WEBVTT - How Sarah Silverman changed comedy’s boy’s club 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:06.120 What do you do when life doesn't go according to 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:09.760 plan that moment you lose a job, or a loved one, 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.080 or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.759 is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:21.599 by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:23.840 with a guest to talk about the times they were 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.920 knocked off course and what they did to move forward. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:33.080 Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:38.320 are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.800 every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:50.920 answers one question, Now, what when you started in comedy? 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.120 It really and it less so now I think, I mean, 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.600 you tell me, but was really a boys club? 0:00:57.880 --> 0:00:58.040 Yea? 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.600 What personage did you put on to be level with 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:03.880 the boys? 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:09.280 When I first started stand up, the guys all told 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:13.400 me you have to talk about stuff that guys are interested, 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.319 and you can't talk about like the female experience, which 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.000 I don't think they put that in those words even, 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:21.600 and they explained they had a very good reason. They said, 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:24.720 because women are there on dates and they will only 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.440 laugh if their date lasts, so you have to make 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:29.560 the men laugh. That it has to be your priority, 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:34.280 and I bought into it. I mean, because they were 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:34.880 grown ups. 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:45.600 In my mind, my guest today is a comedy icon. 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.960 She's also an actor, a best selling author, a podcaster, 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.920 and so much more. Sarah Silverman has been on the 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.720 scene for thirty years, and I suspect many of you 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.400 have an opinion about her work and her sense of humor. 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.320 Mine is this. I think she is brilliant and I 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:09.640 have watched in admiration as she's done it all. Award 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:13.600 winning stand up specials, her own shows on Comedy Central 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:18.000 and Hulu, dramatic turns in films like I Smile Back, 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:22.320 and Yes, even in musical about Wedding the Bed. Sarah 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:27.239 is insanely talented. She's kind, engaging and generous with her time. 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:29.640 I feel so fortunate that we got to spend some 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.280 time together chatting, just one on one, and I'm so 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.079 excited for you to hear that conversation. So without further ado, 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:43.840 here is the one and only Sarah Silverman. Thank you 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.160 for giving me of your time. Of course, I always 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.280 get excited when I know I'm going to get a 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:51.799 chance to see you. Oh my god, even hang out 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:56.000 a little bit I just wanted to ask how you're doing. 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.920 I know you have family in Israel. 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:06.800 Yeah, they're all alive, and but it's so scary, you know. 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.919 I mean, my youngest niece is in the army. I 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:11.639 mean you have to do the army, you know, so 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:14.919 she's still in it and right girding a bass. 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:15.360 You know. 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:19.480 It's just like, oh my gosh, terrifying. They all have 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.919 friends that were murdered. You know. I'm usually pretty good 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:24.880 at compartmentalizing. 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:28.080 Well, you have, I mean you have to, you have 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:32.200 to anyway. I just I'm my heart and soul is 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.360 I just feel I'm putting my version of prayer. 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:40.640 Yeah, whatever however that looks to everybody, Thank you. 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:44.240 My heart's with you. That's all. The other thing I 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:48.760 also want to start off with, Yeah, you are spectacular 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:49.480 in my strung. 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.320 Oh my gosh, you really. 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.520 I mean I'm not surprised. It's like I always get, oh, 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.080 I thought you were going to stuck. But you're good. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:03:59.880 That's not what I that's not what. I'm not so 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.520 prized at your talent. I'm just I was so glad 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:07.320 that you were cast in that part, and it's such 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:11.680 a standout part. I'm so personally attached to that character, 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.840 just because I did Wonderful Town on Broadway and I 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.600 got to meet I got to meet her actually wow, 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:22.520 when she was still alive, and oh, she just said 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:24.320 Adolph would be so happy. 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:26.280 But that's amazing. 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:30.160 I think she would have just loved just from the 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:33.440 teeny teeny that I knew her, I think she would 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.440 have just loved what you did with the character. 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.520 It's a very rare time where Adolph would be so happy. 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.280 Is actually a lovely thing to say. 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:47.520 It's a good thing. Yeah, no, true, But anyway, I 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:52.040 just congratulations on that. And you have a new stand 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:56.160 up special which is on HBO. It's called Sarah Silverman 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.640 someone you Love. Yah. But what's weird is I don't 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:01.520 think that was the case with the other ones, but 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.680 with this one, I thought it was really interesting that 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.360 you you had to create this one on a deadline. 