 mention · first at
  • Pickup game — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Rickety now. But when you do play it's not you're not going down to like the local park and doing a pickup game. You have an organized game a bunch of your friends get…
  • Absolute value — Concept · 1 mention
  • Emmy Awards — Concept · 1 mention
  • Liberalism — Concept · 1 mention
  • OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) — Concept · 1 mention
  • Sketch comedy — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

  • New Hampshire — Place · 3 mentions · first at
  • Wisconsin — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Conversation. and then he feels that the people in the middle of the country in Wisconsin are mad if we're not getting information out of our guests. So, our guest today is…
  • New York, New York — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Legal pads and gave it to a room of typists. Right. Wow. Well, how did you like living in New York? I love New York. Yeah. I moved there when I was 18.
  • New Haven, Connecticut — Place · 1 mention

Sponsors

  • SmartLess — Sponsor · 1 mention · first at
    Hey gang, welcome to Smartless. We are a sweet new podcast starring myself, Sean Hayes, Jason Baitman, and Will Arnette.
  • Reese's — Sponsor · 1 mention · first at
    That'll get me to sleep tonight. And Will, your the Reese's commercials. Reese's Reese's. Sorry, not sorry. Unbelievable.

Full transcript with timestamps

Hey gang, welcome to Smartless. We are a sweet new podcast starring myself, Sean Hayes, Jason Baitman, and Will Arnette. And we are complete idiots. So what we do is we bring on a guest and we ask them stuff and they make us smarter. Hopefully it's super cool. So please come with us. Enjoy the show. Smart, smart. Now, listen. I need to say this before we get too deep into this. I'm about to have a a COVID test because it's 2020 and I get them done like once a week or every 10 days we have to with the kids and everything and mine just happens to coincide with us doing. So, at at some point during the podcast, I'm gonna have somebody come in and she's gonna come in and give me That's not true. Yeah. Why? Why does it have to be during our time? And what is co Oh, bless him in his Why does she have to do it during our time? Because it was bad scheduling. Bad scheduling, but a lot of things conspiring cuz tomorrow afternoon

I'm busy. Uh-oh. That's always boring with you. Wait, what? Uh oh. You guys golfing? No, no, no. We have a business meal. We're going charity. Charity. Got it. Got it. Got it. I guess I'm busy, too. Yeah. Feeding kids, busy, making smiles. Charity meeting. I thought you were going to say after your COVID test, you were going to have like a like a reveal party of the result. Oh, yeah. You know, I People get mad cuz I keep doing on the subway. I used to do gender reveals all the time. I'd wear a trench coat and I just go, "Hey," you know, and I just reveal my gender to people. So stupid. I know. It's so dumb. And and people got mad for my gender reveals on the subway. Uh will next time you you have the results. I hear a female laughing. So your guest already I can tell is a female or a fellow who is happy. Might sound careful like a female. Might sound like a female. Good for you. Good for you. That's restraint.

Look at Look how much you've grown. Wait. So let me guess. I know it's a woman. It is. It's a really I don't know if you could tell by her laugh because mostly people are laughing at what she's doing. Okay. Is it Phyllis Deller? So, she's a comedian. She's a comedian. Well, I mean, she's a lot of things. Standup or actor? Let me You ready for this? Uhhuh. All of the above. God. She started as a standup, then got into acting, then did sketch, then did SNL, then did her own show. Won two Emmys. Is a hilarious just allaround hilarious person. She's got a brand new podcast that is killing it. Ladies and gents, Sean and Jason, Sarah Silverman is on the show today.

Sarah, look at that. I'm embarrassed. Great. Good. Why are you embarrassed? Because you're smoking the skinniest cigarette I've ever seen. It's a toothpick. Oh, yeah. She's tough today. Oh, I'm so excited you're here. I know. How good is this? It's so cool. Look at this. Can you believe it? Nice going, Will. I know, you guys. Nice going. We're all such fans of yours. You're such a super comedy hilarious person. There she is. Will, what's your first question since you've had time to work on good questions. It's your guest. Yeah. Let's have your best one right now. Okay.

