00:04Welcome to Meet Your Nominee. I'm Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter and I
00:08have with me Sarah Silverman, the host and executive producer of I Love You
00:13America, which is nominated for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series. Woohoo! Yay! Okay,
00:20so first and foremost I wanted to talk a little bit just about the Emmys in
00:23general. Congratulations! I know you are a veteran of the Emmys. You've got a
00:27couple of wins under your belt, but how does it feel to be nominated for I Love
00:32You America? Um, it was actually, it was very, it meant a lot to us actually. You
00:40know, I was trying to think of it as just frosting on the cake, but my partner
00:45Emmys V and I were a little bit teary and and very happy, yeah. Do you have any
00:51other nominees that you're really excited about this year? Oh my gosh, so many. Well
00:57so many in my category, you know, I like, I, you know, I'm, I love Amy Sedaris and Drunk
01:03History and Tracy Ullman and SNL and, you know, so it's like I, I love the comp, oh
01:08who am I, am I forgetting anybody? I love the company I'm in. I mean, it's a very
01:12strong, uh, um, and, uh, very female, uh, so I'm excited about it. You've actually hosted
01:21some award shows before, so do you have any advice for Colin Jost and Michael
01:28Chet? Oh, I have no advice for them. They've got it under control. Yeah, they're gonna be great.
01:34And the last Emmys question, who would you like to dance with at the after parties?
01:39Oh, oh God. I'm terrible at this. That's a good question. Anybody. If I, if I'm in a dance mode,
01:48I'm really just whoever's around me is like, it's good. Just grabbing whoever. Yeah. It, it's hard to
01:56get into that dance head. It's almost like eating cottage cheese. Like it's gross and you have to
02:02push yourself to eat that first bite and then it's incredibly delicious. But, um, I'm really not
02:09sure what I meant by that analogy, except that like I get embarrassed to dance, but then once I'm like
02:15the music moves me too, I'm in a zone. So dancing is the cottage cheese of life. Dancing is the
02:21cottage
02:21cheese of life. Thank you. To encapsulate that thought. Um, okay. Let's talk a little bit about
02:28I Love You America. Um, you are a huge Mr. Rogers fan. He's a huge influence on you. What about
02:36I Love
02:36You America has been directly influenced by Mr. Rogers? Um, definitely not the comedy of course,
02:42but hopefully the heart of it. I mean, it, it, I think of it as Mr. Rogers for adults and
02:49what are we adults? We're just children plus time, you know? So, uh, I do think it's, we really need
02:56those lessons again. And I'm not saying I'm the one to bring them, but, um, I do think that, uh,
03:04until we see ourselves in each other, like real change isn't going to happen on a social level. And
03:11I have very strong opinions and, and they can be divisive and, um, I'm not trying to soften those,
03:20but I also know that, um, there's a, a kind of righteousness porn I see on the internet and I
03:28try to keep myself, uh, you know, in, in, um, check on that. Cause I see there's something very
03:37exhilarating about slamming someone that you know is wrong and you're, you know, and you're like,
03:42I'm right and you're wrong and fuck you. Or, you know, I don't know what I can say on the
03:47start, but,
03:47um, it, but it doesn't cause change. It certainly doesn't change minds. It doesn't get people's
03:55porcupine needles down, you know, or their defenses down. Um, and until that can happen, they're,
04:00nobody's open to change. It just is like these hard surfaces fighting each other. And, and it,
04:07it, it's, it's really a masturbatory. I mean, I, and I think it's, there's a difference between
04:14speaking truth to power. Um, it's kind of in my mind, I think of it, of the difference between
04:23the, the liars and the lied to who are only guilty of believing the liars, you know, and I,
04:30I see a disparage, just a disparity between them. And, and so I, I, um, I think on the show,
04:38we're not afraid to speak truth to power, but for the people who are just citizens, uh, uh, the are,
04:49you know, the people who are just people who aren't entities, who aren't, you know, faceless or, um,
04:56or part of this administration, um, I, I, I do feel a kinship, even if our ideologies are very
05:03different. I think we're getting our news from such different sources, um, that our truths are
05:11different. You know, we also live in a time of so much misinformation and the internet is this wild
05:17west that I think both parties haven't, um, assimilated to. So I'm talking out of my ass,
05:27but I think I'm making a point. So you've said before that this show is exactly the show that
05:32you wanted to make. It is my dream show. Yeah. So what, what is it about the format that you
05:36love?
