5 Things We Learned From Learned Sarah Silverman’s Lenny Interview

By Talya Zax November 13, 2015

Two of our favorite funny ladies with a serious side, Lena Dunham and Sarah Silverman, opened up today in an interview through Lenny, Dunham’s website and newsletter for women that debuted at the end of September.

Silverman and Dunham first met in Dunham’s pre-“Girls” era, when she was tasked with interviewing Silverman for Paper magazine. They’ve been friends since. “Whenever I see Sarah,” Dunham writes in her introduction to the interview, “I make a beeline for her, because being in her presence is a special sanctuary.”

The interview, although staged around the late October release of Silverman’s new film “I Smile Back,” glances around between subjects. Read on for some of our favorite excerpts.

Sarah Silverman loves Snickers.

“What snack can return you to sanity?” Dunham asked.

“Snickers. Straight up,” Silverman responded.

She loves to think about perception.

The book she’s re-read the most, Silverman said, is “‘Ways of Seeing’ by John Berger. It’s a book about art, but it’s about everything. It’s about seeing through the prism of our own experience and everything that that means. Or at least that’s what it’s about to me — ohmygodijustblewmymind.”

She knows she can’t control her art.

“What was the worst choice you made after turning 21?” Dunham asked.

“Defending a joke. I had to learn that I can’t control how what I put out there is perceived. What you see through the prism of your own experience is your truth. That’s what art is. (Oh shit, I learned that in Ways of Seeing, y’all!”

She has a creative favorite swearword.

“Penisnose.”

She has rituals for remembering those she loves.

“If I see it’s 11:11, I remember all the people in my life that have passed and make sure I really remember them with specifics so I never forget. Like with my step-dad, John O’Hara, I say, “I love you, John,” and I remember a moment of many warm side-hugs, then him pulling apart and looking at me with a sly smile and saying, ‘I don’t care what they say, I like you.’”

You can read Dunham’s full interview with Silverman , and find information for “I Smile Back” here.

Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.

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