Sarah. Yeah. How's it going? Oh, that's good. No, I listen. Gender reveal on the subway is the funniest joke. By the way, it's so dumb, right? It's so dumb. That's a great joke. Oh my god. I've been waiting to tell that for like four days. I've been When you said it, you know when you hear something and you can't wait to tell a friend, you know? It wasn't quite that, but it was like almost that. Can I tell you something? So, so I'm gonna tell you this, Sarah. One of my favorite jokes uh that I have told many times over and over or I've retold the scene which is people's least favorite thing to hear when you're like, "Hey, do you remember the scene where was from the your old program?" So, I'm going to start in the middle from the Sarah Silverman program where you did on on Comedy Central. Such a funny show.

It's so good. And you did this bit, by the way, I don't know if you could do it today. It was the episode where you wanted some good news, so you decided to get an AIDS test, right? Yeah. And first of all, there are like 80 jokes crammed in this tiny scene. And you go, she goes, "Did you ever had unprotected sex?" And you said, "Is there any other way?" Right. Then she said, "In the 80s." And you said, "No." Yeah. She goes, "Did you ever have unprotected sex in the 80s?" And I go, "Oh my god, yes." And she goes, "You did? You had unprotected sex in the 80s?" And I go, "Oh no, I'm I thought you said in Haiti." Right. So then so so then she goes you so then she says tell me how many times and so you take a piece of paper and you you start writing and you hand it to her and she goes what's that and you go that's the number and she goes there are two numbers and you said yeah for the front and back and she goes

they're the same number and you said yeah I'm kind of OCD like that it was like a domino effect of jokes it just like started and it was just nonstop [ __ ] me man I've told that that's such a funny bit And it's such a you're just everything about that scene was again I don't know I think people might be offended today. I don't know there are a lot of problematic things looking back but you know such is comedy. It's not evergreen right. So so that's my thing is like you've always been such a I don't know such a [ __ ] stupid word edgy but you know cutting.

Thank you. Thank you so prayer hands. Yeah. Go ahead. Prayer hands. Prayer hands that um do what is it? It's like it's always about the messenger of the joke. It's never really about the So you can say like on the Sarah Silverman program, you could do a joke about AIDS like that and people embrace it and laugh because it's you saying it. So what do you think is the difference between you saying it and somebody else saying it and not getting away with it? Seems like you get away with a lot of stuff because you're so [ __ ] funny, but it's some of it's pretty dark. I think it's the intention behind it.

like, yeah, this is a math term, but it's kind of like the absolute power of the joke. Like, especially back then, I always said the opposite of what I thought, you know, and that was the joke kind of. And then the hopefully the truth transcends that I don't really feel this way. Not to break it down in the least funny possible way, but it is also interesting, too, because like that comedy I did, you're right. It it was like, oh, it's okay because, you know, I don't mean it. But then it also is kind of like we're liberal so we can say anything. So we could say, you know, the words that are unsayable or whatever.

Like, you know, I don't mean it so I could say it. Like there is kind of like a liberal like douchiness about it. I think in in retrospect, I mean, I don't know. It's a weird balance. I think you're right. I was thinking about that the other day, which is like what's been gone is things have gotten so serious because everybody who's not liberal is so serious and so dark and so real about their negativity or hate or racism or whatever it is that it's taken all of that away. You're like, well, I I don't even want to joke about anything a lot of things that are rough or maybe pushing boundaries because you feel like I don't want it to be taken the wrong way because there are so many people who mean it right. Yeah. There's not enough distance, you know? It's like so close.

