Friday, June 4, 2010

Who is Weezer?

Who is Weezer? The American music world recognizes them as an alternative rock band that formed in Los Angeles in 1992. The band now consists of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar), Patrick Wilson (drums, guitar, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), and Scott Shriner (bass, backing vocals, keyboards). The band has changed lineups several times since its formation in 1992.They have released seven full-length albums, five EPs, and a DVD. Weezer has sold more than eight million records in the US to date.
The band is best known for their successful singles "Buddy Holly", "Undone - The Sweater Song", "Beverly Hills", "Pork and Beans" and "Island in the Sun".
The band's seventh studio album, Raditude, was released on November 3, 2009. The album's first single, entitled "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To", was released on August 18, 2009.
Weezer had their first practice on February 14, 1992, and their first gig was opening for Keanu Reeves' band Dogstar shortly thereafter. Weezer signed with Geffen Records on June 25, 1993 and recorded their debut album with producer Ric Ocasek at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. During the recording, guitarist Jason Cropper left the band and was replaced by Brian Bell. The band released Weezer in May 1994. The record label originally did not wish to release a single, to see how much sales could be created by word-of-mouth alone. Soon after the release of Weezer, DJ Marco Collins of the Seattle radio station The End started playing "Undone - The Sweater Song" after hearing of their semi-success in California, which led their record label to release "Undone - The Sweater Song" as the first official single. The music video was directed by Spike Jonze.Filmed in an unbroken take, it featured Weezer performing on a sound stage with various amusing studio antics, including a pack of dogs swarming the set. The video became an instant hit on MTV.
Jonze also directed the band's second video "Buddy Holly". The video featured footage from the television sitcom Happy Days spliced with the band performing in a remade "Arnold's Drive-In", a familiar setting from the series. The video achieved heavy rotation on MTV and went on to win Jonze and the band four MTV Video Music Awards, including Breakthrough Video and Best Alternative Music Video, and two Billboard Music Video Awards. The clip is also featured on the installation CD for the Microsoft Windows 95 computer operating system. A third single, "Say It Ain't So", followed. Weezer is currently certified triple platinum in the United States making it Weezer's all-time best seller. It is certified double platinum in Canada.


