EVIL COMEDY IN THE NEW YORKER.

So, Tad Friend from The New Yorker has put together a piece on Sarah Silverman's new sitcom (which I await breathlessly, lustfully), which he has taken to calling "mean comedy". Ah, Tad? This particular brand of comedy, which Sarah is definitely a purveyor of, goes further than being "mean" and enters the realm of pure EVIL. It is not about just simply lacking sentimentality, but also about debasing the very structure that our country was founded upon. I am a New Yorker fan (Anthony Lane is my favorite film critic), but Friend's claims that Silverman's show is "much the meanest sitcom in years" totally ducks STRANGERS WITH COMEDY and IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA, my two old standbys. And actually, add WONDRER SHOWZEN to that list. While not technically a sitcom, it has to be considered among the single most subversive, vile, completely ruthless TV shows ever filmed. That it is a spoof on children's educational shows only adds to the fun. But I'll have a longer writeup on WONDER SHOWZEN sometime in the coming future. As to Sarah's show, well, it's getting Brian Posehn and Jay Johnston on TV regularly, so it's got that going for it. It is, of course, also Sarah Silverman's, who I am starting to think might be wearing a little thin, but is still bitterly funny in smaller doses. Just the same, I am looking forward to watching the show. More evil comedy can never be a bad thing.