05:37Uh, I love the, I love the, I love the monologue. It's where I can really say everything I feel.
05:44Um, I love, uh, the family dinners. I love going out into the country and it's the scariest part.
05:51I kind of always dread it and then I'm always exhilarated by it. And when you're face to face
05:57with people, it's, it's a very different scenario and, um, the internet isn't real life. And so I think
06:06when you're actually with people, um, there is a desire for connection that is human and innate and,
06:15uh, and it doesn't take a lot. It's, I know it isn't a gotcha kind of show. We're not trying
06:22to get
06:23comedy out of, um, making people look stupid or, you know, um, there are other shows that do that
06:29really well. And I, I enjoy them, but, uh, this isn't necessarily that it, it makes, um, finding
06:36the comedy much more of a challenge, but that's exciting to me. I'm older and I want that. I want
06:42it to be harder and, um, and it's really interesting. And, and it's also, there's no way to really plan
06:51for it except for to read and to, to understand, um, as much as you can before going in. And
06:58then
06:59it's just, it's almost like, you know, the best, uh, I'm not saying that we are the best documentaries
07:08at all, but the best documentaries are go in with one thing in mind and are changed by what's happening
07:16and it ends up becoming whatever it was meant to become. And I think we get really prepared and
07:23then we just see where it goes. And, you know, that's human nature is when I'm going to visit
07:29someone who maybe is, uh, you know, uh, uh, Trump voter or, uh, you know, I don't know, like any,
07:36whoever we're going to a very, you know, um, wealthy family in Wyoming ranchers who are,
07:43you know, Republicans, whatever we're about to go, or I'm spending the day with, uh,
07:48a pro-life group or an anti-choice group. Um, and it's human nature to whatever we don't know
07:55gets our brains, fill it in with something else, preconceived notions. That's it's,
08:00we can't avoid it. That happens. So to come in with preconceived notions and then let that either be
08:06proven true or more often than not blow up beautifully in our faces, you know, is interesting to me. And
08:12I,
08:13I like being changed, you know, this season, the interviews I did, which is the other element
08:19of the show. I mean, every interview kind of fundamentally changed me like to the core, you
08:26know? Um, and, uh, you know, I talked to father Gregory Boyle is Jesuit priest, um, in East LA who
08:34said,
08:35uh, if we don't, uh, I'm not, I'm going to bastardize this, but basically if we don't
08:43make friends with our wounds, we will be tempted to despise the wounded. I mean,
08:48that's something I think about all the time, you know, it's not far out. Yeah. Like, whoa,
08:52I see microcosms and macrocosms of that in my own life and in the world all the time.
08:57And, uh, or Christian Picciolini who was, uh, uh, a skinhead, a Nazi for many years and, and now
09:06helps people get out of hate groups. And, um, is this amazing man who said, you know, find someone
09:13who doesn't deserve your compassion and give it to them because that's what happened to him. And of
09:18course, hopefully there isn't anyone who doesn't deserve your compassion. And also what I've learned
09:24is that people go towards love. So you see people go kind of into dark places or what I might
09:32perceive
09:32as dark places and other people don't. It's because they found love there. They found acceptance there,
09:38you know, so the more we, it's a hard, it's a, it's new, there's nuance and I know nobody likes
09:46nuance
09:47right now and it makes it hard to write type out headlines that people will click on. But
09:55it's always, you know, do you want to have compassion for a Nazi? Fuck no, they're fucking racists,
10:01whatever. Then you go, well, one person showed this guy compassion
10:10without sacrificing anything himself. You know, they're a man of a, a black man who came into his
10:16white power record store every day and bought out a whole section of like white power records and did
10:23nothing but kind of love, like didn't say anything, just showed him love and it changed him completely.
10:35180 degrees. Now he was, there must have been something inside him all along. Yeah. It sounds
10:40like you really enjoy the challenge of connecting with people, whether that's through humor or through
10:45compassion. Yeah. Well, what are the, some of the most hilarious moments that you had in season one?