Like people go, "Oh, it's so funny. I saw like a comment in Spanish of something that I wrote and I go, "Oo, you know, I have a fan that's Spanish." You know, then I pressed translate and it was just uh why don't you stick to comedy and you know, leave politics on. I was like, "So, wait. Uh, I'm sure you've had your share of criticism like we all have like positive, negative, but is there someone in your life that mattered to you who said that you may have taken certain materials too far or something like that? Which of your friends have you offended, Sarah, and lost forever? I've actually kind of made friends that started out as like them calling me out, right? Interesting. You know, I would guess, and please correct me, but I would guess that one of the things that appeals to you about about comedy, about thinking of funny stuff and crafting it into something, you know, in order to deliver it to an

audience is about identifying that which makes some of us uncomfortable as opposed to some people look, it seems to me, look at other things in uh that makes them excited about comedy. With you, it seems like there you have an affinity for as do I trying to identify the thing that all kind of makes us a little bit uneasy cuz it's it only exists in our smallest place and you want to kind of bring that out and amplify that and and share a common sort of uh reference point. So, are you finding that you're frustrated that outside sources seem to be narrowing those borders and those walls and and now you have to kind of think twice and three times about that or do you not listen to that? I think like what you said edgy or you know I know it's corny or whatever but it's like you can't have it both ways like if you do something that is risky you have to be risking something like there are consequences

like you can't get mad that there are consequences and I don't mind I like like when young people you know like students or whatever like they teach me new language I'm into that because I feel like they're always on the right side of history and I want to like learn new words and pronouns even though I [ __ ] up all the time. Fire, by the way, is a new one for something that's good. Okay, just that's not that new. Fire. No, it's brand new. It started yesterday. That's not new, Grandad. I had a guy tell me I had a guy tell me on Twitter. I was made me think about, you know, there's a there's an ad that came out for Biden with Sam Elliott during the voice for it. I don't know if you heard it. And so I just I retweeted I said the the VO master, right? Because he's just like the voiceover idol of mine. Like he's so good. All I said was VO Master. And this guy responded, "Stick to comedy." And I thought

I was like, "Wait a second. Do you do voiceovers?" Well, who's asking? You have to be one thing. You have to be the one thing I know you as. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You are a monolith. And it was within my And I'm like, I can't even comment on voice over. Like, wait a second. Also, like, whoever is saying that, what do they do for a job? Are they a critic? I hope that they are only a critic. I hope so too. So speaking of sticking to what you do, you started you started doing standup when you were young, right? Like like a 17. 17. That always blows my mind when standup started. How did you The courage the uh more courage at 17, don't you? I did. I was a bed wetter until I was almost 16. So by the time that I did standup but you know that nothing is humiliating you nothing's competes with that kind of humiliation. But how did you know how to write at that young of age? Like how did you know how to craft

and construct a joke? I mean I wasn't good you know I just did it. I wasn't a good comedian. And I like did like jokes about, you know, I went to a high school actually that was really they'd have an assembly on Mondays and Fridays and they'd let me do like a couple minutes. No way. And I had a math teacher that would let me like tell a joke at the beginning of every class as long as I shut up the rest of it. Oh wow. And uh it was nice. It was like it's really encouraging. I studied piano. I know this is where everybody passes out. I studied piano and classical music when I was much younger. And I remember in high school, my dentist told me that um he and his wife uh were throwing a Christmas party and I would would I come over and play background music at the party on the piano and I'm like, "Yeah, totally." Wow. And serve drinks. Yeah.

And serve drinks and wear this outfit and could you park cars or do you mind wearing a mask? The point is when I was done, he handed me $100 and I was blown away that I got paid for a talent that I got something in exchange, you know, for the years I, you know, put into honing this craft. Do you remember the first time you got paid as a standup and like what that was like? Did you report it? And do you remember how old you were? When I was 19, I did a road gig at a club called Joker's Wild and um what's the town that has Yale in it, but it's like besides Yale, it's gross. Okay, sorry. I mean, wonderful. So, it was like this lowg mobun place called Joker's Wild. I was the MC for six shows. I got alltogether $100, less than Sean got for that. And they harassed me the whole time and kept asking me to do cocaine. And I had to find my own place to stay. And I stayed with these elderly cousins of friends of my mom's that were