In late December 1995, Weezer took a break from touring for the Christmas holidays.Cuomo traveled back east to his home state of Connecticut, and using an eight-track recorder, he began piecing together demo material for Weezer's next album. Cuomo's original concept for Weezer's second album was to be a space-themed rock opera, Songs from the Black Hole. The album was intended to feature songs that flowed together seamlessly and end with a special coda that briefly revisited the major musical elements of the piece. The band began demoing and working on Cuomo's concept through intermittent recording sessions in the spring and summer of 1995. Ultimately, the Songs from the Black Hole album concept was dropped.The album would instead feature songs composed before the band's first album (which had briefly been incorporated into the space opera) as well as some new ones written while Cuomo was at Harvard. Weezer's second album, Pinkerton, was released on September 24, 1996. Three singles were taken from the album: "El Scorcho", "The Good Life", and "Pink Triangle". The album's title sparked a legal challenge. Pinkerton Securities of Encino, Calif., filed a temporary injunction against the band and its Geffen record label for trademark infringement two days before the album was to be released on September 24, 1996.A judge ruled for Weezer, and the album was finally released. This injunction caused Geffen to hold back some of the initial advertising and promotion for the album, possibly contributing to the album's slow initial sales. Due to initial weak sales (it peaked at #19 in the U.S.), the album was, at first, viewed as a commercial failure, especially when viewed in light of the multi-platinum success of their debut album. The album failed to gain traction in the mainstream music world, perhaps due to a darker, more abrasive sound on the album. Pinkerton was labeled "one of the worst albums 1996" by a Rolling Stone Magazine reader poll. However, word-of-mouth kept the trickle of sales going and eventually the record achieved cult status.
Weezer completed their touring for Pinkerton in the summer of 1997. The members of the band took a break, with drummer Patrick Wilson returning to his home in Portland, Oregon to work on his side project, The Special Goodness; Matt Sharp left to complete the follow-up album for his group The Rentals; and Brian Bell went to work on his group, Space Twins.
Rivers Cuomo returned to Boston, Massachusetts, but took a break from Harvard to focus on songwriting. Cuomo gathered Boston-area musicians and rehearsed new material, including possible songs for the next Weezer album. The group, referred to by fans as the Rivers Cuomo Band, had several different lineups and played several shows at local clubs, including their first show at T.T. the Bear's on October 8, 1997. Future Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh was a constant of the group's evolving lineups. Pat Wilson eventually flew to Boston to sit in on drums. The Boston songs were later abandoned and not used on the next Weezer album, but live recordings of the Boston shows are openly traded on the internet. In February 1998, Rivers left Boston and returned to Los Angeles.
Pat Wilson and Brian Bell joined Cuomo in L.A. to start work on the next album. Matt Sharp did not rejoin the band and officially left the group in April 1998. The group decided on Mikey Welsh as Sharp's replacement. Weezer continued rehearsing and cut demos until the fall of 1998. Frustration and creative disagreements led to a decline in rehearsals, and in late fall of 1998, drummer Pat Wilson left for his home in Portland pending renewed productivity from Cuomo. Rivers Cuomo went into a period of admitted depression, painting the walls of his home black and putting "fiberglass insulation all over the windows and then black sheets of fiberglass so that no light could get through.
The band would not reunite until April 2000, when the Fuji Festival in Japan offered Weezer a high-paying gig to play in August 2000. The festival served as a catalyst for Weezer's productivity, and from April to May 2000, the band rehearsed and demoed new songs in Los Angeles. The band returned to live shows in June 2000, playing small unpromoted concerts under the pseudonym Goat Punishment. In June 2000, the band joined the Warped Tour for eight dates.
In the summer of 2000, Weezer (now consisting of Rivers Cuomo, Mikey Welsh, Pat Wilson, and Brian Bell) went on tour (including dates on the popular Vans Warped Tour). Weezer's setlist consisted of 14 new songs that fans have labeled the Summer Songs of 2000 (commonly abbreviated, SS2K). When 13 of these songs did not appear on Weezer's next album, fans of the songs started a petition demanding the release of studio versions.
Eventually, the band went back into the studio to produce a third album. They chose the title, Weezer (2001), to repeat the self-titled name of their first release. This album quickly became known as "The Green Album" due to its distinctive bright green coloring. Shortly after the release of the album, Weezer went on another American tour. They attracted a new generation of fans thanks to heavy MTV rotation for the videos of their hit singles, "Hash Pipe" and "Island in the Sun".
As reported on August 16, 2001, by MTV, bassist Mikey Welsh was checked into a psychiatric hospital. His whereabouts were previously unknown, as he mysteriously went missing before the filming of the second video for "Island in the Sun". Weezer was prompted to find a temporary replacement for Welsh. Through a mutual friend, Cuomo received Scott Shriner's number and asked if he was interested to fill in for Welsh. Shriner accepted the invitation.

