By Lawrence Ferber

Sarah Silverman is poised to move to the next tier of stardom with her no-holds-barred stand-up film Jesus is Magic. The funny lady discusses going too far, her gay following, and which rights she'd like a conservative Supreme Court to take away first.

Is nothing sacred?

Sarah Silverman needs a minute to think about that. "Uhhh ... no," the slender, black-haired comedienne replies after a brief deliberation. After all, this is the woman who's turned the Holocaust, AIDS, racism, rape, world hunger, and religion into grist for her gut-busting "I can't believe she said that!" comic routines, now immortalized in the film Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic. "Nothing's holy," she finally opines. "In terms of what I would touch comedically, I think anything goes as long as it's funny enough to my subjective view of what funny is. It has to be funnier than it is not -- funnier than it is sad. I don't like being mean or anything or talk about specific people. I talk about a people. And when I do, I'm the asshole."

A mix of biting live stand-up performance, fantastical musical numbers, and

skits, Jesus is Magic lets Silverman's self-professed "asshole-y" alter-ego loose with un-PC humdingers like: "When God gives you AIDS ... make lemonAIDS!" "Nazis are assholes, but they're so cute when they're little!" and "I dated a guy who was half-black, but he dumped me because I'm such a loser. Wow, I shouldn't say things like that, I'm such a pessimist -- he was actually half-white."

"In some ways nothing I say is true," Silverman insists, "but it's true for somebody. Sometimes I'll say the opposite of what I believe because I feel it's a funnier way to do a joke that otherwise can sound preachy or something, which I'm not into. Preachy stuff is just never funny to me. You might go 'Yeah, that's so true,' but I want laughs. So I play the bad guy. People say 'You make fun of rape and AIDS!' I certainly don't -- those things are horrific. But hopefully in those jokes you're laughing at me."

Raised in New Hampshire, Silverman moved to New York to attend NYU, where she spent much of her non-study time developing her comedy in the city's alternative stand-up scene. From 1993-94 she was a writer and featured player on Saturday Night Live, and has since appeared on TV's Greg The Bunny, Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, and films including Rent, The School of Rock, The Aristocrats, and There's Something About Mary. Besides promoting her film, Silverman is at work on a Comedy Central series pilot, and keeping boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel happyÉ not always easy when he's also fair game for her nothing's-sacred routines.

How do you keep you and your performing persona separate?

Well, the real me is much prettier!

In the film, you talk about how you got into some trouble with the Media Action Network for Asian Americans for a joke you told on Conan O'Brien about "chinks." Conversely, has your shtick ever won you some of the wrong kinds of fans -- like white supremacists?

Yes. (laughs) I have an old boyfriend who would call it "mouthfull-of-blood-laughs." People laughing at the wrong thing -- "Yeah, I hate chinks too!"

Did anything not make it into the movie?

There are some things I took out [before we even filmed]. A bit about how Bayer aspirin did medical experiments on Jews during the Holocaust. I guess they would pick a couple of campers and give Bayer to them and they would be like "OK, my headache isn't as bad as the hunger ... It's better than when I was in labor and you sewed up my vagina. "But [the routine] was so heavy and much longer, and the punchline to me was too iffy and unless it has a killer ending it's too much of a bummer to live through. For me!

Have you ever performed for a group of Jewish folks and caused grief? For example, did New York's Yeshiva University or Los Angeles' Hebrew Union College ever call and invite you to perform and then regret it?

I have had that experience. Usually, Jews are the best audiences because they let a lot slide. But I was asked to perform to raise money for some temple in L.A. that's supposed to be great. I'm Jewish, I know I'm Jewish. Ethnically I'm Jewish but I have no religion. I'm almost positive there's no God. But I did it -- my sister's a rabbi -- and I kept saying "Do you know what I do? I don't have a clean version! Not that I swear, but it's gonna be racy." [The event organizer] responded "Oh, they love that! Very progressive!" I lost them almost immediately. I got nothing. Just upset groans. But I kept going because there's that part of me that feels like I should do my time. They asked for me. And when I got offstage, [I heard] one person clapping. And I looked. My sister.

You're starting to attract gay media attention and fans. Do you want to usurp Margaret Cho from her fag hag throne?

No. First of all I'm a fan of hers. I knew her from [seeing her perform in] clubs in L.A. like Largo. Tears [would come down my face from laughing]. She's funny. But I'm not looking to be king of the gays. I was much more [of a fag hag] as a teenager because I was really into musical theater and I would get huge crushes on gay guys. I have gay friends. But no. My gay friends don't tend to be transvestites or call me "girl."

Did you ever date a gay guy?

No, I didn't. They didn't start out gay, anyway.

What rights are you most looking forward to losing when Alito, aka Scalia-lite, gets appointed to the Supreme Court?

Is there anything left? I guess abortion. That'll be fun to have to sneak around to do that. Puts the excitement back into abortion.

Let's play a game of Casting Call. You're the romantic lead in a new movie. Choose who plays your romantic interest -- a guy for the straight version, and a woman for the lesbian version.

Besides Jimmy? I can't say Jimmy?

You couldÉ

Listen, I've got to live with him!

OK. Now who's your female romantic interest?

Oh my gosh, there's lots I like. That Zooey Deschanel. Dame Judi DenchÉ I'm going to go with Dame Judi Dench!