both deaf. It was like a rough week. It was really odd. And you're all jets out, too. Oh, you're all jets out. No, I did not I did not do cocaine. But um yeah, and the headliner that week, I won't say his, you probably wouldn't know him, but he ended up kind of losing everything. He was like at that point he was married. He just had a kid and he was such a nice guy, mostly impressions. But then I heard a friend of mine was in NA with him and he did a brilliant thing. You know, comics are so dark. They're very close to criminals, you know. Yeah. But he um he would go to open houses and use the bathroom and steal all their drugs, you know, all their um medications and stuff. Wow. My next question is, what's the perfect balance for you uh from comedy? Like what do you like to do that balances you out on any particular day or week or month, hobbies or I'm so boring. I love television. Television.

Watching television. Ozark. Oh my god. There we go. I got it. Oh my god. Great interview, guys. God, she hasn't said it's good yet. Let her finish. Ozark. It's so It's such a solid bee of a show. No, it's a God. I just I thought So anyway, you don't need to. But I just am a big fan of all of you. like what most like individually I could go off but I just want to say you're and your you know all of your brilliant actors, brilliant performers, but there your directing is like it's really beautiful and I thought season 3 was phenomenal.

Come on. And that's all you get. That's a lot. Thank you. I will take it. That'll get me to sleep tonight. And Will, your your um the Reese's commercials. Reese's Reese's. Sorry, not sorry. Unbelievable. Sorry. Um so you like watching uh drama stuff or do you watch it all? What about like reality shows? Like what about Bachelor? Do you have like a guilty pleasure like that? I am watching the Bachelor with my lover. Yeah. And we have a lot of fun. My wife loves that. It's just fun. It's so dumb. I know. Yeah. But it's so fun. It's just big laughs all throughout. Yeah. But besides that, I like dramas. Yeah. Do you want to act in one of those or do you just want to watch them? Yeah, I would like to act in one of those, but I love watching them. I think it's like watching comedy can be when it happens.

I'm like, I enjoy it, but it's never my go-to because it's just kind of a little more stressful than right, you know, watching a thriller. I would say it's like, you know, doctors don't run home and watch Grey's Anatomy, right? Yeah. It's like You've never said that, Sean. That's a [ __ ] lie. You've never said that. Sean always says that. He does. Yeah. But a a thriller. Yeah. I'd love to be in a like a or like a tactical. Is that right? Like a born a born movie or like a Oh, yeah. You know what I started um recording cuz they've been playing them. I'm is a um old Columbos from the 70s and they're so good. They're like watching a 70s movie. Like they're on film and that's Peter Faulk, right?

Peter Faulk. And the episode we watched was Ruth Gordon in a rare role as a rich lady. I love her the best. She's my favorite. Harold and Ma. Yes, of course. And my favorite movie is Where's Papa? Every which way but lose. Huh? Every which way but lose with Clint where she goes any which way you can. Sure. Any which way with the one of my favorite lines in a movie when she when the orangutang is on the thing and she goes, "What are you doing? Eating all the Oreos craping all over the place." That's my one of my favorite lines. She always leads with her thumb. Yeah. Uh, let me ask you this. So, Sarah, can I want to go back to when you started doing you remember? Hi, you guys. Hi.

I'm just happy to see your faces. Sorry. Go on. We'll edit all this. We'll make it clean. No, we we don't have to. I'm only asking questions because Sean gets really mad if we don't stick to asking questions. But, but he doesn't like conversation. He doesn't like conversation. and then he feels that the people in the middle of the country in Wisconsin are mad if we're not getting information out of our guests. So, uh, our guest today is Sarah Silverman, just to remind everybody. Sean, you happy now? And Sarah, I just wanted I was thinking about you being 17 being on stage and you're trying to write jokes and you were joking that like they weren't any good, but can you remember like your first joke that you thought was funny that maybe still is? Yeah.

