YosefHawel Reviews

Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love (2023 TV Special)

Sarah Silverman isn't funny anymore

[29 May 2023]

I'm not sure how to describe this stand-up special, because I really want people to understand my perception of it. Listen, I started watching 'The Daily Show' with Jon Stewart back in (maybe) 1996, I don't recall. The skits, the jokes, the way they poked fun at society, religion & politics was hilarious... for 1996. Sarah's 'Someone You Love' HBO special felt like that. It was comical (dot dot dot) 27 years ago. But see we've heard all the puns and watched all the skits for decades, and (well) naturally the show grew/matured over this time. Jon Stewart moved on. They got a new host, new writers, and it changed with the times. It had to to be more relevant for the kids today. It needed new material and fresh mirth. Sarah didn't bring that in her special. She's making the same observations that everyone has already done, but it's 27 years later. I've listened to Sarah talk about abortion, Hitler, Catholics, the vagina, and of course diarrhea for so long, that it's monotonous. It's as if Sarah is going backwards as a comic. It's like she's stealing material from an old dive-bar comedian, and hoping we won't notice. Her wit is old, tired, and irrelevant. She's stuck in a bubble. It's exhausting listening to her preach about the exact same things. She's a broken record that I simply can't listen to any longer.

Some entertaining parts of the special came towards the end. Sarah seemed more relaxed. She stopped projecting at the audience and became more social. She engaged with the audience members, and it got some laughs. It was nice hearing her chat with Mrs Martin-Epstein, although it felt constructed to me. I assumed the woman was planted in the front row convivially. It was the pretense of a natural occurrence (IMHO). The end of the show had Sarah singing a silly song (probably written by her sister Laura again). Laura's contributions were Sarah's greatest strengths. The familiarity of it was delightful. It was a song about bad breath, and she sang it to a lovely piano melody. It gave me a smile. I always loved the songs they did on the 'Sarah Silverman Program'. The ending itself left me with a deep sadness. I questioned what happened to that edgy comedy Silverman was always known for... Where's the shock value? Where's the stuff she so boldly exclaimed in her youth? The controversy is gone. The wow factor is empty. She's playing it safe, and I can't help but imagine Sarah Silverman is too scared to stir up a ruckus. I think she's terrified of getting cancelled. And so she isn't as amusing as she once was. 4 stars for this show. I would suggest waiting for the return of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'.

Interview with the Vampire (2022– )

The Obvious Racial Stereotypes

[4 October 2022]

Anne Rice created a thoughtful meditation on the legacy of racial injustice in the United States. Her character Louis de Pointe, a sugar plantation owner with many slaves, Louis drains them of their happiness and freedom in order to feed the sweet tooth of white America. Slavery, in other words, Louis devastated the lives of blacks for the frivolities of white consumerism. At the time, Louis does not give much thought to these ideas. For him, it was just another part of his idyllic plantation life. Rice uses Louis' blindness to the ingrained racism of the South to call attention to its ongoing legacy in America. Only after being turned into a vampire does Louis reflect on how a few of his slaves were rather intelligent, deserved better treatment, and this detail sought to condemn the racist ideology ingrained in American culture that whites can only recognize it in death. Well-written. Beautiful indeed.

Rolin Jones has flailed the skin from the Anne Rice's novel and created a mockery of her work. Slavery is a far gone conclusion adrift in the new era of the early 1900's. Gone is the 1791 start date and lapsed wit towards the complete acceptance of slavery. Louis and his family still own a plantation. The de Pointe family has procured some wealth with sugar, but the father abandoned his responsibilities. The father of Louis walked away from his family in the first of the worst racist stereotypes Rolin Jones gleefully introduced upon shocked fans. The next repulsion is a constructed means for a black man to be successful through his merits by making Louis a common pimp. A black man selling bodies for money is a direct slap in the face to what Anne Rice presented so fluently. I'm reminded of an interview with Jones applauding himself with his idolatric whims towards black men in general. I ponder his self-entertaining platitudes as I watch Louis and his religious brother Paul tap-dance for others' amusement.

Sexuality is throughout 'Interview with the Vampire'. Rice played on the preconceived notions of heteronormative culture by neither idealizing nor demonizing homoerotic relationships. The relationships were presented as natural. The understanding that it can be beautiful, as was the relationship between Louis & Armand, and also hostile and messy, as with Louis & Lestat. The subtext of homoerotic relationships in her book was Rice's method of critiquing homophobia, because she is presenting homosexuality & heterosexuality as sharing similar characteristics. Neither one is presented as inherently good or bad. Rolin Jones aborts this notion and thrusts us into headlong into fantasy. Louis a black pimp is seduced by Lestat easily. He fights objectively in vanilla distaste, only to embrace it fully for the first time. It clearly presents Louis as the underling with Lestat as the master in this scenario. The final racial stereotype being the sexual lust of the black man being untamed. Louis can not pull away from Lestat's charisma. I remain unconvinced that Rolin Jones will refrain from diving into broad detail the breadth of Louis' physical endowments as I refuse to watch another episode of this sick fan fiction. This is one man's imagination blindly piecing a grand story for his own desires. I'd expected this from some hidden spot within the internet, but never on the channel of AMC.

It is still early in the first season. I am finished granting this series attention. There echoes the promise of a season 2, and yet my hopes and prayers are that others will recognize this trite as the wasted effort it may have been.

Fyre (2019)

Don't watch! It's just a commercial.

