Sarah Sherman lives to make you uncomfortable. This season on “Saturday Night Live” — it’s her fifth — she applied her body-horror hilarity to a horny drunk raccoon, a flatulent frog halfway morphed into a human, and Kristi Noem’s husband, with suggestive balloons stuffed under her shirt.
Sherman, who had no background in sketch comedy when she joined “S.N.L.,” initially struggled to get her work on the air. Then, in her first season, Colin Jost suggested she come on “Weekend Update” as herself, and she did, writing in her own confrontational style. She cranked up the grotesqueries full force for her HBO Max special, “Sarah Squirm: Live + In the Flesh,” which debuted late last year.
She no longer reads comments about “S.N.L.” because there are so many people who love to hate the show. But with her special, which she called “100 percent authentically myself,” she needed to see what people thought.
“I talked about things that we can all relate to and understand,” she said. “And for some reason, because I’m a woman, people are like, ‘It’s another female comedian talking about her vagina.’ It’s like, ‘So?’”
In a video call from her Brooklyn apartment, Sherman talked about lava lamps, icky humor and the importance of having a space where you can make a mess. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
‘Pine’ by Stora Skuggan
I’ve self-identified as a stinky patchouli girl for my whole adulthood. But then my friend Spike recommended this perfume that’s supposed to smell like a witch’s cauldron — like licorice and root bark — from a Swedish company. I ended up smelling this other perfume, “Pine.” It smells like you’re walking through a coniferous forest and there’s pine and sap and bark.
My ‘Killer Klowns From Outer Space’ Hat
I saw Gary Busey on Instagram wearing the hat, and it was just the most fabulous thing I’d ever seen. And I immediately Googled the hat and bought it. I wear it basically every day and I’ve never washed it.
Oneohtrix Point Never
That’s my friend, Dan Lopatin. He’s made crazy electronic noise music for over a decade, and I went to all of his shows when I lived in Chicago. I owe him everything because the weird pedal-board setup I have in my special, he’s like, “You need to get these pedals and I’ll help you program them,” because I was screaming too much and losing my voice.
My Night Guard
I’m a really uptight, stressed-out person, and I clench my teeth. I started going to this TMJ specialist, Dr. Donald Tanenbaum, and he wrote this book called “Doctor, Why Does My Face Still Ache?” It’s about relieving TMJ pain by meditating, chilling out and stop being so clenched all the time.
Lava Lamps
The vibes aren’t right unless your lava lamp is on. Me and my writing partner, Dan Bulla, literally won’t start writing unless the lava lamp in our office is on. People think it’s tacky. I think it’s the coolest, most amazing, fabulous thing in the world.
‘The Book of the New Sun’ by Gene Wolfe
It’s shocking because you realize he’s every sci-fi writer’s favorite sci-fi writer. The reason why I love his books so much is because it actually feels new in a way where nothing feels new. He’s describing physical realities that are mind-bending. The materials in his world are different than the ones in our world. It’s really transportive and pulpy and fun.
Talking to My Friend Ruby on the Phone
I have to talk to Ruby on the phone for two hours a day. If I’m walking anywhere, I call her. You’re lucky if you’re in New York and you hear me screaming on the phone because you’ll probably hear some good tea.
My Zone
I have a little art studio with my friend Emily, and it’s our zone to make crap. I’d been on “S.N.L.” for five years and in New York for that long, and I didn’t have a space to make a mess. So I hired my friend Athena, who’s a really talented interior decorator. I was like, “Can you just make this look amazing?” There’s crazy fun-house mirrors. All my tour posters. And this big TV with a bunch of eyeballs on a pedestal with a chain saw on top of it.
Vocal Warm-Ups With Melissa Cross
In my special, I do a lot of screamo screaming and I was losing my voice a lot because I didn’t know how to use it. Melissa Cross is a famous screamo coach. She taught all these famous screamo singing metal guys how to scream without hurting themselves. She just allowed me to have a relationship with my voice that’s really empowering.
My Favorite Artist, Brianna Miller
She does a lot of my tour posters. I would draw something on a hotel notepad when I had no time. And she just gets it. She makes it perfect. No notes. It has a sense of humor, and it’s icky.
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