Yeah. Um, my friend Eric Noi said, "Does my breath smell like tacos?" And I said, "I don't know. Do you put [ __ ] in your tacos?" That was in high school. But I I found an old notebook. Like I save all my notebooks. I found a notebook from when I was like 19. And there were jokes in there that were so bad like and reading it written, you know, it goes um and a lot of my jokes early on were like, "I don't know. I'm just And so it was like um I don't know why my goldfish died. I put it in a tank dot dot dot beat top.

A tank top. Yeah, sure. Uh do you have a a set time each day that you dedicate to All right, I'm going to stare at the wall. I'm going to think of stuff I can write down for a possible performance or script or whatever it is. Or do you just kind of just let stuff happen to you and you always have a little thing in your pocket and you could be at a red light, you can think of something and you write it down? Mostly the latter. Yeah. When I'm my best self, I do sometimes I'm just sitting in a chair and it really is like I remember someone calling me and I was just sitting in a chair in my room and that they're like, "What are you doing?" and I'm like working and I know I was being defensive but I do feel like a lot of it is just sitting you know stillness if you can I thought about the title for your memoir if you haven't got one already and I want you to consider okay goldfish in a tank top

that does sound like a comedian's doesn't it sound like a comed that would be great you have to put the ellipses in between tank and top goldfish in a tank dot dot dot turn page flip over Pop and then in parenthesis, get it right. Upside down question. Lol. JK JK JK. JK J K JK. As far as the I can see. Sarah, I have to ask the cliche question to another funny person. Like, what do you like favorite food? What the [ __ ] happened to you as a kid that made you funny? Uh, well, I mean, I think I was extremely her suit, you know? I was growing up in New Hampshire really. I didn't know Jews. I didn't, you know, I didn't go to, like a lot of people go, oh, all the bar mitzvah season and all that stuff. I didn't have any of that. Like my parents are atheists. They call themselves agnostic to be more polite or Jewish to be even more polite. But like there weren't Jews. So we, like my sister says, we

thought being Jewish just meant being a Democrat because that's how we were different in New Hampshire, you know. But I I think because of that I was like I was really hairy too and um Wow. Yeah. Like my dad goes, you know, you want your dad to just think you're so beautiful and he does but he cuz like in high school he goes if you want to spend a summer getting electrolysis I'll pay for it. And I was like why would I do that? Jesus. Oh no never mind. Oh he really just meant it to be nice but then I think he was horrified cuz I was like why would I do that?

We should be acknowledging this, by the way. I'm sorry. Well, you know, you don't need to do the brain scratcher anymore. Why? Why? Yeah, I want to be thorough. Did they just stick a thing up your nose for the Yes. The shallow ones are thorough as so is a saliva one now. I mean, if it doesn't, Dude, if it doesn't hurt, if there's no pain, then it's not [ __ ] valuable. Have you not learned that lesson in life? That's what my dad said. My dad was right when he said, "God, you're stupid. What the [ __ ] is wrong with you? You'll be nothing.

You're not listening to your cry. Right in between the times that he never told me he loved me. My You know what's interesting about that? So, you know how that like makes people go into show business? Like my mom only she just read People magazine and she didn't look up from it. She didn't come to my games. She didn't, you know. So, it's like I think a part of me wanted to get into People magazine. You know what I mean? Like, and I think all of us have I'm sure that. Yes. Uh Sarah, you mentioned that your parents didn't go to your game. My dad did. What game? What sport did you play? Every sport. I I was, you know, listen, it I'm not bragging. I tell us was a fast pitch pitcher for the state of New Hampshire. No way. Come on.

Of softball. And um not to minimize it, and you know, and I played soccer and I played um basketball. I still play basketball although I haven't since co and now I'm like do I still play basketball because like my bones are so rickety now. But when you do play it's not you're not going down to like the local park and doing a pickup game. You have an organized game a bunch bunch of your friends get together. I have gone to pickup games and I do play pickup games but the two games I've been playing out here for the past couple years I I don't know anyone there outside of that game. Like I don't What's the difference between a pickup game and a game? It's all strangers.