[12 February 2019]

This "Documentary" was boring stupid, very much like one long commercial. It's completely fabricated and somehow it's convinced a lot of people that it's a true story. There was a lot of money thrown into this garbage and I can tell that the majority of it was for promotions - such as getting interns to rate this nonsense 10 stars. I warned you so don't complain when you see it.

I Love You, America (2017–2018)

It's not the show that's described.

[3 November 2018]

I Love You, America was slated to be a series with Sarah Silverman meeting & talking with people that don't agree with her. Basically the far right as Sarah is extremely far left. There are only a few episodes where Sarah talks to un-like-minded people, the first 2 and then episode 17. Out of all of the pandering, condescending, abasing & hypocricy, the one with Bill Burr is the one worth watching. If you've been lead to believe as I was that there would be genuine conversations with conservative individuals please inform HULU for a refund. We were lied to.

The Conners: There Won't Be Blood (2018) Season 1, Episode 3

It's just not funny.

[31 October 2018]

Take a look back at every 'Roseanne' Halloween episode and then watch this episode. If you think this one is funny, then you've never seen 'Roseanne'. There is no magic here. It feels like some vanity project for Sara Gilbert and I'm kind of tired of her trying to be the "Roseanne" of the show. When there were teachable moments in the old series, it wasn't delivered like a blunt instrument. I'm much more positive now that it's all in Sara Gilbert's delivery. Angry brow, stare at off screen cue card and words are said. It's bad acting, poor timing and zero charm. Which brings me to another problem. Lecy Goranson is completely under-used. She's basically a smiling prop in the new shows. Camera pans to Becky. Becky says something about drinking and cue goofball smile. The same issues surround most of the cast except for John Goodman and Sara Gilbert. Michael Fishman is always there in the background, but you'd swear he was an extra in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Maya Lynne Robinson is relatively new to the cast, she's a beautiful intelligent woman that walks into camera, says something "sassy" and leaves the room. Jayden Rey, the cute little girl playing Mary Conner can barely get any camera time. Remember Michael Fishman when he was younger? Roseanne Barr used him as often as possible because "Why waste a cute kid?". This show is pitiful and I refuse to believe anyone but friends and/or paid interns are giving this terrible series 10 stars.

Apostle (2018)

Self Important Actors Try To Out Intensify Each Other.

[14 October 2018]

Dan Stevens of tv's 'Legion' and Michael Sheen of Sarah Silverman's 'Vagina' star in this hilariously not-scary horror film about a witch-like cult. 'Apostle' begins with a fairly primitive plot device that eventually vanishes within connected sub-plots. Director/Writer Gareth Evans of 'VHS 2' fame throws away the ending of this script for sake of overreactive, wild-eyed stammering, "Jeremy, I am with child.", "MAY RAVENOUS WOLVES FEED UPON THE FLESH OF YOUR BASTARD THING!!!" - Guys, calm down. This is a simple genre film (Maybe it's a possible vanity project?), but please leave the bold theatrics for an Edinburgh Festival.

It's also meant to be horror ... I'd imagine suspense would be terribly important for leading into the killing of someone or something? But not for Gareth Evans. And frankly to comment on the b-movie tradition of bloodiness; No matter how many gallons you throw at us, blood isn't going to scare people. A woman being chased by a chainsaw was horrific in the 1970's, but there's sub-reddits with real life beheadings available in the 21st century. We could claim this to be the cultural separation between the US and UK. The taboo of violence in the UK may be an excuse for the 10 star ratings from sensitive viewers learning a rabbit can be used as food.

I Love You, America: Doug Baldwin & Malcolm Jenkins (2018) Season 1, Episode 11

Season 2 Episode 3

[1 October 2018]

This was one of my favorite episodes, next to the first episode in Season One when Sarah visited that family in Louisiana. Sarah went on a date with a conservative Republican; Washington DC Consultant Doug Heye. And guess what? Doug isn't a misogynist white supremacist seeking control over women's bodies! Amazing!

I can only guess the shock and bewilderment of I Love You America's general audience when they learn Doug believes in climate change or doesn't support children taken from their families and kept in cages .Maybe one of Sarah's liberal viewers woke up to the idea that "MAGA" isn't about returning to slavery, but reclaiming the days when kids played outside without supervision (without tracking), rode their bikes without helmets and came home when it was pitch black out. Maybe (hopefully) this single episode popped the liberal bubble of just one person. It was certainly an eye-opener for a conservative Republican like Doug Heye to learn that the "hat-knitting" liberal Sarah would sit and listen to him talk about his values.

I enjoyed her interview with Shaka Senghor, author of the 2016 memoir 'Writing My Wrongs'. His frank discussion of his time in prison and how he turned his life around was incredibly inspiring. In the summer of 1991, Senghor shot and killed a man, to wit he spent 19 years in prisons , 7 of which were in solitary confinement. He was released from prison in 2010. Since then Senghor has become a college lecturer and director's fellow of the MIT Media Lab. He also teaches a class as part of the Atonement Project, a partnership between himself, the University of Michigan and the MIT Media Lab. He is a leading voice in criminal justice reform. A person who can stand there confidently and tell you that your worst deeds do not define you.

Unfortunately these 2 episodes are far and between, as 'I Love You, America' predominantly caters to a liberal audience. Catering to the liberalocracy seems to be the vibe in a majority of talk shows & tv series available today. I can't see how catering to half the country would fare better than creating something everyone could watch.