10:51Oh my gosh. Um, you know, one, one, uh, field piece that doesn't follow kind of the template of,
10:59of the show, but I really wanted to do is I, I get, I get my glasses from this guy,
11:06uh, at Jack's
11:07eyewear. It's this hole in the wall that Reggie, my friend Reggie Watts and I will have like stony
11:13brunches and we always go to this one cafe and we walked around, we found it and we both, you
11:19know,
11:19it's, it's, it's, we both wear glasses and so it's just has, this guy is kind of an idiot savant.
11:25I think we just call those savants now, sorry. Um, with glasses, but is this dare I say fringe right
11:36wing, uh, you know, just bright Bart is the gospel guy. Um, uh, and he, uh,
11:48he, he recognized me right away and it was like the first time I ever walked in,
11:53he just went right at me. But, but there's this underlying feeling. Um,
11:58we, we fight like cats and dogs about politics and just go for the jugular and it's just vitriol,
12:05but underneath it, there is some sort of, he loves me. I feel it. And, and even in the piece,
12:13I go and we just scream at each other the whole time, but I'm also trying on glasses and, and,
12:18and it's really how it is whenever I go in. And I said, this is crazy. We should shoot this
12:24because
12:24it's, and, and it, he was so exactly how he is when, I mean, there was nothing different. The
12:30cameras, you know, there's the like Heisenberg principle that like the cameras kind of changed
12:34the reality just by virtue of them being there. And it wasn't for some reason, like it was just so
12:39how it always is. And, but I, we hate each other, but at the same time, and I say this
12:47at the end of
12:47the piece is like, if he was sick, would I bring him soup? Maybe, probably. So here's a hypothetical
12:53situation. What would a crossover episode look like between I love America and who is America?
13:01Well, it's, you know, it's very funny because Sasha and I are very close and we're, we're very good
13:07friends and we are, um, call each other brother and sister, you know, we just, ever since we met,
13:14we've been like siblings. And, um, and we emailed a lot about, around his show coming out and everything.
13:22And I, I saw a couple of versions of it before it came out. And I just,
13:29I think it's just beyond brilliant. It, and, and we were laughing because they're kind of like
13:36the same show on total opposite spectrums, you know? And to me, like the thing that it has in
13:44common is the truth. I mean, he may be in a costume and prosthetics, but what he's exposing
13:52is what is the truth. You know, people, you know, look, I do on camera interviews all the time and
13:59so do all of these politicians. And when someone says, well, you look down the barrel of the camera
14:04and say, blah, blah, blah, you know, this script, I look at it. And sometimes I will. And oftentimes
14:11I go, absolutely not. I, that isn't, I don't agree with what that is. Those people chose to say what
14:18they said. Um, there, there is no trickery in that he's pretending to be someone else. But if he,
14:26if that person was a real person, they still did what they did, you know, have I said things I
14:32regret or that don't hold up or, you know, is, is a comedy evergreen? Most certainly not. And I,
14:39we talk a lot about that in this next season that I'm excited about. I like, I like being able
14:45to call
14:46myself out and I've got plenty to do that with. I've, I've grown and changed in so many ways. And
14:52all I can do is be changed by things and, and, and live my life forever that way, you know?
15:02Um, and I love people who can be changed. And that's the theme of the, um, interview part is
15:09the interview segment is people who have been changed, which is everyone, you know, but that's
15:15kind of what we like to focus on. And also, how do you wash your asshole? Which is like another
15:20thing
15:20we like to ask everyone to eventually just show everyone has their own style, but everybody does
15:26it. Yeah. I mean, not everybody. I come from comedians. Well, last question to you, Sarah,
15:32at the end of season one, you met up with Jesus at a coffee shop. What is season two going
15:38to look
15:38like? Uh, there is going to be a lot more of that kind of stuff. See, uh, Jesus at a
15:43sandwich shop.
15:43That was a sketch we did with, um, where I basically bump into Jesus played by Fred Armisen at a
15:49quiz nose, quizzes. And, um, it's, it's such a fun way to explore kind of a, the big questions.
15:59I, if anything, I think like the time we're living in right now is very, um, at its best,
16:06it's causing existential crises for all of us. And I, I think that ultimately that's a good thing.
16:13After about a year to contemplate, have you noticed a difference in, you know, are we more divisive than
16:19ever? In a lot of ways, yes, but, um, I remain hopeful. Sarah Silverman, thank you so much for
16:28being here, and we'll see you at Emmys night. Thanks.
16:30Thanks.
Comments