Yeah. You just show up and you say, "Hey, I I want to play." All right. Well, maybe I'll sign up for one. Yeah. But the last time I played outside, I played with this guy. We smoked pot together. You know, he was adorable. Whatever. Thank you. And then we were all playing and then at the end of the game, we finished and that guy had left a little early. He had taken like five different people's car keys. No way. and then pressed them to see what went boop and then got in one and stole one of the guy's cars. Wow. This is This is the cute stoner. Who's all He's all stoned up. He's all weeded up. Yeah. Well, I like to smoke pot when I play basketball because um I become incredible or terrible, but it's a grab bag. I'm willing to Oh, hang on. Hang on. We'd love to get you to repeat that for a PSA if we could real quick. Just Hi, I'm Sarah Silverman. You know, when I play basketball, I feel marijuana enhances my

game or puts me into a ball. But either way, it's worth the risk. But you also like to smoke it when you're not playing basketball. I like to have a puff at night. That's nice. A little night night puff puff. Now, do you follow professional basketball? Are you a Laker fan? You know, I like watching it. I mostly like watching like a close game in the last half last quarter. I'm not I don't have like a team that I'm obsessed with or something. It's tough to watch the first three quarters. I like any underdogs. I mean, but then again, I also like the Warriors just cuz I love Steve Kerr and yeah, you know, and I like the Lakers and I like the Celtics, but only just because of various reasons. So Sarah, your your your resume is so crazy because not only your incredible standup, but you've been part of some just great memorable shows, you know, SNL, um, iconic shows, I should say, SNL, Mr. Show, Larry Sanders. I

mean, it's incredible that you got to be part of all these things that for somebody like me were shows that really that that really kind of spoke to I I'm trying to keep it together. Give me a second. I'm trying to [ __ ] cry. Jesus, you just broke it. No, I'll never get there. No, we'll never get there. But but these are shows that like, you know, Mr. Show and and Larry Sanders were they showed me. I was like, "Oh, wait. I want to do that kind of shit." Yeah. They're like comedy gold shows. Oh my god. Yeah. Like you like Yeah. Set the standard. I mean, I got to be on all of those are iconic shows that I had nothing, you know? I was like Zelig. I just got very lucky and ended up in True. I'm not being modest. I just, you know, I didn't I had nothing to do with creating the, you know, I mean, but yeah, it is. It's I've been in a lot of like very culty. Yeah. Yeah. Star Trek Voyager. I know. I love that. Wait, what

was your time like at SNL? And uh And do you watch it now? Yeah, I watch it. I watch it and I'm a fan of Take the pause out and post. No, no, no, no. I mean, it's I had the year that was there I would never want to take back. It was like hard and it was long and it was frustrating and you know but I got along with everybody you know and stuff. It was a really a different time you know I mean it was I mean they didn't have computers like we wrote our sketches on legal pads and gave it to a room of typists. Right. Wow. Well, how did you like living in New York? I love New York. Yeah. I moved there when I was 18.

I love New York. I love just walking through the streets. Do you wish you still live there? Why do you Because I'd love to live there, but I have to live here for for other reasons. I'd love to live there, too, but I I mean, the last time I had an apartment there, it was $450. You know, I lived on a five floor walk up where I you know, we there was a guy who lived um on our floor. We had our own bathroom, but it was a building that had a lot of like padlocked bathrooms in the hallway that the apartments shared. It was a real dark kind of place. And then this guy who just got out of prison lived in on our floor. A and my roommate and I were walking downstairs and he was walking behind us with a friend and he dropped a box of bullets. Bullets were just running down our legs, running through our legs down the stairs and neither of us acknowledged it. We just acted like it was not happening. We were

