Sarah Silverman: A Speck of Dust

Watching this reminds me of tracking young artists in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area (DFW) years ago. Yes, I'm aware that the real action was happening elsewhere (like Austin); don't lord it over me. But it'll suffice to make my point.

Checking in with talented folks (wherever you may be) should be like this: It should be possible to see the performers mutate, morph, and transform--every show should be different.

A Speck of Dust felt like this. Sarah's still Sarah... but she's changing. And that's so welcome and refreshing to see. She's taking her time... it's like she's becoming more "folksy"... like a (only slightly) edgier Garrison Keillor--side note: People who actually tuned in Keillor know how truly edgy he could be!

Anyway: In this show, Sarah's a standing, gesticulating, slow-turning comic kaleidoscope! Loved her stories; touched by her occasional insights; in awe of her moxie.

Check it out.

This was pretty much word for word the same as the show I saw. It was great the second time too! I don't get the negative reviews from Silverman's fans. There is still vulgarity. Maybe not enough for them? Maybe there is too much social commentary in the jokes. I think she is going in the right direction.

This isn't a review, just a comment on Silverman preparing a joke by mentioning the landing on Mars in 2012. Someone laughs in the audience and she makes a little remark on that. My nerdy theory: the guy who laughed at the wrong moment knew that we landed on Mars back in 1976, but Silverman made it sound like 2012 was the first time.

I have loved much of Sarah's work in the past, but her newest special disappointed me. It deserves a 5 out of 10 because it was funny and witty about 50% of the time. The other 50% was a mixture of political talking points and misinformed scientific facts. I did laugh out loud a few times but the majority of jokes were poorly written, especially by her standards. I think I counted around 5 complex joke premises, all of which were very well executed, but the rest fell flat.

I'm a fan of Sarah Silverman. She's funny, knows how to make jokes about herself or/and her backgrounds, and she's not afraid of making fun of delicate subjects. I wouldn't say this was her best show but to me it was funny enough to be entertained and that's the only thing I want when watching a stand-up comedian. I'm not a big fan of the pausing she does alot. It looks too much like she's thinking about her lines and so it doesn't seem very natural to me. A little pause everynow and then is fine, to make a point, but with her it sometimes looks too forced and she doesn't need that. For the rest I think she has a good stage presence. Maybe she's not in my top of stand-up comedians but I still enjoy watching her.