Sarah Silverman Stands Up For Children at "The Right To Laugh"

Dirty jokes play a part in every child's life. In some sort of perverse oral tradition they are passed on from one generation to the next, retread yet continuously reinvigorated to such a degree that it is believed that the centerpiece of the Sistine Chapel is actual Michelangelo's take on the classic "pull my finger."

A dirty joke can serve as a shield to deflect attention, or a beacon to attract it. When you're a kid, the first time you hear one, it is not only an education (one that may take years to unlearn), but also a rite of passage.

On Monday night in Los Angeles, the dirty joke flexed it's oft-neglected charitable side as comedians came together at "The Right To Laugh" event, which benefited the Alliance for Children's Rights. The evening's performers were a who's who of ribald rhetoric, with comedian Drew Carey opening up for performers such as Sarah Silverman, Adam Carolla and Bob Saget. And while the event raised funds for providing free legal services to protect the rights of abused and impoverished children, the rule of the evening seemed to be that nothing was off limits, let the dirty jokes do the dirty work.

"Don't get me wrong," Sarah Silverman laughed to Tonic, "I was just excited to get a chance to do some good with the crappy things that I say." In a nutshell, it's filthy humor to further a noble cause."It's nice when dirty, crappy jokes can help children," Silverman adds, "There's far more twisted ways that politics and money move to produce the opposite effect, so it seems only fitting, and I'm glad to be a part of it."

And as if she were working herself into a pre-performance lather, Silverman went on to point out that the rights of children should have long ago fallen under the umbrella of "unalienable". "I doubt that the founding fathers thought they had to be super specific when they wrote 'Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' she tells Tonic, "I'm sure they never figured that they would have to add to the end of it, 'even gay people, and children'.

Photo by Archman8 via Flickr.