Sarah Silverman explains motives for her “Live from N*****head” show in Austin on Nov. 1

In case you missed it Friday night, and of course you did, because why would you be at home on a Friday night watching MSNBC, then you missed Sarah Silverman telling Rachel Maddow all about her planned “Live from N*****head (Stripping the Paint off of Good Old-Fashioned Racism)” comedy show that hits Austin on Nov. 1.

The lineup includes Silverman, Tig Notaro, Ian Edwards, Dwayne Perkins, W. Kamau Bell, Suli McCullough and Jamie Kilstein.

Of course, it’s all in response to the revelation that Texas Gov. Rick Perry (currently a GOP presidential candidate) has hosted friends and family at a hunting campground named Niggerhead. Ouch. The news cycle being what it is in 2011 — obsessed with something until the next nothing/something comes along — Perry’s racist ranch fell out of the headlines. Silverman and her fellow comedians are keeping it in the news.

As Silverman already had told Entertainment Weekly: “The positive thing about N-head and other outwardly racist actions — like trying to put the Confederate f—ing flag on Texas license plates — is that it’s no longer just a gas in the air. It’s something you can point to. It’s something you can fight against and expose. So I see this as an opportunity that should be taken.” She reiterated that point to Maddow, and also blamed missing “the Jew-run media” who would keep a spotlight on Perry and racism.

Some tickets remain available in the balcony for the show Tuesday night at Austin’s Paramount Theatre. All of the proceeds will go to the NAACP.

Of course, Silverman never has been a comedian afraid of talking about race — remember when her use of the word “chinks” on the old Late Night with Conan O’Brien prompted people to ask for an apology out of her? — but this time, she’s using someone’s own racism against him. And when it’s someone running to become president of the United States of America in 2012. And when he’d be running against an African-American President in Barack Obama. Isn’t this something we should care about? Isn’t this something we can do something about? Yes. Yes We Can.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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