OFFENDED? THAT'S WHAT SHE INTENDED.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

ARGUABLY THE MOST provocative comedian on the stand-up scene today, Sarah Silverman appears to disdain everybody but herself.

But appears is the operative word here. Silverman makes unpardonable jokes about minorities - and has gotten grief for doing so. In her shtick, she gleefully includes outrageous riffs on such taboo topics as 9-11, the Holocaust and old people's infirmities, not to mention unmentionable sexual and body humor. But Silverman's act is really a smart parody of intolerance and its flip side, oversensitivity.

Most of the time, anyway. As her concert film ``Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic'' often proves, she's not above going for a quick laugh at other people's expense. If she wasn't so ruthless, though, Silverman wouldn't be half as funny as she is. And inevitably it's the stage persona that she's created for herself that seems ridiculous, not this self-absorbed, uproariously deluded narcissist's targets.

Filmed over several nights at North Hollywood's El Portal Theatre, ``Jesus Is Magic'' really only stumbles comedically when director Liam Lynch shifts from Silverman's stand-up routine to a series of staged encounters. Some of these are studiedly ``wacky'' music video satires (Lynch has directed some real ones and comes from a music-writing background); others are built around a haughty, self-adoring show-biz character - and Silverman is, frankly, too smart a comic to be working such a tired stereotype.

Her stand-up stance is a far more specific and effective airhead - someone who believes she's actually open-minded and enlightened. ``I don't care if you think I'm racist, I just want you to think I'm thin,'' sums up the unexamined attitudes Silverman's alter ego skewers - and which many of us walk around with, whether we can, or want to, acknowledge it.

``I'm sensitive - people don't realize because I'm sassy and brassy,'' she says at another point. Which isn't really funny but is one of many sly, throwaway moves Silverman makes to let all of us in on the joke. She is sensitive in the best sense of the word - she's highly attuned to the subtle nuances and telling details of character flaws and hypocritical intolerance.

And of course she makes as much fun of her own perceived qualities as anybody else's. ``I was raped by a doctor, which is so bittersweet for a Jewish girl,'' Silverman explains at a perfect pitch of faux sincerity. It's easy to get angry at a lot of the things she says. But it's hard to stay mad at her for very long.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com

SARAH SILVERMAN: JESUS IS MAGIC - Three stars

(Not rated: language, racism, sex, drug use)

Starring: Sarah Silverman.

Director: Liam Lynch.

Running time: 1 hr. 10 min.

Playing: Landmark's Nuart, West L.A.; Edwards University Town Center 6, Irvine.

In a nutshell: Silverman's hilariously offensive stand-up act is interspersed with not-quite-as-funny skits.

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Sarah Silverman's outrageous stand-up comedy is center stage in ``Jesus Is Magic,'' filmed over several nights at North Hollywood's El Portal Theatre.