The band took an experimental approach for the recording process by allowing fans to download the demos from their official website in return for feedback. After the release of the album, the band stated that this process was somewhat of a failure, as the fans did not supply them with cohesive, constructive advice. Cuomo eventually delegated song selection for the album to their original A&R rep, Todd Sullivan, stating the Weezer fans chose the "wackest songs." Only the song "Slob" was included on the album due to general fan advice.
The recording was also done without input from their record label, Interscope. Cuomo had recently had what he then described as a "massive falling out" with the label. In early 2002, well before the official release of the album, the label sent out a letter to radio stations requesting the song be pulled until an official, sanctioned single was released. Interscope also briefly shut down Weezer's audio/video download webpage, removing all the MP3 demos. Online Weezer fans staged a brief protest with several websites proclaiming "Free Maladroit".
In April 2002, former bassist Matt Sharp sued the band, alleging, among several accusations, he was owed money for co-writing several Weezer songs. The suit was later settled out of court.
The fourth album, Maladroit, was released on May 14, 2002, only one year after its predecessor. The album served as a harder-edged version of their trademark catchy pop-influenced music, and was replete with busy 1980s-style guitar solos. Although met with generally positive critical reviews, its sales were not as strong as those for "The Green Album", and it remains their lowest-selling album to date. Two singles were released from the album. The music video for "Dope Nose" featured an obscure Japanese motorcycle gang, and was put into regular rotation. The music video for "Keep Fishin'" combined Weezer with The Muppets, and had heavy rotation on MTV. Both videos were directed by Marcos Siega.
As soon as Maladroit had wrapped up, the band immediately began work on their fifth album, recording numerous demos between tours (often recording as many as 24 songs in a day). These songs were eventually scrapped, and Weezer took a break after the release of two albums in quick succession. During this break, Bell and Wilson released LPs from their respective Space Twins and The Special Goodness side-projects.
Weezer released their much-delayed first DVD on March 23, 2004. The Video Capture Device DVD chronicles the band from its beginnings through Maladroit's Enlightenment Tour. Compiled by Karl Koch, the DVD features home video footage, music videos, commercials, rehearsals, concert performances, television performances, and band commentary. The DVD was certified "gold" on November 8, 2004.
From December 2003 to the fall of 2004, the members of Weezer recorded a large amount of material intended for a new album to be released in the spring of 2005 with producer Rick Rubin. The band's early recording efforts became available to the public through the band's website. The demos were a big hit, but none of the songs recorded at this time were included on the finished album. That album, entitled Make Believe, was released on May 10, 2005. Despite commercial success, Make Believe generally got a mixed reception from critics, receiving an average score of 52 on review collator Metacritic. Although some reviews, such as AMGs, compared it favorably to Pinkerton, others, among them Pitchfork Media's score of 0.4 out of 10, panned the album as predictable and lyrically poor.
The album's first single, "Beverly Hills", became a hit in the U.S. and worldwide, staying on the charts for several months after its release. It became the first Weezer song to hit #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. "Beverly Hills" was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the first ever Grammy nomination for the band. The video was also nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. The second single off Make Believe was "We Are All on Drugs". MTV refused to play the song, so Weezer re-recorded the lyrics by replacing "on drugs" with "in love" and renaming the song "We Are All in Love". In early 2006, it was announced that Make Believe was certified platinum, and "Beverly Hills" was the second most popular song download on iTunes for 2005, finishing just behind "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefanie Make Believe's third single, "Perfect Situation", spent four weeks in a row at number one on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. "This is Such a Pity" was the band's fourth single from the album, but no music video was made for its release. The Make Believe tour also found the band using additional instruments onstage, adding piano, synthesizers, pseudophones, and guitarist Bobby Schneck.
The band has announced the possible release of a live DVD composed of footage from the 2005 Japan tour. It will consist of a two day, seven camera shoot of the shows in Japan, plus material that will be drawn from various behind-the-scenes footage. The DVD was announced in late 2005, but in a recent update on the band's website, Karl Koch noted it was "apparently edited, but has been put on hold for now."

The Red Album (2007–2008)

Main article: Weezer (2008 album)
Weezer's Weezer (also referred to as "The Red Album") was released in June 2008. Rick Rubin produced the album and Rich Costey mixed it. The record is being described as "experimental", and according to Cuomo, includes longer and non-traditional songs, TR-808 drum machines, synthesizers, Southern rap, baroque counterpoint, and band members other than Cuomo writing, singing, and switching instruments. Pat Wilson stated the album cost around a million dollars to make, contrasting it with the $150,000 budget of "The Blue Album".The album's singles were produced by Jacknife Lee, the album's lead single "Pork and Beans" topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts for 11 weeks and its music video won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video, and the album's second single, "Troublemaker", debuted at #39 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and peaked at #2. In October 2008, the group announced that the third single would be "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)"
On May 30, 2008, the Toledo Free Press revealed in a Scott Shriner interview that Weezer would be unveiling the "Hootenanny Tour", in which fans would be invited to bring their own instruments to play along with the band. Said Shriner: "They can bring whatever they want...Oboes, keyboards, drums, violins, and play the songs with us as opposed to us performing for them." The band performed 5 dates in Japan at the beginning of September and then embarked on what was dubbed the 'Troublemaker' tour - 21 dates around the US, including one in Canada. Angels and Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club joined them as support at each show and Brian Bell's 'other' band The Relationship also performed at a handful of dates. Shortly before the encore at each show, the band would bring on fans with various instruments and perform Island in the Sun and Beverly Hills with them. At a show in Austin, after Tokyo Police Club had played their set, Rivers was wheeled out in a box and mimed to a recording of rare Weezer demo, 'My Brain', donned in pajamas with puppets on his hands, before being wheeled off again. This bizarre event later surfaced as the climax to a promo video for Rivers' second demo album, Alone 2.
Rivers Cuomo also wrote a song with pop duo Aly & AJ, and was very pleased with the way the girls worked. It is unknown if the song will be made public on an album.
On December 4, iPhone OS developer Tapulous released the game Christmas With Weezer, featuring gameplay similar to Tap Tap Revenge and six Christmas carols performed by the band. A digital EP featuring the songs, entitled "Christmas with Weezer", was also released Dec. 16, 2008.

