Sarah Silverman’s cathartically comedic ‘Postmortem Tour’ hits KC this Thursday

Photo by Robyn Von Swank

Comedian Sarah Silverman is processing a lot right now—both on stage and in life—with hilariously deep results. And she’s putting it all out there when her well-received Postmortem Tour hits The Midland Theatre tomorrow night, Thursday, Dec. 5. 

In Hollywood, the two-time Emmy Award-winner is considered a quadruple threat—comedian, actress, writer, and producer. (Or quintuple threat if you consider her popular weekly podcast.) On stage, however, she’s still trying to catch her breath from losing her dad and stepmom last year, a mere nine days apart.

The material she’s putting out in the universe on this tour is the perfect melding of comedy and candid catharsis, as she was quick to point out when we spoke. And she’s whittling down her act each night as she prepares to shoot her Postmortem stand-up special for Netflix next month. (No pressure, right?) 

Ahead of tomorrow night’s performance, we also dished on her recent birthday, being a celeb roaster, and her love of cult-centric vegan food. And, yes—She’s the world’s biggest fan of our fair city, too.

The Pitch: Happy belated birthday—which was just a couple of days ago. What did you do?

Sarah Silverman: Oh, I do the same thing every year. My sisters come over around noon with bagels and cream cheese, and we stand around in my kitchen, eat them, gab, and gossip. And, actually, I don’t like presents, but my sister got me a great one. It’s a slightly deflated balloon. I think my boyfriend’s getting me socks. He said it hasn’t come in yet. 

So, then that’s brunch. And then, in the evening, I have like six, seven friends come over, and we play poker.

How did that tradition start?

I think when I stopped wanting to go to loud places. I like a party now and then as a treat. But it’s work. I love poker. It’s easy. It’s my closest friends, and it’s small, but there’s lots of belly laughs. It’s perfect.

I feel like you’re a legit Sagittarius. Yes, no, maybe?

I’m not a big horoscope astrology person, but I have a lot of friends that are—and I am, apparently, a total Sagittarius. And I will say I have a lot of comedians who have the same birthday as me, Dec. 1—Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, Bette Midler, Jonathan Katz. 

I literally just went through your endless IMDB page. Is there any show or movie you were in that you watched recently and forgot you were in?

I don’t really like watching myself act and stuff. But if I see something‘s on, it’s very rare that I will choose to watch that over, say, a Law & Order rerun or something that’s streaming that I’m into. Those are my go-to’s. 

But I did watch this three-part documentary about that writer on Grey’s Anatomy, and I completely forgot that I’m in the third episode of it. We were watching it—totally into it—and there I am with this hat on. My friend Jamie Denbo writes for Grey’s, and I was doing her show at UCB, like, at this local theater. She talked about it on stage, and they asked to use that clip in it. I didn’t remember what it was for, but I was like, “Yeah, sure.” We were fully watching it, and it was such a surprise. There I was. I happened to be on the screen.

Speaking of TV, I know you’re obsessed with What We Do In the Shadows. And also Hacks… because Hacks… and it’s genius. If you were cast in Hacks, what role do you want? 

Anything? I don’t know. I just love that show. I’ve been a lifelong Jean Smart fan. Fan slash stan. But I think Hannah Einbinder is amazing. Did you watch this last season, the third season? Yeah, those last couple of episodes. I was like, “Oh. My. God.” It was such a satisfying ending and such a cliffhanger. It’s hard to do both of those at the same time.

Hard to imagine that it’s been 30 years since you were on SNL. Are you headed back for the 50th anniversary party shebang?

Photo by Robyn Von Swank

Oh yeah, I’m gonna go. I’m gonna go for that. I remember I was very cold last time for the 40th, so I’m gonna wear something warm. So, I can’t believe how long it’s been. They were doing the 20-year thing when I was there. 

Do you have a highlight of the 40th anniversary party? I feel everyone says when Prince played. 

I was gonna say, Prince. I just remember walking through an area where nobody was. People were upstairs or in this other after-party area. And there’s Prince—like an apparition just standing at the bottom of the stairs by himself, so tiny with a perfect Afro and a perfect outfit. I didn’t even know if I was imagining him or if he was real, but he was real. But I didn’t dare say anything. 