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.279 For h oh. Yeah, I've never done it like that. 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:11.799 And that's not how it normally works. 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.120 A lot of comics do that. I've never done that. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:20.360 I've always first of all, for some reason, specials never 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.880 occur to me. I never think about the future. I mean, 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:26.120 of course I have the I have anxiety where I 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.839 tkle what if, what if? But I never I rarely 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:34.760 have dreams or goals. I just do stand up, you know. 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.520 I just never think about it. Like I have friends 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.839 that are on their like fourteenth special. Like this last 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.480 special was my fourth special. I've been doing stand ups 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:49.200 since I was, you know, seventeen, professionally nineteen. I'm fifty two, 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:54.480 thirty whatever, thirty three years. So this time I had 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:58.599 done a pilot for HBO before, right before the pandemic, 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:03.120 and part of that was a special. The pilot didn't go, 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:05.479 but I still had them a special. But then the 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.839 COVID came and then that passed and I just started, 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.880 I'm like starting over, like just figuring out what I have, 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:16.880 and they were like, we won our special, you know, 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.960 Oh my god. So I like did everything I had 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.360 at Largo, and I had thirty six minutes, and of 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:25.279 course not all of it is like stuff I want 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:29.719 to necessarily do, like, you know, So I just booked 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:31.640 the road and rode it on the road and it 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.000 was really fun. 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:35.839 I mean, I don't know if this is a source 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.839 of constant pressure, but to constantly come up with new 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:47.000 material has got to be both thrilling and a pressure cooker. 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.160 Yeah, I mean, listen, you know I've been going on 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:54.479 stage saying, listen, my special just came out. I'm starting over, 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.880 and I have to be willing to disappoint you. So 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:03.679 basically I'm 'dibly brave right now, you know, Like, but yeah, 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:05.280 you have to, like I mean, and I really I 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:10.360 always like, I always mentioned Chris Rock because he's such 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:14.320 a great example of someone who does a special, murders 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.840 it whatever, and then gets back, you know, takes some 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.560 time off, gets back out there, walks into the comedy celler. 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:26.000 Everyone goes crazy standing ovation for like four minutes, and 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.760 then he starts and he's just trying stuff, and you know, 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:33.280 sometimes it's the audience is just like, oh, you know, 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:37.280 like and he knows that he's going to disappoint them, 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:38.840 and he's not going to do bits that they want 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.760 him to do that they know he's just gonna and 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.960 if he finds one thing that's like a kernel of something, 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.920 it was a success, you know, And you have to 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.600 be willing to do that. It's really hard for comics 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:52.440 who are people lasers. 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.600 Especially when you get a laugh. The tendency used to 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:55.600 want to get that laugh for us. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.040 You go, I know I have material that can kill, 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:00.760 but I've already done it. I can't go back on 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.560 the road, and because people will just supplement what you 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:06.120 don't have that's new with old stuff. You know works, 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.480 and that's so smart. But one I don't like my 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:14.400 brain won't remember it. And two my fear is that 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.080 I'll figure I'll figure out that joke. Like I did 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.320 some shows after I recorded the special, I had still 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.320 more dates on the road, and it was so frustrating 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.080 because of course, now there's a part of me that's 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.240 so loose and so you know, so free with the 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.600 material that I figure out the perfect tag or and 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:34.640 that's maddening. 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:37.480 But there is something that happens when I mean, I've 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.120 done shows for six months at a time on Broadway, 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:44.320 and what is quite unbelievable to me is when you 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.040 find something that you never knew what's there, even on 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.920 the last performance after eight a week for six months, 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:54.360 and to me, that just signifies, oh, it's a live 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:58.720 it's a live, tangible thing. Yeah, just to start a 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:01.600 little bit back in the early days, I think all 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:05.920 parents are extremely formative, but your dad just seems to 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.880 be in particular to someone who just was such a 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:13.240 support of yours and really supported you as a comedian. 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.800 And I was curious what his sense of humor was like, 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:19.280 and did that shape you at all? 