''Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic'' is a 2005

stand-up Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written by and starring

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

, directed by Liam Lynch, and distributed by Roadside Attractions. The movie is a

concert film A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history The ...

consisting of 72 minutes of clips taken from Silverman's previous stand-up show of the same name, interspersed with flashbacks and comedic sketches. Silverman addresses a number of topics, including

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

, people with

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

people, and dwarves. Silverman also performs several original songs in the film.

Release

The film was released November 11, 2005 in eight theatres. Receiving positive reviews, it made just under $125,000 during opening weekend. Its performance led to an expanded release in as many as 57 theatres, resulting in a

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

take of more than $1.2 million. The film was released on DVD on June 6, 2006 in the United States, June 13 in Canada, and October 13, 2008 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. A soundtrack CD was also released featuring most of the musical numbers, excerpts from Silverman's stand-up comedy, and several additional songs which did not appear in the film.

Critical reception

''Jesus Is Magic'' has been the subject of mixed reviews. A. O. Scott of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' believed that the film's comedic value rests too heavily on the shock value of having such irreverent jokes delivered via the

Jewish American Princess Stereotypes of Jews are generalized representations of Jews, often caricatured and of a prejudiced and antisemitic nature. Common objects, phrases and traditions which are used to emphasize or ridicule Jewishness include bagels, the complaining ...

persona embodied by Silverman, writing "Most of the humor in 'Jesus Is Magic' depends on the scandal of hearing a nice, middle-class Jewish girl make jokes about rape, anal sex, the Holocaust and AIDS. She makes fun of religion. She riffs on 9/11. But Ms. Silverman is not smashing taboos so much as she is desperately searching for them." Others, like Leo Benedictus of

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, credit the intelligence of Silverman and the skill of the performance. Using as an example of Silverman's off-color joke that “being raped by a doctor” could be “kind of bittersweet for a Jewish girl,” Benedictus concluded that “it's not the Jewish stereotype that really powers the laugh, or the perfect inappropriateness of ilverman’s words it's the flip of mood from: ‘Here's something you can't joke about’ to, ‘Oh yes you can.’ Dangerous – and liberating.” Benedictus, Leo. Comedy Gold: Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic. The Guardian. March 21, 2012) Rotten Tomatoes gives the show a rating of 64%.

References

External links

* 2005 films American comedy films 2005 comedy films Stand-up comedy concert films Roadside Attractions films Sarah Silverman Stand-up comedy on DVD 2000s English-language films Films directed by Liam Lynch 2000s American films {{2000s-comedy-film-stub