Raditude (2009-present)

Main article: Raditude
Weezer toured with Blink-182 in 2009, including an August 30 stop at the Virgin Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Drummer Josh Freese joined Weezer on a temporary basis to play drums on the Blink-182/Weezer tour while Pat Wilson switched to guitar. Wilson stated in an interview for Yahoo! Music that Cuomo wanted "to be active and more free on stage and him having guitar on was an impediment." Freese stated he was a Weezer fan and did not want to pass up the opportunity to play with them.
On July 17, Karl Koch revealed on weezer.com that the band's second album Pinkerton would be reissued in a Deluxe Edition.
Raditude's album artwork was revealed on September 11, featuring a National Geographic contest-winning photograph of a jumping dog named Sidney. The record's release was pushed to November 3, 2009, where it debuted as the seventh best-selling album of the week on the Billboard 200 chart. The band scheduled tour dates in December 2009 extending into early 2010 to coincide with the new album's release. On December 6th, 2009, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo was injured when his tour bus crashed in upstate New York due to black ice. Cuomo suffered three broken ribs, and his assistant broke two ribs. His wife, baby daughter, and their nanny were also on the bus; however, they escaped injury. Weezer cancelled tour dates the following day. The band resumed touring on January 20th, 2010.
In December 2009, it was revealed that the band was no longer with Geffen Records, and that they were unsure about their future in recording. The band has stated that they will still release new material, but they are unsure of the means, whether it be self-released, released online, or getting signed by another label.
The band are in the process of compiling Odds and Ends, a collection of rarities, and are planning a deluxe edition of Pinkerton. The band also recorded a cover of I'm a Believer for the forthcoming movie, Shrek Forever After.
Weezer will be co-headlining The Bamboozle in May 2010, and will performing at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN in June. In August 2010 Weezer will be performing at Reading and Leeds Festival.
In a May interview with HitQuarters, producer-songwriter Lucas Secon confirmed that he had recently worked with Cuomo on both a Steve Aoki single and "some Weezer stuff."

Solo work

Lead singer Rivers Cuomo released a demo-compilation album entitled Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo on December 18, 2007. The album contains demos of Cuomo's that span from 1992 to 2007, including songs from Weezer's abandoned second album, Songs from the Black Hole.
During this time, Brian Bell also took some time out to work with Chicago rock outfit the The Relationship. It will be the band's first album and is due to release soon.
Rivers' second demo album, Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo, was released on November 25 2008. The album includes further tracks from the scrapped Songs from the Black Hole, early versions of songs later released as full-band demos, amongst various other demo tracks.
Many members of Weezer have bands of their own. Brian Bell has collaborated with Space Twins and The Relationship, Patrick Wilson was in The Special Goodness, and Matt Sharp was in The Rentals as well as performing alone under his own name.

Influence

Many modern bands, such as Deftones, The All-American Rejects, Bloc Party, Ash, Emery, Manchester Orchestra, Brand New, Cymbals Eat Guitars and The Fall of Troy list Weezer as an influence. Weezer themselves have listed several influences, among them KISS (with direct references in the song, "In the Garage"), Nirvana (who was their labelmate for a very brief time before Kurt Cobain's death), Pixies (especially early on in their career), Wax and Sonic Youth. Early Weezer demos, such as "Paperface", have very obvious ties musically to the Pixies and Nirvana. Also, the song, "Susanne" originally read, "Even Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose" , instead of "Even Izzy, Slash, and Axl Rose", changed after Cobain's death. There is also a direct reference to Nevermind in "Heart Songs", a track found on The Red Album. As a side project, Weezer also briefly played Nirvana and Oasis covers under the stage moniker "Goat Punishment". In 1998, Weezer covered "Velouria" by the Pixies for a Pixies tribute album, and in 2005 briefly got to tour with their idols for a few dates. Green Day has also been said to be an influence (there is a direct lyric about Green Day in the song, "El Scorcho"), and it has been acknowledged that the two bands are friends with one another and enjoy each other's music. Weezer contributed the song "Worry Rock" to Different Shade Of Green: A Green Day Tribute. Rivers Cuomo also covered "Brain Stew" in a 2009 AOL Sessions set.