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:24.000 One hund, I mean, it's I'm such a combination of 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.880 him and my mom. You know, it's he's he was 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:31.080 so funny. I mean, I don't know if I told you this, 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.760 Like on his deathbed, he Jeff Ross came to visit 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:36.280 because there you know, a lot of people came to 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.240 visit him, came to visit him, you know, Oh, it 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:44.440 was pretty amazing. And Jeff Ross, well, first he came 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.239 and he said, Schleppie. Everyone calls me Dad, Schleppe Schleppie. 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:49.920 I've got bad news. I don't think you can be 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:56.679 my emergency contact anymore. Theoddy. And then so then he 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.080 Jeff introduced my parents to this guy, Bernie Shine, and 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.400 they became very good friends with him. That he's a 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.360 magician that Jeff is friends with. Of course an older guy, 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.720 and so he put him on FaceTime to say like 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:14.920 goodbye to my dad, and my stepmother had just died 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:18.560 a week before, and he said, and her name was Janie, 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.360 and he holds the camera and my dad goes, Bernie, 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:27.960 your show was so bad. It killed Janice, And I'm 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.960 not feeling so hot either. He was killing on his deathbed. 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:33.360 It was amazing. 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.000 My mother used to do this thing where she'd, you know, 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.880 she'd see a dog like tied up to a post 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.040 or something outside a store or a restaurant or something, and 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.880 she'd get down to the dog and she'd say, they're 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:51.480 never coming back. She's so sick. My mother. My mother's 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:56.240 humor was so like it was hysterical. Were there any 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:01.640 other people growing up or comics that really and your comedy? 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.440 I mean, my dad was a big one, you know, 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:08.800 because he was very big and funny, and my mother 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:13.640 was kind of covertly funny. And to me, I was 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.880 my number one was Steve Martin, you know, I just 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.280 worshiped him. As a matter of the house I grew 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.400 up in with my mom, I lived, I had a 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.560 room in the attic and on the ceiling and pencil 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.200 I wrote, I Love Steve Martin and it's still there 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.240 all these years later, and they, you know, after my 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.600 mom died, my sister sold the house and then I 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.680 did a show in Boston like a year later, and 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:42.559 the realtor who sold the house came and he brought 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.440 this picture that they had like painted the whole house, 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:50.280 but they kept that one thing on the ceiling where 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:51.600 I lived, where my room was. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:02.480 You talk about this in your books, and especially in 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:07.640 bed Weather, the brilliant book, you talk about the struggle 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.960 that you had with wedding the bed. Now I wet 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.320 the bed, but for very different reasons. Now I went 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:16.000 the bed because I'm a fifty eight year old woman 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:23.440 five sneeze in my sleepers. But what do you think 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:24.840 that was? I don't know. 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:28.560 I don't know. I mean, I went the bed like 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:34.160 deep into my teens, and you know, I think it 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:37.360 was probably emotional. I think also it was physical. Like 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.760 I was very small for my age. I looked like 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.640 a little kid when I was like a teenager, and 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.680 then I turned like seventeen, and all of a sudden, 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.200 I had like boobs. But I didn't get my period 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.800 until I was almost eighteen. So it's just like I 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:54.120 was little for my age, and then I went, yeah, 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.800 like exploded out. You know. It's always funny to me 0:12:57.840 --> 0:12:59.920 when I've like dated men who don't know how to 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:02.160 do laundry, because I had to learn at a very 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.760 young age, had to wash my sheets and stuff, you know. 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:07.960 But uh, yeah, it was torture. I thought I was 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.320 positive it would be the biggest shame of my life. 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.080 And of course you know it's not. 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:17.160 You know, but there were but it didn't happen in 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.120 the day, no, like at school or anything. So it's 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.920 just just in bed. Well, I I mean, listen, I've 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:27.600 gotten hammered before and and and and pe you know, 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.640 woke up and thought I was in the bathroom. 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:33.600 And was funny because the year after I got fired 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:37.800 from Saturday Night Live, I was twenty three and I 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:41.440 went the bed three times that year. Wow. Yeah, And 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.400 I want like, I don't know if it was some 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:45.480 kind of like regression or something, but I was in 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:47.920 the I was in a bed. I was in bed 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.720 with a man all three times. And there were three 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:51.280 different men. 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.880 Well, you know, they'll get to know you and then 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.960 and then those who stick around, you know, says a lot. 