Mental Floss

3 Surprising Facts About Sarah Silverman

By Mangesh Hattikudur

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I was reading an article on Sarah Silverman this week in Bust Magazine (which is a terrific magazine by the way). Comedians spend so much time trying to be "on" that I have a real soft spot for when they're being genuine. In any case, I think Silverman is a genius, and though I'd read up on her before, here are a couple of things I was struck by.

1) She's been fired by Fax Machine

I'm always stunned by people who come into their own at such a young age. At 17, Silverman was already working night clubs in New Hampshire, and at just 21, she was hired as a cast member on SNL. While it isn't unprecedented for the show (Anthony Michael Hall was 17, Eddie Murphy was 19), I'd forgotten just how young she was when she was already offending the public. Weirder still is the way in which she was let go. Lorne Michaels is notorious for making poor decisions in how he's let people go. Apparently, in Sarah Silverman's case, she learned of her termination via fax.

2) There are things she won't Joke About

While rape and abortion are topics Silverman is happy to take on, she draws the line at making fat jokes about women. From the profile: "Fat men in our society still deserve love, and fat women don't. So what's the appeal of making fun of that?" Further, while she's surprisingly frank about her bed-wetting problems and bouts with depression, her relationships (particularly her recent break-up) is off-limits.

3) She thinks Kathy Griffin is funny

I've heard Silverman bristle in interviews at people who undercut other comedians (Dane Cook, for instance), but I was pleasantly surprised by her take on the Vanity Fair piece on the "Queens of Comedy." Disappointed by the article's stress on female comedians' looks over the quality of their material (she was described as "sexy" and "coquettish" apparently), Silverman was even more flustered by the women who weren't covered. While Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were rightly profiled, she was upset by the omission of Kathy Griffin. In her own words, "When Kathy Griffin wasn't there, I was horrified... I think because she's a loudmouth, people don't respect her for how brilliant she is."

Story via the always enlightening Bust.