Discography

Main article: Weezer discography

Band members

Current lineup
  • Rivers Cuomo – lead vocals, keyboards, guitar (1992–present)
  • Brian Bell – guitar, backing vocals, keyboards (1993–present)
  • Scott Shriner – bass, backing vocals, keyboards (2001–present)
  • Pat Wilson – drums, percussion, guitar, backing vocals (1992–present)
Former members

To see more of Who Is click here
at No comments:

Who is Sarah Kate Silverman?

Who is Sarah Kate Silverman? The entertinment world knows her as an American comedian, writer, actress, singer and musician. Although usually credited as Sarah Silverman, she is sometimes credited by her nickname, Big S. Her satirical comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion.

Silverman first gained notice as a writer and occasional performer on Saturday Night Live. She starred in and produced The Sarah Silverman Program, which ran from Feb 2007 to May 2010, on Comedy Central.[1] She often performs her act by playing a caricature of a Jewish-American princess, mocking bigotry and stereotypes of ethnic groups and religious denominations, by having her comic character endorsing them in an ironic fashion.[2][3][4]


Early life

Sarah Silverman, the youngest of four daughters, was born December 1, 1970 in Bedford, New Hampshire. Her mother, Beth Ann Halpin, was George McGovern's personal campaign photographer and founded the theater company New Thalian Players.[5] Her father, Donald Silverman, was a social worker by training who ran the discount clothing store Crazy Sophie's Outlet. Her family is Jewish, the descendants of immigrants from Poland and Russia.

She appeared in community theater at age 12, most notably with Community Players of Concord, New Hampshire in "Annie" and also appeared on a local television show in the Boston area called Community Auditions at age 15. She attended The Derryfield School in Manchester, New Hampshire. At seventeen, she performed stand-up comedy in a restaurant, singing a song she called "Mammaries". She then attended New York University and continued her stand-up in Greenwich Village.[6][7][8][9]

Career


Silverman first received national attention in the 1993–94 season of Saturday Night Live (SNL) as a writer and featured player. She was fired after one season because only one of the sketches she wrote survived to dress rehearsal, and none aired. Bob Odenkirk, a former SNL writer explained, "I could see how it wouldn't work at SNL because she's got her own voice, she's very much Sarah Silverman all the time. She can play a character but she doesn't disappear into the character — she makes the character her."[6] Silverman states she was upset when SNL fired her via fax. She parodied the situation when she appeared on The Larry Sanders Show episode "The New Writer" (1996), playing Sanders' new staff writer, whose jokes are not used because of the chauvinism and bias of the male chief comedy writer, who favors the jokes of his male co-writers. She appeared in three episodes of Larry Sanders during its last two seasons.

Silverman was a featured performer on the HBO sketch comedy show Mr. Show (1995-97). She made TV program guest appearances on Seinfeld, in the episode "The Money"; (1997) on Star Trek: Voyager, in the two-part time travel episode "Future's End" (1996); on V.I.P. in the episode "48 1/2 Hours" (2002); on Greg the Bunny as a series regular (2002); and on the puppet television comedy Crank Yankers, as the voice of Hadassah Guberman (2003, 2007). She had small parts in the films There's Something About Mary, Say It Isn't So, School of Rock, The Way of the Gun, Overnight Delivery, Screwed, Heartbreakers, Evolution, School for Scoundrels, and Rent, playing a mixture of comic and serious roles. Her stand-up comedy act, a one-woman show, was released in 2005 as a feature film, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic. As part of the film's publicity campaign, she appeared online in Slate, as the cover subject of Heeb magazine, and in roasts on Comedy Central of Pamela Anderson and Hugh Hefner. In 2005, Silverman played a therapist in a skit for a bonus DVD of the album Lullabies to Paralyze by the band Queens of the Stone Age. Silverman also appears at the end of the video for American glam metal band Steel Panther's "Death To All But Metal".

Silverman guest starred in a second season episode of the USA cable program Monk as Marci Maven. She returned in the sixth season premiere and for the 100th episode of Monk. According to the audio commentary on the Clerks II DVD, director Kevin Smith offered her the role that eventually went to Rosario Dawson, but she turned it down out of fear of being typecast in "girlfriend roles". However, she told Smith the script was "really funny" and mentioned that if the role of Randal Graves was being offered to her she "would do it in a heartbeat."

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Silverman parodied sketches from Chappelle's Show, replaying Dave Chappelle's characterizations of Rick James and "Tyrone", as well as a Donnell Rawlings character based on the miniseries Roots. The parody addressed a popular rumor that Silverman was the planned replacement for Chappelle after he left his popular television show.

