Sarah Silverman created a name for herself as a comedian with the release of the 2005 standup comedy movie Jesus is Magic. However, considering Silverman's propensity to discuss taboo and potentially offensive topics such as race, 9/11, and AIDS, she has emerged as one of the most polarizing and controversial comedians performing today. Silverman has developed an onstage ironic persona of ignorance and innocence that juxtaposes with her controversial, humorous content to highlight a unique manifestation of Burke's concept of perspective by incongruity. Throughout her ironic performance, Silverman utilizes satirical white privilege, mock post-feminism, and ironic trivialization of serious events as a means of highlighting questionable social behavior and attitudes. Her use of various comedic styles informs her subversiveness, and ultimately, she creates significance through the comic minimization of social events and issues. An analysis of specific aspects of her standup comedy performance demonstrates her use of comic minimization as a powerful rhetorical method.
