- - “SNL”'s Sarah Sherman Reveals Her 'Biggest Fear' for Her Debut Comedy Special Full of Hangnails, Guts and Goo (Exclusive)

Brenton BlanchetDecember 12, 2025 at 6:00 AM

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Greg Endries/HBO

Sarah Sherman in HBO's 'Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh' -

Sarah Sherman is sharing the stories behind her debut comedy special, Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh

The Saturday Night Live star caught up with PEOPLE about her new project, '90s cartoons and why she hopes "maybe anyone could like" her gross-out stand-up routine

"This is basically my life's work just because I had been putting it off for so long," Sherman says

Sarah Sherman is fearless when it comes to her gross-out sense of humor, and she makes that pretty clear in her first comedy special.

There's images of hangnails nearly the size of a whole finger, a flossing job gone horribly wrong and enough (fake?) blood splatter to cover her live audience in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she filmed the stand-up routine for HBO earlier this year.

But just because the Saturday Night Live star, 32, and her Sarah Squirm alter ego have embraced the gross and wacky stuff doesn't mean she's releasing her special, Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh, without any fears. "My biggest fear with the special is that people see the poster and it's like, 'Oh, a clown with a queer haircut. This isn't for me. I live in Texas and I drive a truck,' or something," she tells PEOPLE ahead of its release on Friday, Dec. 12.

She adds, "I would hope there's enough jokes in there that it's like, anyone watches it. It's a crazy thing to think, but I'm like, there's enough jokes that I think that maybe anyone could like it. Maybe."

Greg Endries/HBO

Sarah Sherman in HBO's 'Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh'

Sherman's debut special is an assortment of jokes for (maybe) all, featuring flashes of body horror, a John Waters cameo, a recurring bit where she insists on playing the Seinfeld music and close-ups that feel straight out of The Ren & Stimpy Show.

Live + in the Flesh may mark a first for Sherman's surreal humor and her "living cartoon" of an alter ego, but make no mistake, she's been practicing and touring the material for what she calls "100 years." And in the meantime, she's also been sharpening her skills on Saturday Night Live, where she's worked as cast member since 2021 — portraying everybody from Matt Gaetz to a string of outrageous Weekend Update characters (most recently, a drunk raccoon).

"There was a lot of whiplash between editing footage of a bunch of bones and goo forming together to create a gooey, bubbling face and then going to 30 Rock and doing Matt Gaetz cold open," she says. "But there's also a through line, obviously. I do get to be a little freaky on SNL, too."

Ahead of its release, Sherman caught up with PEOPLE about her debut special; her admiration of '90s animation, turning into "bones and guts and goo"; and her goal of making her audience laugh, and 'maybe gag a little bit."

Greg Endries/HBO

Sarah Sherman in HBO's 'Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh'Does it feel like it's been a lifetime of sharpening your skills to get to this special?

It's pathetic to say yes, but yeah. This is basically my life's work just because I had been putting it off for so long, because it's so fun doing the material and touring with the material. And the hour became so bloated. We ended up taping an hour-and-a-half show and then we had to cut down. My producers, Josh Safdie and Ronnie Bronstein, were like, "I think it's time you commit this to tape." Then making a special where I just was like, "Oh, I'll go all out and make a crazy f------ movie."

How would you introduce Sarah Squirm herself to somebody not familiar?

I would say... I was doing a show in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago and the guy running the merch table, I came up to him after the show and I was like, "Oh, how were T-shirt sales?" or whatever. And he was like, "Oh my God, I thought you were going to be rude, but you're nice." So let's say, I don't think I'm that rude, but I guess my friends would probably disagree.

Greg Endries/HBO

Sarah Sherman in HBO's 'Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh'At the beginning of this special, we see John Waters check in with you. What was it like to have his participation and approval on this project?

Approval pending because he's going to see it, I hope he really likes it. But I got him to do the project because I wrote him a letter just fawning over him. And I drew a little picture of, "Hey, I'm your biggest fan." By the way, what freak does it say that they're John Waters biggest fan? But I drew a little picture of a pile of bones and guts and goo that I am at the beginning of the special. And I was like, "Hey, I'd love for you to bring me on stage for my standup special. Here is your scene partner that you'll be talking to basically." One day I just got a call from a Baltimore area code and he was like, "Hey, it's John Waters. I'll see you on set." He was so fun and nice and cool.

We talk about John, but one in particular that I keep seeing is Ren & Stimpy. How much of it can be felt in the DNA of your comedy?

A billion percent. I have a really ugly tattoo on my leg of Ren's eyes and tongue popping out of his head. And we have multiple Ren & Stimpy gross-ups as they call them, mid-joke. All of a sudden a camera will just be at my crotch at a crazy fish-eye angle. Once it starts getting the multimedia visual content of the show, that's all totally inspired by Ren & Stimpy close-ups. And especially too, now I'm really getting into it, but you asked. I love all the best parts of the show, it's '90s, very colorful, flat, two-day animation. And then the close-ups are those hyperrealistic oil paintings. And that was another thing, we tried really playing with the design of the special was alternating between really flat cartoonish, colorful things and really hyperrealistic gory, gruesome things.

Within the first five minutes of the special, you ask the crowd what type of comedy show they were expecting and you get into the wife and mom complaints. Does Sarah Squirm feels like the antithesis of that style of comedy?

Literally it's just an excuse for me to do kind of a Rodney Dangerfield voice — and Rodney is my favorite comedian of all time. And even though there's a little wink, nod, wink, nod making fun of traditional standup comedy tropes, it's like he is, I don't want to say my North Star because I could never aspire to be as good as a joke writer as him, but he's just like... And I have the Seinfeld riff in there and I feel like I'm just sometimes a Phyllis Diller rip-off. Those are just my favorite comedians ever.

How do you know when a bit goes too far?

I'm a bad person to ask about going too far because all I do is double down and repeat the same thing over and over again. But that's my favorite part of performing, is you're in the room with people and you're just playing with pushing and pulling and you're like, how far can I gross people out and then try reeling them back in with a joke?

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What does being gross mean to you?

It's inseparable from being alive. And so much of the special is like, I'm a living cartoon and maybe that's a little bit of what the Sarah Squirm character is. It's like a living cartoon, but she's very much alive and made of flesh and bones and skin and guts and that's ... yeah. And that's another thing, the relatability of the special, it's like I'm talking about things that everyone can relate to. I don't have some gross disease that 1% of the population has. I have the gross disease of having too much body hair.

And what do you hope Sarah Squirm means to those who give your special to watch?

I just hope they laugh. I hope they maybe gag a little bit, wince a little bit, but I hope they feel like it was worth their time. I definitely feel like I'm giving you an eye full and an earful and a bang for your buck, and I just pray you don't get bored. And if you get bored watching that, it's just like, I don't even know what to tell you.

Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh debuts Friday, Dec. 12 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.

The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

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