'Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic'

Her delivery a seamless blend of psychobabbling TV guest and narcissistic Valley Girl, Silverman never breaks character: "You know what babies love? Ethnic jokes!" In the realm of stand-up Jews, she's neither a Lenny Bruce philosopher nor a Sandra Bernhard performance artist. Borderline tiresome, Silverman's racial and sexual obsessions might suggest Jackie Mason with a pretty face. But really, she's a verbal Jerry Lewis, shamelessly willing to say anything. ("I always feel crappy when I do that joke," she pretends to apologize, "but it gets such a good laugh.") A TV crack got Silverman into trouble with an Asian American media watchdog group. "What kind of world do we live in where a totally cute white girl can't say 'Chink' on network television?" she complains. "It's like the '50s—totally scary. As a member of the Jewish community, I was really concerned that we were losing control of the media."