Coincidentally, I've been engaged in some heated discussions with
online friends about another great (in my never-humble opinion)
comedic actor, (fasten your seatbelts,  folks!), Sarah Silverman.  If
you are offended by the mention of her name in the same breath as
Paul Newman, I understand and apologize.  But the reason I bring it
up is that I've been making the claim that she is, above all, a
comedic actor (if perhaps not a very versatile one, alas!), whose
standup routine is premissed on a created persona that is enormously
difficult to pull off and shows brilliant and original talent and
insight.  And further, I've compared her mock pose (as someone
oblivious to the racist - or otherwise outrageous - content of her
casual remarks)  to those of Swift (in A Modest Proposal) and Twain
(in The War Prayer), not in the gravity of their content, certainly,
but in the ironical/satirical device used, and used so skillfully.
Anyway, her recent performance for The Great Schlep is a case in
point, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet
http://www.thegreatschlep.com.  It's been the target of accusations
of antiSemitism and racism by those who have a very low tolerance for
ironic comedy, indeed.

I'll leave it up to our esteemed list manager to decide if it's
appropriate to mention Sarah's name in a thread honoring Paul Newman,
and a listserv celebrating Mark Twain.  I don't mean to demean either
one by so doing.

Oh...and Happy New Year to all!


Benjamin N. Wise, Ph.D.
Keene State College
Keene, NH