“I was raped by my doctor, which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl.”
Sarah Silverman’s most infamous joke is a very nearly perfect modern specimen of the form: economical, in the form of a single sentence, with a whiplash turn in the middle that escalates to the climax. What raises the joke to the state of art is that it feels like a joke about rape but is, in fact, a joke about jokes.
Kevin D. Williamson is national correspondent at The Dispatch and is based in Virginia. Prior to joining the company in 2022, he spent 15 years as a writer and editor at National Review, worked as the theater critic at the New Criterion, and had a long career in local newspapers. He is also a writer in residence at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. When Kevin is not reporting on the world outside Washington for his Wanderland newsletter, you can find him at the rifle range or reading a book about literally almost anything other than politics.
