Interview by RCR Reporter Jen Ortega. You can follow Jen @jennifereortega
For all tv aficionados, this should be one of your favorite times of the year. It’s the 2018 PaleyFest Fall TV Previews! PaleyFest is a big celebration held at the Paley Center for Media, celebrating the Fall tv season in Los Angeles and New York. Fans are able to purchase tickets to see screenings of the shows and then stay for Q&As with various talent.
Just this week, Hulu presented I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman. ILYA just premiered Season Two on September 6th on Hulu. ILYA is a late night talk show where Silverman tries to create empathy and dialogue between polarizing sides. The first episode covers the kneeling in the NFL and a Pro-Life group that bizarrely calls themselves, Survivors of The Abortion Holocaust. RCR’s Entertainment Reporter, Jennifer Ortega spoke to Sarah before the screening of her show.
Hi Sarah! What guest this season do you think had the most impact?
Well, we did pre-tape a few of the guests, but most of the guests are live. So each Wednesday…we shoot Wednesday and post it Thursday. Post it? Airs? Does that sound better?
It streams these days.
Streams. But I have pre-taped Malcolm Jenkins (Philadelphia Eagles) and Doug Baldwin (Seattle Seahawks) and they’re amazing. I interviewed Bernie Sanders and you know, I’m a Bernie guy. But this interview, not only is it interesting, but he’s very loose. It was very personal. He’s never guarded. He doesn’t lie so he doesn’t have to worry about what he’s saying. I thought he was phenomenal and I’ve interviewed him a few times before. But this was really special. Another great one was Cory Booker and we’re friendly. I was able to call him on things, to address the fact that not all of your fellow Democrats love you and why is that. I love him. I think he’s amazing, I think too amazing for some people. They think it’s disingenuous. Like people who think Jimmy Fallon is a fraud and you go no that’s him. He’s actually beyond a doll. But Cory Booker is the real deal. We mounted cameras in his car. And he drove and it was just us, late night in Newark. Seeing Newark through his eyes is so beautiful and touching. Then there’s a pro-life group called Survivors of The Abortion Holocaust and that was very interesting. We left not changing anyone’s minds obviously.
Abortion Holocaust? I’m sorry. That’s so crazy.
The syntax alone! Besides the fact that to compare the extermination of a people to a woman who wants to terminate her pregnancy is just bananas. But we talked about it. But also the syntax. You want an abortion holocaust because that would be the end of abortion. But anyways, not to shit on them, we had a nice time. I leave there…no matter how Republican the family is, we’ve had frackers, ranchers, people in the oil business In Wyoming, we have fundamental differences. In my opinion, they need to see things a certain way in order to accept what they do in their lives and I’m sure they think that of me in some way. But I certainly left there loving them. I like people. I’m a people person.
What has been the most challenging aspects of the show and how have you overcome them?
Well, my friends that host daily shows will hate me for this, but it’s really all-consuming, which I enjoy because it keeps me from thinking about my personal life. I really love being consumed by it, but it really is all-consuming. It’ll be six months from beginning to end, from starting to write and shooting an episode to the last episode and that’s just 11 episodes. It’s all I think about it. Until I take a puff before I go to bed and watch a Law & Order to go to sleep my mind is thinking of the show because I love it. It’s more than just a show to me. It’s like a science project with really really dumb jokes in it which is my favorite combination.
I actually do the same thing. I watch Law & Order to go to bed.
It’s like comfort food to me! Some people have late night tv, but comedy can be stressful for me because it’s my business. So to me falling asleep to the gentle sounds of very familiar soft-core murder is like just the ticket.
Would you ever consider running for office?
I never planned anything that isn’t the next thing in front of me. So I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound that fun. And I feel like I can do more not in office. I don’t want to make any compromises that come with public office, but then again, I wouldn’t. But that is not anything I could even imagine in my life right now. But have you ever imagined anything that’s coming up in your life right now? No. We are looking through a pinhole.
Do you hope the show will inspire a new generation of comedians? Not just comedians, also activists?
Honestly, that skeleton key in my life that ignited everything was in high school. I left my old high school to go to a prep school. I really didn’t want to go. My dad made me. I learned critical thinking there and it was the greatest gift you can ever have. If this show just gets kids or adults, kids plus time, any of us, thinking critically and wondering about how we feel about things. It doesn’t matter what other people think, it’s more like what do I think about this. We don’t even ask ourselves what we want. We just think we are supposed to meet a person and get married and have kids. But not everyone wants that and people don’t ask themselves what they want.
About I Love You, America:
From inciting treason to telling poop jokes, Sarah Silverman has created her fair share of online chatter. With I Love You, America, she’s looking to connect with people who may not agree with her personal opinions through honesty, humor, genuine interest in others, and not taking herself too seriously. While it’s great to connect with like-minded people, Silverman feels it’s crucial, now more than ever, to connect with un-like-minded people.
Season Two is currently streaming on Hulu.
