The Sarah Silverman Program - Characters

Characters

• Sarah Jane Anastasia Silverman, a.k.a. Sarah St. Clair (Sarah Silverman) – The main character who is extremely childish, immature and exhibits a lack of diplomacy or sensitivity to others. She likely suffers from a personality disorder and often acts impulsively, oblivious to anyone or anything else. Sarah doesn't have a job as she hates and refuses to work and attacks anyone who tells her to get a job so her sister Laura pays her rent. Sarah is very close to Laura, and she has a dog named Doug, whom she found in the trash. Her favorite TV show is Cookie Party!, a (fictional) "Iron Chef"-like game show in which contestants have a cookie bakeoff, voted on by the viewers and hosted by drag-queen "Mini Coffee" and his puppet sidekick Ookie. Sarah enjoys watching the show with Laura as a weekly ritual, though going on Cookie Party! as contestants was not without its pitfalls for Laura and Sarah, as well as their mother's skeleton. Sarah despises her sister's boyfriend (later husband) Jay, a policeman, and frequently says so. She retaliates by attempting to undermine their relationship, sometimes in a jealous manner. Sarah attended Valley Village High School with Brian, Steve, and Laura. Sarah and Laura's parents, Max and Rose Silverman, died when they were young (Rose's tombstone says she died in 1986 when Sarah was 10; Max later turns up alive and stalking Larry Bird at a book-signing). Sarah's jobless, careless-yet-comfy lifestyle is usually a major part of the show's plot, along with constant episodes of humiliation at Laura's expense, despite Sarah's total dependence on her hard-working sister.
• Laura Jane Silverman III (Laura Silverman) – Sarah's younger sister (in real life, her older sister), is a registered nurse. Their parents died when they were young, and Sarah is the only family that Laura has. Laura is very susceptible to guilt, making Sarah's manipulation of her remarkably easy. She is more responsible than Sarah and devotes most of her life to taking care of her. In the first episode, she tells Jay that she can eat 30 hard-boiled eggs in one sitting. She used to have a large amount of pubic hair (like her mother) until the episode "Patriot Tact" where she shaves it all off after her mother came to her in a vision to tell her it's OK to shave. She falls in love with Jay in the first episode. She attended Valley Village High School with Brian, Steve, and Sarah. Laura pays Sarah's rent because Sarah is too lazy and immature to get a job. Laura is later married to Jay.
• Brian Damien Spukowski (Brian Posehn) – Sarah's gay neighbor and friend, who is dating Steve, is an enthusiastic metalhead but the only song on his 5-year-old iPod is the Spin Doctors' "Two Princes". Brian claims it's a palate-cleanser to prevent him from going psycho from listening to only metal. In the first episode, he claims to be bisexual, which causes some strain with Steve. Following a near-death experience, when Sarah crashes their car, Brian tells Steve that the event put things in perspective and that he remains gay. Brian takes karate lessons, but only uses his skills when he sees it is necessary (and not to defend Steve, episode "Humanitarian of the Year"). He and Steve occasionally double date with Laura and Jay, which they secretly dread. Brian attended Valley Village High School with Sarah, Steve, and Laura. In the episode "Nightmayor", he and Steve finally get married.
• Steven Ned Myron III (Steve Agee) – Sarah's gay neighbor and friend, who is dating Brian. He makes wry comments on his partner's antics, or may even prompt them (such as by suggesting Tab could be a fine beverage). In the first episode, the sight of women in lingerie made him physically ill due to (or despite) the fact that Brian had pasted his face on all the women in the catalogue. Steve enjoys playing Halo 2 online. He is often assaulted by strangers, who claim that his face just makes them want to punch him. In addition, Steve is also known for having unbearable flatulence. This is particularly evidenced in the episode "Not Without My Daughter," in which he sets off a SWAT team evacuation and is interrogated by the NSA after telling Brian over the phone that he has "left a bomb" in Jay's police car. Despite knowing karate, Brian usually lacks the will to stop people from punching Steve. Although Sarah and Laura have two friends that are named Steve, they nicknamed Steve "Straight Steve" to be ironic because he is gay. His family no longer speaks to him due to his homosexuality and relationship with Brian. He attended Valley Village High School with Sarah, Brian, and Laura. In the episode "Nightmayor", he and Brian finally get married.
• Officer Jay McPherson (Jay Johnston) – A police officer who is dating Laura, Sarah's sister. Jay met Laura when he arrested Sarah for driving her car into a playground sandbox after drinking too much cough syrup and passing out. Jay is also a closet performer, in the genre of sentimental "gentle comedy" character sketches. Jay dislikes Sarah and calls her "the cuckoo clown" (in the episode "Positively Negative"), but he is so devoted to Laura that he will go out of his way to help Sarah, even when she vows to kill him. Jay wins a "Humanitarian of the Year" award for the work that he does reading to blind people. Growing up, he never celebrated his birthday because his mother told him that every day was his birthday. (She'd only told him that to cover up her beer and cake addiction, which ended up killing her on Jay's actual birthday.) Jay also has a brown moustache. In "Muffin' Man," Jay mentions that his partner, Officer Paul Tompkins, has been suspended for opening fire on a Hispanic youth who pulled a pellet gun on him, and that he had received a temporary new partner named Tig (Tig Notaro) who is a lesbian. Jay was also very attached to a turtle he owned, Toot. Toot was shot to death by Sarah (in the episode "Pee"). It was revealed in Season 2 that Jay had an uncle that was killed by an electric eel. He proposed to Laura on the second season finale.
• Doug – Doug is Sarah's "Chihuahua-pug mix", pet dog that she found in the trash. He is played by Sarah Silverman's real-life pet dog, Duck.