so scared. That's hilarious. Sarah, who do you find absolutely hilarious? like either growing up or now like who you're just like, "Oh my god, I can't get enough of blank cuz they're so funny." So many people I know if I start off. Have you seen um Kate Berlant? She's incredible. I love Tegotaro. I love T's great. Zack Galanakis. I love um Kyle Dunigan. This guy Kyle Dunigan. He's a He just You know, the people that just make you Yeah. You know, or like Zach's like that for me. Zach kills me. Kills me. So funny. And then he's just got this huge heart too and you know he's just like a good such a solid lovely person and he's so funny you know that's I like What about back in the day somebody who made you laugh that um well I guess you can't really say who made you laugh back then but based on how your sense of humor has changed now kind of doesn't I mean there's certainly television shows and movies that I

thought were funny back then that I would watch today and go oh no that doesn't hold up or or my sense of humor has just changed. Yeah, I mean I've gone so many directions. Like my friend Mark Cohen years ago when I first started, he'd put a nickel on his head and say Jewish Ash Wednesday and I cried cuz I was so sensitive and then I went like 180 degrees, you know, but I'm the same inside, you know, but like I was so upset by that, you know. Oh, really? Yeah. an example of how people change, people's tastes change, and and you kind of have you find yourself trying not to factor that in when you're thinking of stuff that might be best suited for something that needs to appeal to a wide audience because the people who are financing this don't want it to appeal to a narrow audience. Do you have to Well, I mean, that's why I think I I I app I des I I I prefer to be niche, right? You know what I mean? Like there

Yeah. Yeah. you know, it's there's a lot of rules in the mainstream, right? That's why I'm doing this podcast now. Yeah. And uh called the Sarah Silverman podcast. And the one cool thing about it is like even if you're on cable or streaming or something, I mean, you can really say anything. I think I said [ __ ] way too many times in the first few episodes because I felt so free. And you have to have the kind of get those same lessons that you have when you do standup where it's like now it's just gratuitous. It's lost any power. It isn't cool. You're using it as a crutch.

But I had to kind of learn it over again because I was suddenly so excited to get to say anything I wanted that I was like [ __ ] this and [ __ ] that. I listened back and I was just like what I always thought you did such a great job of doing and you do it when you were like on a panel like on a um your guest on a talk show or whatever. You found ways to I I think a lot of people you were for a long time considered kind of like dirty or you would do you would dress jokes up. you you never knew what you Trojan horse like you'd come in and you you dress it up and be kind of super bright about it and then the punch line would be really dark and you found a way to constantly it's kind of going back to Sean I feel I sound like an old man like you were edgy but you found ways to push the boundary and you didn't necessarily swear but you did not shy away from making jokes that that were hit really hard I never felt

dirty like everyone would be like she's a potty mouth she's dirty and I guess I am but like I never feel that way because I was raised in a house where you used just the words weren't taboo, you know? So, it's it's not like I swear a lot really. It's more like I use technical language or explicit maybe, you know. Yeah. Right. You didn't say you didn't say [ __ ] a lot. You didn't do that at all. Like you found a way to bring people to a punchline that was potentially really uh they hadn't heard it before and it was kind of dangerous and you were kind of pushing the boundaries. Can I can I ask you this?

So, are there any kind of Jason asked you if you want to do like a drama or anything like that, but are there any like comedy people for reals that you would want to work with or comedy directors that you think like, oh, I could, you know? I I haven't done a lot of comedy. Well, this is the thing is the things I've been in in comedy, like in movies, it's like um this has changed a lot, but since you know it's the angry girlfriend or the angry roommate or the slee bag um executive or but it's like so I go after a while I go I just don't even want to be in comedies because the access I have to comedies is I I can't be a comedian in a comedy playing a straight role. It doesn't It's stupid of me. It doesn't I don't make money from doing movies. I lose money making movies. I get the least amount of money.