In 2006, Silverman placed #50 on Maxim Hot 100 List.[10] In 2007, she placed #29 and appeared on the cover.[11] She made the cover of The Observer in the United Kingdom, with an article naming her "the world's hottest, most controversial comedian".[12]

In June 2007 she hosted the MTV Movie Awards. During her opening act, she commented on the upcoming jail sentence of Paris Hilton, who was in the audience, "In a couple of days, Paris Hilton is going to jail... As a matter of fact, I heard that to make her feel more comfortable in prison, the guards are going to paint the bars to look like penises. I think it is wrong, too. I just worry she is going to break her teeth on those things."[13] In September 2007 she appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards. Following the comeback performance of Britney Spears, Silverman mocked her on stage, saying: "Wow, she is amazing. I mean, she is 25 years old, and she has already accomplished everything she's going to accomplish in her life."[14]

In January 2008 she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to show Jimmy Kimmel, her boyfriend, a special video. The video turned out to be a song called "I'm Fucking Matt Damon", in which she and Matt Damon sang a duet about having an affair behind Kimmel's back. The video created an "instant YouTube sensation".[15] Kimmel responded with his own video a month later with Damon's friend Ben Affleck, which enlisted a panoply of stars, to record Kimmel's song "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck".[16]


On September 13, 2008, Silverman won a Creative Arts Emmy for writing the song "I'm Fucking Matt Damon".[17]

In October 2008, Silverman visited the United Kingdom to promote the release of The Sarah Silverman Program on Paramount Comedy, but her media and stage performances failed to impress audiences. Her debut stand-up performance at the Hammersmith Apollo was widely panned by the critics and audiences alike. The performance bombed when Silverman's warm-up act failed to appear and Silverman rushed through a short 35-40 minute set. The heckling audience, who had been charged £40-50 a seat, refused to leave the theatre and Silverman, sporting a pair of after-show slippers, was forced to return to the stage for an impromptu question and answer session. Steve Bennett from comedy website Chortle declared that "minute for minute, there are sex phonelines that are cheaper than Sarah Silverman."[18][19]

Silverman sold her idea of a book of humorous essays to HarperCollins for $2.5 million. The Observer reported that David Hirshey
was her editor.[20][21] The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee was released in April 2010.[1]

Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic

Silverman's concert film, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, based on her one-woman show of the same name, was released in 2005. Liam Lynch directed the movie, distributed by Roadside Attractions. Rotten Tomatoes gave Jesus Is Magic a "fresh" rating of 64% with 54 positive reviews and 30 negative ones, with the "cream of the crop" giving it a rating of 67%.[22] It made US$124,475 on its opening weekend, showing on seven screens. The box office performance led to an expanded release in as many as 57 theaters, resulting in a box office take of more than US$1.3 million.[23] The DVD was released in June 2006. The soundtrack featured songs and standup from the movie, and previously unreleased songs.[24]

The Sarah Silverman Program

Silverman's television sitcom, The Sarah Silverman Program, debuted on Comedy Central in February 2007. The show proved to be a ratings success, scoring the highest premiere ratings of any Comedy Central show in three years, with 1.81 million viewers and the highest 18–49 rating of the night on cable.[1][25] It portrays the day-to-day adventures of fictionalized versions of Silverman, her sister Laura and their friends. A number of comedic actors from Mr. Show have reappeared on The Sarah Silverman Program. Silverman was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her acting on the show. At the awards ceremony, she wore a fake mustache.

Comedy Central canceled the Sarah Silverman Program after three seasons.[26]

Controversy

In a July 2001 interview on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien Silverman used the ethnic slur "chink" explaining that a friend advised her to avoid jury duty by writing a racial slur on the selection form, "something inappropriate, like 'I hate chinks.'" Silverman said she decided that she did not want to be thought of as a racist, so "I wrote 'I love chinks' – and who doesn't?" Silverman said that the joke satirizes the racist thought process. Guy Aoki, of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA), objected to her use of the slur.[27][28] NBC and O'Brien apologized, but Silverman did not, later appearing on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher in July and August 2001. Silverman questioned Aoki's sincerity, accusing him of exploiting the opportunity for publicity. On an episode of the show, Aoki appeared with Silverman, and stated that he did not accept Silverman's explanation, saying that it was not successful satire and that comedians should consult with groups such as his before performing such material. Silverman stated in an NPR's Fresh Air interview that she was asked to repeat the joke on Politically Incorrect, among other places, but she eventually dropped the joke from her act because she felt it was becoming stale.[24] Silverman has since turned the complaint into grist for her stand-up act, saying that the experience helped teach her the important lesson that racism is bad: "And I mean bad, like in that black way."[29]

