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I was very sad to learn that the comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman have broken up. I always thought that they were a great couple, a perfect match made in politically incorrect heaven.
I have been a fan of Jimmy Kimmel even before his days on The Man Show (1999-2001) with Adam Carolla, let alone Jimmy Kimmel Live! (In fact, I have been away from the country for so long that I have actually never seen Jimmy Kimmel Live!) And I have been an even bigger fan of Sarah Silverman’s ever since her all-too-brief stint at SNL (1993-1994).
I particularly identify with Silverman because I feel the same way about her critics as I do about my own. As I state in my inaugural post for this blog (“If the truth offends, it’s our job to offend”), everything a scientist says qua scientist is either true or false or somewhere in between. It could not be racist or sexist or offensive or any other adjective. None of these concerns are relevant.
Similarly, everything a comedian says qua comedian is either funny or unfunny or somewhere in between. Just like scientific theories are either true or false (or somewhere in between), jokes are either funny or unfunny (or somewhere in between). They cannot be racist or sexist or offensive or any other adjective. None of these concerns are relevant. So all of her critics who complain that Silverman’s jokes are “racist” are simply missing the point. Her jokes are incredibly funny, and that’s all that matters. If humor offends, it’s her job to offend.
Her most infamous “racist” joke illustrates my point. In case you are not as familiar with her routines as I am, here’s Silverman retelling the joke on ABC’s Nightline.
This is the only video of Silverman telling this particular joke that I could find in all of the cyberspace. I spent hours looking for the footage of her original appearance on The Late Night with Conan O’Brien in July 2001, but was not able to locate it anywhere. It’s probably because, succumbing to the pressure from the Asian American groups, NBC apologized for the joke (although Silverman herself rightly has not) and the network probably does not rebroadcast the episode or footage since then.
Guy Aoki of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans has publicly stated, on an episode of Politically Incorrect in August 2001, that Silverman should have said “Chinese people” instead of “chinks.” It’s a perfect example of how politically correct idiots have absolutely no sense of humor. Anyone with half a brain can see that the joke would not work had she said “Chinese people.”
As I point out in an earlier series of posts, virtually all stereotypes (ethnic or otherwise) are empirically true. If they are not true, they would not be stereotypes. My job as a scientist is to figure out why they are true. Silverman’s job as a comedian is to make jokes about them to make people laugh. As Silverman herself states at the end of the video clip above, making people laugh is her only goal as a comedian (just as discovering the truth is my only goal as a scientist). I am just very sad that the powerful comedic duo with the genius behind “I’m fucking Matt Damon” and even funnier “I’m fucking Ben Affleck” is no more.
P.S. (08 February 2011): The video of Sarah Silverman's appearance on Nightline that I embedded in the post above when I initially published the post in July 2008 is no longer available on YouTube. However, in the meantime, her original appearance on The Late Night with Conan O'Brien in July 2001 has since magically become available. So here it is. Let's see how long this can stay up on YouTube.