I can't be on the road, you know? So, that's why it's like dramas or something where I'm in like someone else's domain is it just makes sense. I just want to play if I'm in a comedy, I want to be funny in it, right? And otherwise, you know, I just want to do interesting things. You know, I like acting, but I like doing everything. Sarah, I I don't even know where to go. I mean, we could talk to you all day. It's so fun having you here. We've been talking for so long. I can't. I'm so sorry. We're taking a lot of your time. Very generous. I I'm so happy to be just seeing you and talking to you, but we'll wrap it up. Let's Someone wrap it up.

We're going to wrap it up, but we're going to say you're an absolute delight. You are a You're a comic titan. I'm gonna say that. I find you to be so [ __ ] consistently hilarious. You've made me laugh so many millions of times. So, thank you. Royalty. Yeah. Royalty. Doesn't it make you feel old? I remember when Joan when you'd go, "Oh, Joan, you're a legend." She'd be like, "Fuck you. I'm still vital." You know, like it makes you feel done. Yeah. I The next thing I do, you know how like your agent will go, "Ooh, but we got with or and for the credits." and you go, "Yeah, who cares? Why is that a thing?" I want and introducing. That's really Sure. I want them to fight for that. My thing I keep going to is I'm asking my my I'm like I want to fight for in advance. Fight for my position in the uh in memoriam segment on like the Emmys and stuff. I'm already working on my re I want to get the final Yeah. final card. [ __ ] And I

want to bring down the [ __ ] Do you know the song, Will? Do you know the song you want play? $5 foot long. $5. $5 foot long. I love that [ __ ] song. We love you, Sarah. Thank you, Sarah. Bye, Sarah. Thank you. Bye. Bye, Sarah Silverman. Bye. Thanks so much. So funny. always uh you know there's that gross word again, but always edgy, dark, like she's the kind of comedy you choose when you really want to. It's like truth comedy, you know? Yeah. I always thought of her and she's one of the cool kids. Like she was just so funny in such a great real like way.

You're like, "Shit, man. I just don't want to [ __ ] up around her." Yeah. She's so funny, you know? That's how I You don't want to be unfunny at any moment. I don't want to be a [ __ ] loser. [ __ ] You go, you're so stupid to even think that. And then I just don't even get out of my car. I'd love to go see her do standup. I don't think I've ever uh I saw her do a a stand up at the improv in Melrose and her opening joke was about rape. Yeah. Just to sort of drop the flag and say here here it comes. Yeah. So you have to be a fan and uh and be open-minded. But I am and I'm a huge huge fan. Well, I think you know and she made such a great point. you. She's made a lot of jokes that like has taken people back over the years or whatever, but she's right. It's all about intention and her intention is good.

She's a good person and she's going the right direction and she wants I think that uh uh that sometimes she has to make jokes like that to kind of shed light on the other side. And that's her style. Yeah. And I love it. I respect it. And she's got a new podcast, the Sarah Silverman podcast. And it is great. Of course, I've heard it. It's fantastic. Yeah, it's super good. And she's a stone cold babe. Yeah, she's she's stone cold babe. She's babe. She's a stone cold babe. And you know what the third thing is? Yeah, we can say that.

The third thing is um my smart glass smart

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "RE-RELEASE: Sarah Silverman | SmartLess"?

In order: 0:00 COVID test, Sarah Silverman, AIDS test, Charity; 5:00 Pronouns, Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Program; 10:00 Joker's Wild, Sam Elliott; 15:00 Any Which Way You Can, Eric Noi, Reese's, Reese's; 20:00 New Hampshire, Electrolysis, Mr. Show, People magazine; 25:00 Kate Berlant, Mark Stewart Cohen, Mr. Show, New York, New York; 30:00 Sarah Silverman; 35:00 Sarah Silverman, The Sarah Silverman Podcast.

What is mentioned in this SmartLess episode?

55 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Sarah Silverman, New Hampshire, COVID test, The Sarah Silverman Program, Mr. Show, The Sarah Silverman Podcast. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "RE-RELEASE: Sarah Silverman | SmartLess"?

The episode runs 36 min; the transcript is about 6,998 words in 46 timestamped sections.

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About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated November 19, 2025.