Stand-up star Sarah Silverman has learned some important lessons from her past mistakes.
Sarah Silverman was consciously “ignorant-arrogant” in the early years of her career.
The 54-year-old comedian feels she’s learned some invaluable lessons from her past mistakes, which includes a comedy sketch when she performed in blackface.
Reflecting on her evolution, Sarah told the Guardian newspaper: “Some comics are like, ‘Never apologise.’ My rule is, ‘Always apologise when you’re sorry and never apologise when you’re not.’ It’s so simple – I felt sorry.”
Sarah feels proud that she’s evolved and matured during her stand-up career.
She said: “I like being a part of the world around me, learning new stuff and being changed by it.
“Comics who are still doing that thing or voice or personality they had when they got famous, that’s such a bummer. To be the same person creatively as you were 20 years ago doesn’t feel like success to me.”
A number of new comics have been influenced by Sarah’s “ignorant-arrogant” era. But the comedian doesn’t feel any bitterness towards them.
Sarah said: “I’ve seen legendary comics feel so frustrated by seeing the next generation take their influence and go further. I saw how it ate at them – and that’s no way to live. You should be thrilled that you touched people.
“The best and most influential things do not hold up 25 years later. Nor should they. Everyone thinks too much about what people are going to think about them when they’re dead. Like, who f****** cares? You shouldn’t even be thinking about what people think of you when you’re alive. It takes so much time and space out of your happiness.”
Sarah was a writer and cast member on ‘Saturday Night Live’ between 1993 and 1994.
And although she was fired from the role, Sarah thinks she actually benefited a lot from that experience.
She previously told Shortlist: “When I got the job, I couldn’t believe it. It was a dream come true.
“Then the experience was hard but great – you’re thrown in the pool to learn how to swim. And then when I got fired, I don’t think it was personal, really. I was a junior writer and a whole mess of us were fired.
“At the time, I was devastated. I didn’t know what to do with myself. But those are like broken bones – they heal stronger.”
Sarah Silverman admits to being ‘ignorant-arrogant’ during comedy career