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.040 Yeah, And actually one of the men was not like 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.320 a lover. It was my friend day of Wrath, who 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:08.160 I was just staying with him. And if you didn't 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:10.480 hook up with the girl that night, I would sleep 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.280 next to him in bed. Otherwise I'd sleep on the couch. 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.400 And this was a long time ago, and so I 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:18.880 but I slept next to him. We went to a 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:22.680 party and you know, and I uh pete and I 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.360 woke up and I remember like thinking, oh my god, 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.600 I have to tell him. Like if I don't tell 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:30.720 him now, I'm going to be too embarrassed. And I 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.200 was just like, Dave, I peed in your bed. He's 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.480 you know, such a men. She was like, I just 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:40.720 put a towel down, and I was like, oh, not 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:42.200 that embarrassing for all. I guess. 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.760 How do you how do you think that shaped you 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.720 as a kid, having to sort of live with that. 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:52.440 I read a quote where you mentioned that that experience 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.600 helped you be less afraid of sort of sucking on 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:58.360 stage exactly. You know. 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:03.120 I mean it's like when you suffered that kind of humiliation, 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:07.200 you know, you sleep over this or that, you know, 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.760 and you're and you wet your bed wetterre you know, 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:13.840 and you're way too old to be and you're at 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:18.880 that age where kids like break your heart, you know, 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:24.360 like if you're weird. And yeah, like when I started 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:25.840 doing stand up, but you know, the first time I 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:29.040 did a stand up. I was seventeen in those early years, 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.920 I sucked, but it didn't deter me because it was 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:37.680 just it could it nothing compares to the humiliation of 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:41.640 being a bedwetting kid, you know, an older kid especially, 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:47.280 so I think it was easy to to persevere for 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:48.680 me like through. 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:51.400 That, and it probably breeds a certain type of resilience 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:55.720 to any type of criticism once you've felt it on 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:56.880 that vis oral level. 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:01.280 Yeah, and also just between that and being like this 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:07.480 very hairy Jewish kid in a sea of strawberry blonde 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:12.239 you know, Christians. This is unique to me but completely 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:17.320 ununique to all comedians, which is I think developing skills 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.880 at an early age to survive childhood, and those skills 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.560 were being funny. I knew how to be funny. I 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:27.880 knew how to get my friend's parents to like me 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.680 and not fear me. I mean, it's funny because you know, 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.080 you're from New York City, so it's like Jews are 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:37.320 like whatever. I mean, you probably went to so many 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.280 bar mitzvahs. I went to zero. I didn't even know 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.280 what a bar mitzvah was, you know, Like I was 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.960 raised by atheists. The only way we knew we were 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.640 Jewish was because we were different from everyone else. Like 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.520 my sister, who's now a rabbi, would always say, like, 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.480 I thought being Jewish meant being a democrat, because that's 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:58.320 how we were different where we live. And so you learn, 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:00.400 like I have a friend Brian Moses, who's black and 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:02.000 grew up around a lot of white people, and we 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:05.640 both have that thing that was just innate in us 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.000 that we didn't realize what it was until looking back 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.880 as adults, which is just we knew how to make 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:15.320 our friends' parents not worry about us, not worry about 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:20.760 having their kids with us, to make them realize without 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:24.159 a doubt that we are safe to be around and kind, 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:27.119 and you know, like it was, you know, it was 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:30.359 just kind of a thing that you I knew innately, 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.080 but I didn't know intellectually, you know. 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.040 I mean I can identify with that only as I 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.360 always had to make myself relatable and that was through 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.679 hures and making fun of myself and then then I 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:43.800 was not a threat, you know. 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:46.520 I mean you're the example of that, because you were 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:51.320 this baby star and in order to make friends you 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.680 must have had to be like, no, I'm just goofy. 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.680 I'm just not you know, you know, to or even 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:57.639 to diminish. 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:02.720 Yourself completely completely. And I know that you're workshopping currently 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.080 the musical version of your memoir. 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:10.680 And we had a runoff Broadway last spring, and we've 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.240 done a workshop since, and then the plan is we're 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.200 gonna do an out of town run and then to Broadway. 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:19.960 Are you in it or just no? 