About (Late) Last Night: Sarah Silverman walks the line with Conan

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Sarah Silverman looked around earnestly while explaining her book tour to Conan O’Brien. The host’s sidekick Andy Richter was on the couch behind her. ‘I was looking around for someone to relate to, but you guys haven’t written books,’ she said in her typical innocent-sounding, but caustic-in-content deadpan. ‘Dumb talk shows’ are also a part of the promotional carousel, she explained. ‘I’m kidding,’ she insisted.

Next, she poked fun at some of her own fans, but gave a subtle lesson in endearment when she ended up her own punchline. The appearance was effortless and Conan clapped for her.

Silverman requested a close-up for more jokes about women. She balanced her notorious foul mouth and racy jokes with the basic-cable version of her character, touching on personal hygiene and her affinity for roasting celebrities. She celebrated her birthday with a lewd ceremony for Quentin Tarantino, but O’Brien worried reasonably about the appropriateness of the jokes.

On the last night of Hannukah, Silverman said she felt most Jewish as a child around the holidays, when her people were blamed for killing Jesus. At least it wasn’t baby Jesus, she said. ‘He had quite a run.’

When she took a moment near the end to plug a holiday charity, one expected a dirty or offensive joke to follow. It turns out she was doing it straight and sincere, but then she offered to pull Conan’s finger and all was right with the interview.

-- Joe Coscarelli