Sarah Silverman Was Bummed About the Ageism at James Franco's Roast

Sarah Silverman dropped by W. Kamau Bell’s Totally Biased on Friday night to talked about the James Franco roast she participated in recently. Was it fun? Sure, but that doesn’t mean Sarah Silverman (and probably everyone who has to endure having their character assassinated for giggles during a Comedy Central special) didn’t spend several days in bed afterwards trying to recover her self-esteem.

Silverman said that she needed some decompression time after appearing at the Franco roast because even though she has thick, stand-up comedian’s skin, even she was a little shaken up by all the ageist jokes made at her expense (that ageism also oozed into Totally Biased’s response to the Silverman’s gay jokes at the Franco roast, and W. Kamau Bell played a clip of that response just to make everything super awkward).

From Split Sider:

Me being old, first of all, at the roast? — completely took me by surprise … Because it’s personal, that is just so woman-based. I wasn’t even the oldest one on that dais. I’m the same age as fresh-faced new star W. Kamau Bell! I feel like it’s a part of, as soon as a woman gets to an age where she has opinions and she’s vital and she’s strong, she’s systematically shamed into hiding under a rock. And this is by progressive pop-culture people! You know what I mean? It’s really odd! I feel bad that it cut me. Because I should be like this about it (brushing her hand off her shoulder). I feel like your joke is that I’m still alive. My crime is not dying.

And I feel like, I just did this special and it made me think of something I said, which was — to so many women, especially when I watch Real Housewives — [muffled, through gritted teeth] which I watch, I wish I didn’t, but I do — I just want to say, “Your heartbreaking attempts to look younger is the reason your daughter doesn’t dream about her future!”

So, yeah, even for an established, well-respected, sharp-witted professional performer like Sarah Silverman, being a woman in comedy is about three steps away from being a cheetah in a room full of ornery dude-hyenas.