A minor controversy also arose over Silverman's performance in the documentary film The Aristocrats (2005). The film shows Silverman giving an apparently autobiographical account of her life as a child sex performer and mentions how Joe Franklin, a New York radio and TV personality whose nostalgic programs have aired since the early 1950s, would ask her to perform privately for him in his apartment. Silverman looks at the camera and, in a deadpan voice, accused Franklin of raping her. The film was edited in such a way that it appears as if Franklin knows what Silverman said about him. Later, after her clip, Franklin is shown stating "Sarah Silverman is a young lady to watch". After the film came out, Franklin took offense to Silverman's using his name and considered suing her. A month later the New York Times noted he remained undecided, but said, "the best thing I could do is get Sarah better writers so she'd have funnier material.[30]

Personal life

Silverman has said that she does not consume alcohol, because it nauseates her. She is open about her lifelong battle with clinical depression, crediting her subsequent emotional health to taking prescription drug Zoloft.[8][31][32] She struggled with bedwetting from the time she was young until well into her teens and has joked that the last time she wet her bed was when she was fired from Saturday Night Live.[24][32] Her biography published in April of 2010, entitled The Bedwetter, touches heavily on that very subject.

Silverman talked about having dated Dave Attell
on one of her appearances on The Howard Stern Show. Silverman and Colin Quinn joked about having been romantically linked during her Saturday Night Live career. In her first appearance on the Stern show in June 2001 she said she was dating someone named Tom who wrote for SNL. A February 2007 magazine article said Silverman was in a relationship that began in 2002 with Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live![33] She referred to the relationship in some of her comedy, "I'm Jewish, but I wear this Saint Christopher medal sometimes; my boyfriend is Catholic — but you know... it was cute the way he gave it to me. He said if it doesn't burn a hole through my skin, it will protect me.[6]" In July 2008 Vanity Fair reported that the couple had split, ending their relationship of five years. However in October 2008 it was revealed by Fox News and People magazine that they were on "the road back to being together."[34] The couple attended the wedding of Howard Stern together,[35] but split again in March 2009.[36]

Silverman has stated she does not want to get married until same-sex couples are able to.[37] She has also stated she doesn't want to have biological children to avoid the risk that they might inherit her depression.[38]

Silverman's biological sister Laura plays her sister on The Sarah Silverman Program. Another sister, Susan, is a rabbi who lives on a kibbutz in Israel with her husband and five children.[39]

Silverman is a fan of Jenny Lewis and appeared in Lewis' music video for the song "Rise Up With Fists!!" She is also a fan of comedian Steve Martin who was one of her major inspirations as a younger comedian.[12] Silverman enjoys playing Scrabble on the Internet. One of her regular opponents is Alyssa Milano who lives in the same building as her.[31] She credited comedian Tig Notaro as one of her best friends in an interview in The Advocate.[37]

She is ethnically Jewish, which she has frequently mined for material, but does not follow the religion claiming "I have no religion. But culturally I can’t escape it; I’m very Jewish."[40][41] Her humor has also touched on other religions. In 2009 she suggested the Pope sell the Vatican and use some of the money for luxurious housing and the remainder to stop world hunger saying he would "get crazy pussy."[42]

As of January 2010 Silverman is dating Family Guy producer/writer Alec Sulkin.[43]

Filmography

Features:

Short subjects:

  • Strippers Pole (2002)
  • Nobody's Perfect (2004)
  • Supermarket (2004)
  • Give The Jew Girl Toys (satirical music video)
  • Confetti

Television work


To see more of Who Is click here
at 1 comment:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Who is Luigi "Geno" Auriemma?

W ho is  Luigi   " Geno "   Auriemma? The college basketball world recognizes him as the most successfull division 1  college bas...

  • Who is Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie?
    Who is Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie? The entertainment and music world knows Lulu Kennedy-Cairns by her stage name Lulu . She is a Scott...
  • Who is Amy Lee Grant?
    Who is Amy Grant? is an American singer-songwriter , musician , author , media personality and occasional actress , best known for he...