The Sarah Silverman Program

NYPress.com

THE IRONIC WOMAN
Sarah Silverman, devastatingly cute and vice versa

The fall season has already seen its share of wimpy, moralistic compromises. The villainess of NBC’s “The Bionic Woman” smoked a cigarette, but only after explaining that her own bionics prevents lung cancer. Satan condemned a first-born son on The CW’s “Reaper,” and then put him to work doing good for mankind. But over on Comedy Central, “The Sarah Silverman Program” will have none of it. In the first two second season episodes, Sarah’s character takes a joyful trip down memory lane reliving her past abortions, sympathizes with a guy who had to give up crack and rigorously defends her right to lick a dog’s anus (“Fair, at best” is her culinary critique). It’s sick, stupid, brilliant and the bravest sitcom on TV.

Last year, Sarah had sex with God (in the body of a 62-year-old black man), so it’s not really a matter of Silverman trying to top herself in terms of outrageousness. Rather, she just loves to juggle as many comedic styles as she can, as fast as she can. Her portrayal of a selfish, cute, dirty, ignorant intellectual is aided greatly by the fact that she has no problem working the extremes of shock comedy, transforming it into silliness (“Babies should say “goo,” not become it.”) and then swan diving into a terrible pun. Even prop gags are not beneath her as she makes use of an abortion vacuum with a “shag” setting. Less helpful is her supporting cast, including real-life sister Laura—proof that comic timing is not an inherited trait.

Silverman’s talent balances at the edge of a precipice. Too much notoriety puts her sharp instincts in danger of crashing down around her. Last month, when she drove the final nail into Britney Spears’ coffin at the MTV awards (“Twenty-five years old and she’s already accomplished everything she’s going to accomplish in her life.”) and bashed Britney’s kids, it was mean and funny, sure, but it was also too easy, too YouTubed, compared with, say, her idea for an American Airlines slogan (“First Through the Towers”). With any luck, her TV show will barely get noticed at all.

The Film Crew - Wild Women of Wongo (DVD)

NYPress.com

THREE MEN IN A DUB
MST3K, The Next Generation

Where do once-successful franchises go once they’ve been turned away from the likes of Comedy Central and the Sci Fi Channel? To DVD of course. Thus, here are the three gentlemen who once reigned over the cult TV show, “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” still dishing out wisecrack audio commentary tracks atop very, very bad movies. Now calling themselves The Film Crew, and without benefit of their puppets Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett tackle the Wild Women of Wongo. This is the third in a series of releases from Shout! Factory (the fourth, just out, is The Giant of Marathon).

The comic stylings of these middle-aged white Midwesterners are nerdy to the max, yet not without moments of inspiration. They’re no Three Stooges, but the timing that comes from working together for more than a decade is on display as they banter at full throttle. They do their best to drown out this amateurish film about island natives and their penchant to dance, skinny dip, wave spears and stumble over dialog (Though there is a surprisingly good underwater sequence where a lovely Wongovian lass wrestles with an alligator that barely looks fake at all.).

Nearly every scene provides the opportunity for a Crew member to score a one-liner ripe with sexual innuendo (“That’s it baby. Squat down and stir my soup.”). Familiarity with 20th century pop culture is a pre-requisite for viewers as allusions to Tonya Harding, Arby’s oven mitt mascot and “Karma Chameleon” are flung about. But the boys are at their best when they zing the sheer inanity of the film itself. They name the island queen’s pet the appropriate “Fakey the Lizard,” and make mincemeat of a ridiculously overused parrot that appears during every scene transition while barely uttering a word.

“Bonus” is not really the correct adjective to describe the whopping four minutes of additional features thrown in for no apparent reason. The guys dance a little and do a lame skit with some cardboard cutout Wongo women. As it was with MST3K, Nelson & Co. should be heard and not seen.