Yes! Is it live, or is it Memorex? Okay, I gotta admit, I Love You, America was the greatest thing in the history of, well, America. Do you miss that show?

I loved doing it, and I loved the people I worked with. I miss being in a writer’s room and doing stuff that felt like pretty hard jokes. Like good comedy, but to blend that with stuff that was sincere was not something I had really been doing. And I liked it. I craved it.

I saw that you debuted your very first stand-up on HBO in May last year. So, riddle me this—How long did it take you to write that? What does your writing process look like from one writer to another?

I’m laughing because, honestly, whenever I get this question, I don’t know my writing process. If someone asked me how I write a joke, I would be like, I don’t know. Like, I say some dumb shit, and then I write it down.

In general, when I write, it’s just for me. I just get my exercise sneakers on. I have to be mindless about it. I just write the bad version, and then I can work from there. 

And you’re shooting an upcoming Netflix special, right? 

Yeah, it’s this tour. I’m writing it on this tour, and then I will shoot it in the middle of January! I started with about 37 new minutes, and I knew what it was about. It’s actually about my dad and my stepmom, who both died last May, nine days apart. 

Coincidentally, in May, that special came out. So, I was also, at the same time, at zero with material. The first time I was going out to do sets was after they passed. And I was like, “Oh, okay, I’m gonna go out and do some stand-up sets.” That’s what I talked about because that’s what was going on in my life at the time. 

And to be honest—and this sounds uncouth—but when I gave the eulogy at my dad’s funeral, I was like, “Ooh, there’s something here.” So, then I started talking about a lot of those things on stage, and then by the time I went on the road, I had about 37 minutes. Now, I have a little over an hour, so I’m trying to hone it a bit.

A lot of comics they’ll subsidize old jokes. I don’t remember my old jokes. Once they’re out, they’re sealed out. Like, I have such limited room in my brain. This time, I was able to go, “I’m not gonna get anxious about this because—even though I can’t imagine it—it will get done, and I’ll do it. It always works out.” So, I’m skipping the anxiety part, and it’s been good.

Does it have a working title? 

My manager is like, “I have the title of your special and tour.” And she said, “Postmortem.” And I’m like, “Oh, that.”

But it is! It’s postmortem because I’m working it out. After every show, we talk about it, and I figure out stuff, and I have a postmortem. And it’s a literal postmortem.

At the beginning of the tour and putting it all together, I kind of had this feeling of dread before I’d go on stage. Like a deep knot in my stomach of dread, and now it’s at a place where I’m really excited to come out and talk about it. I’d love three or four more really hard-relief laughs. Maybe we’ll figure it out there in Kansas City?!

I think some of your most shockingly funny material came in your Comedy Central roasts. I recite those jokes to this day. Would you ever be amenable to being the roastee?

I don’t think so. I like being a roaster, and even then, I feel like I’ve retired. Whenever I hear there’s a roast happening, I’m so excited. But, like, I haven’t wanted to do it. I just want to watch it. 

I want to go to lunch with Jeff Ross, where he goes over all the jokes he’s thinking of and writing. And I laugh and laugh all throughout lunch. And then I watch it, and I love it, but I don’t have that tinge where I feel like I should be up there. I don’t know why. I still love it the same, but I don’t feel the need to be on it. And maybe I’ll do another one down the line? But it’s an old man/young woman sport. 

Have you been to Kansas City before? Need any vegan birthday recommendations?

I happen to know of three vegan restaurants in Kansas City. When I was there, KC absolutely shocked me with their vegan options. They have the only Cafe Gratitude outside of California. Like, they’re only in California—and one in Kansas City. 

I asked them how that happened. And they said they just begged the owners—because they loved it—to open one there. And they said, okay or something like that. But I think it’s a cult. I think it’s originally owned by a cult. 

All I know is cults make such good food. I feel like every cult has some sort of restaurant or a pay-what-you-can-thing—and the food is always so good.

Interview gently edited for length and clarity.