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:21.160 In it? 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:23.760 It is so we don't get to hear your voice 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:24.600 eight times. 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:29.159 A week, well not your voice, not literally. But I 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.240 co wrote it, and I co wrote the book and 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:36.960 the lyrics with brilliant writers. But it's it's it's called 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:41.080 The Bedwetter. And I think some people who went without 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:42.840 knowing what it was just thought it was like the 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:45.359 whole book, or you know, the book covers like into 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.360 comedy and you know, from from birth to like you know, 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.560 by being a young comic. This is just the year 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:57.040 I'm ten. So there's this this tiny me and a 0:18:57.119 --> 0:18:59.920 tiny one sister. I only have one sister in it. 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:02.320 I was like, I had to tell my other sisters, 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:03.760 I'm sorry, you don't exist. 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:09.320 In this amalgamation of service three sisters. Yeah, I know. 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:18.960 No Chekhov already did that. Have you gotten no offer? 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:22.360 You must have gotten offers to do Broadway shows or 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:23.600 come into shows. 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.119 I have and I'd love to, but it just hasn't 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:27.240 been the right Oh. 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:28.440 And it's grueling. 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.320 I mean it is, but I've not really loved that. 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:33.720 I mean, you know, I mean I my mom was 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.639 a theater director, and you know I love that. I mean, 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.879 not on Broadway in New Hampshire, but still. 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.719 It's funny. My daughter is, my younger one is looking 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.880 at colleges and she was looking at n y U. 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.399 And it was funny because I said, you know, I 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.159 was kind of not lobbying really, but just sort of 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:04.520 you know, the mom thing where one's already gone and 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:06.920 I'm like, how can I keep the other one close by? 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:11.280 Because I'm ameshed. But I was interested around that time 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.960 because you dropped out after a year. Yeah, did you 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:14.440 hate it? 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:19.080 I loved it, but I was I was working every 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:23.720 day from four pm to two am, passing out flyers 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:26.679 on the corner of McDougal and West Third, and I 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.239 was sleeping through my classes and it was torture. I 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.000 was like pinching myself awake. It reminded me of like 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.200 sleepovers as a kid, pinging myself awake to try to 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:37.840 so I wentn't went to bed, but I was just like, 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:42.840 I felt horrible and teachers going like, Sarah, are you 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:45.560 you know? Like I couldn't keep my eyes open. It 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:47.800 was horrible. And I was a drama major, which made 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:51.560 me feel so guilty because it's such an expensive school 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:56.040 to be a drama major, Like that's luxurious, you know. 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:58.639 So you know, I was passing out flyers for a 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:02.160 comedy club to get to be able to get time 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.719 on stage. So I pat I worked there and I 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:06.800 got paid ten dollars an hour, which was a lot. 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:09.800 So I was making one hundred bucks a day and 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:14.840 then getting on stage. But I was sleeping through school 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:17.800 and so I took a year off to focus on 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:21.400 stand up. My plan to go back was to change 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:26.399 from drama to arts and sciences because I wanted to 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:31.440 get knowledge, you know. So I signed up and then 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:35.280 like three weeks before I started my sophomore year, my 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:39.600 dad called and said, listen, if you drop out and 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.280 just focus on you know, what you want to do, 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:46.359 because I you know, I'll pay your rent for the 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.280 next three years as if it's your sophomore, junior, senior year. 0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:53.159 And so I said, deal, he paid my rent and utilities. 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:55.520 But what was his end of the deal. Was it like, 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:57.479 but you got to hit it hard and really commit 0:21:57.520 --> 0:21:57.679 to this. 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:00.040 Well that was I was. I mean, I know, I 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:02.600 went out with friends. I never every night, I was 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:05.040 at clubs trying to get on every single time. I mean, 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.399 it's all I wanted to do. Was that was like 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:10.199 not a commitment. He needed to press me on. I 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:11.160 was all in. 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:14.280 So you did that. What was the first what do 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:19.600 you view as the first sort of real achievement that 0:22:19.680 --> 0:22:21.720 you made professionally? 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.320 Well, they're allways little ones, like passing at the comic 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.320 strip when I was nineteen, you know, and then I got, 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:29.280 you know, to sign up for I got to have 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:32.240 do paid spots. You know, there were ten dollars a spot, 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.320 you know. But and then I you know, I got 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:38.440 I became a writer at you know, by the time 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:41.160