'This interview is going terribly.' Sarah Silverman on weed, butts, Trump, cartoon voices and more
Dalson Chen, Windsor Star
Outspoken comedienne Sarah Silverman performs at Caesars Windsor on Jan. 14. Here's what she had to say about a bunch of stuff.
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Outspoken actress and comedienne Sarah Silverman may have made her career on her raunchy sense of humour — but she’s also prone to political outbursts.

We spoke with the New Hampshire-raised funnywoman about moving to Canada, marijuana, Donald Trump, cartoon voices and more in advance of her show at Caesars Windsor this Saturday night.

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'This interview is going terribly.' Sarah Silverman on weed, butts, Trump, cartoon voices and more Back to video

Q. Have you ever been to Windsor, Ontario?

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I have not. I’m excited to see the sights.

Q. We’re actually just south of Detroit. I notice you get a lot of comments from people saying you should move to Canada. How about it?

I do love Canada. But I gotta stay here (in the U.S.) and fight the good fight.

Q. Weed will be fully legal here, soon. And we’ve got lots of hockey and donuts.

I can’t believe it’s not legal yet. I mean, Vancouver — I was there years ago and I remember there were cafes and stuff where you could smoke weed. But they said, ‘Do not try to take it home.’

My best friend visited me and I pleaded with her not to take any paraphernalia home, because I know they’re strict at the border. She called me sobbing. She had to get an anal cavity search. They found a pipe.

Q. Whoa! She had the pipe up her… dang.

No, she didn’t have a pipe up her butt! They found a pipe in her luggage, and then they looked up her butt.

Q. Oh. Just the way you worded it made it seem like, you know, she had used her orifice as a transportation device.

No! Nobody needs a resin-y pipe that badly.

Q. So you’re neck-deep into politics. How much of a worry is it to you that your politics might alienate a part of your audience?

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Oh, I’ve always known that. There are a lot of comics who smartly don’t talk about politics. And they get to be rich and do Clairol and AmEx commercials and stuff like that. They make more money, and that’s great. But I just can’t. I’m from a family that has always been active citizens.

I mean, you become a comedian because you desperately want to be liked, obviously. But it’s kind of like the scorpion and the frog thing. What can I do? I’m a scorpion. I can’t just be quiet. Our country has become so corrupt and an oligarchy — now more than ever.

Fourteen things happen every day that would’ve made the country stand still in horror 10 years ago. And it doesn’t faze anyone anymore.

Q. Aren’t you happy about Donald Trump providing you with so much material?

No! I’m not that selfish a c*** to be happy that someone like Donald Trump is going to be in the White House — making the rich richer and the poor poorer — because I might get jokes out of it.

He’s already a parody of himself. There’s nothing clever to be said about him. It’s so hard to be funny on Twitter (about it) because you just want to wake people up.

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I don’t know what I’m saying. This interview is going terribly!

Q. What! It’s going great!

You’re bringing up politics and I just get so… Comedy is best when you have a distance from the thing you’re talking about.

Q. On that subject, how often do you come up with a new standup set? Do you work on new material all the time?

I’m honing a set. There’s nothing in it from my last special. This tour is really about honing my new stuff for a new special.

Q. I was looking through your filmography and it says you were in a 2014 short film called Cops, C**, D**** and Flying. I’m not even sure we can include that title in a family newspaper. But what’s that about?

We’re total idiots for naming it that. That’s my pure happiness. We ended up calling it that because that was the Word document we were passing back and forth when we were writing it — I wrote it with the late, great Harris Wittels.

It’s pure stupid. Which is my favourite. It’s so aggressively dumb. It’s for nothing, to go nowhere. We shot it in a day. I love it so much.

Q. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I understand that you signed on for Wreck-It Ralph 2. How do you feel about the fact that you’re still capable of doing the little girl voice in your mid-40s?

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How dare you. Look at the chick who does Bart Simpson. It’s the lot I’ve been given in life. Much like the character herself, it’s the glitch that has become my superpower. It’s my one money gig.

Q. How do you feel about reaching an underage, tender-eared audience?

Oh my God, it’s great. I’m crazy for kids. It’s so fun when they find out I’m Vanellope. I love little kids. I love talking to them.

Q. Speaking of cartoon voices, I love that you do the voices for the Pesto Brothers with your sister for Bob’s Burgers. Are you Ollie or Andy, and what’s the difference?

(Ollie voice) Yeaaah! I’m Ollie. I think I have a little bit more of a penis-nose. But I think we’re twins.

Q. Real quick, just to throw in a topical question. Meryl Streep, Golden Globes, everyone’s talking about it. Some love it, some hate it. If you won the Cecil B. DeMille award, what would you say?

That’s a ‘real quick’ final question?! I should probably give it a little thought. But who can top that? She was elegant, truthful and inarguable. We’re living in a country where people are just so divided and listening to lies. Truth, unfortunately, has no currency in our country right now.

Sarah Silverman performs standup comedy at Caesars Windsor (377 Riverside Dr. E.) on Saturday. Show begins 9 p.m. Ticket prices started at $35, available via caesarswindsor.com, www.ticketmaster.ca, or the casino’s box office. 19 and older only.

dchen@postmedia.com

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