Silverman received national exposure after earning a role on the 1993–94 season of Saturday Night Live. She was a writer and featured player at the time, but was fired after one season because she wrote only one sketch that survived to dress rehearsal, with none ever airing. Bob Odenkirk, a former SNL writer who knew her from her stand-up act in Los Angeles, explained why she was fired:[4] "I could see how it wouldn't work at SNL because she's got her own voice, she's very much Sarah Silverman all the time. She can play a character but she doesn't disappear into the character—- she makes the character her." Silverman claims being fired by SNL in an undignified manner (via fax), upset her greatly. The situation was parodied when she appeared on The Larry Sanders Show episode "The New Writer", in which she plays Sander's new staff writer, whose jokes are not used because of chauvinism (and associated bias of the male chief comedy writer), who favors the jokes of his male co-writers. She had a recurring role on Larry Sanders for its last several seasons.

Silverman worked on the HBO sketch comedy show Mr. Show with Bob and David, where she was a featured performer. She made guest appearances on such programs as the 1997 Seinfeld episode "The Money", the two-part time-travel episode "Future's End" of Star Trek: Voyager and as a series regular on the TV show Greg the Bunny (2002), playing serious characters, as well as the voice of character "Hadassah Guberman" on the salacious puppet television comedy Crank Yankers. She has also had small parts in films such as There's Something About Mary, Say It Isn't So, School of Rock, The Way of the Gun, Overnight Delivery, Screwed, Heartbreakers, Evolution, School for Scoundrels and Rent, playing a mixture of comic and serious roles. On November 11, 2005, her stand-up comedy act (one-woman show) was released as a feature film, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic. As part of the publicity campaign surrounding the film, Silverman made several high profile appearances, including online in Slate, as the cover subject of Heeb magazine, and performing on the Comedy Central roasts of Pamela Anderson and Hugh Hefner.

She was a guest star in a second season episode of the USA cable program Monk, playing an obsessed fan of a fictional television detective. The show therefore featured a good deal of meta-humor, of which she had a core part. She returned as the same character in the sixth season premiere. According to the audio commentary on the Clerks 2 DVD, director Kevin Smith offered her the role that eventually went to Rosario Dawson, but she turned it down out of fear of being typecast in "girlfriend roles." However, she told Smith the role was "really funny" and mentioned that if the role of Randal Graves was being offered to her she "would do it in a heartbeat".

On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Silverman parodied sketches from Chappelle's Show, from the perspective of what would happen if she played Rick James, Tyrone, or the Pilot Boy Productions-like logo called 'Pilot Girl Productions'. This segment is based on a popular rumor that Silverman was a planned replacement for Dave Chappelle after the apparent demise of his popular television show Chappelle's Show.

Silverman made the cover of London's March 12, 2006 Sunday Observer magazine with an article titled "If women aren't funny, how come the world's hottest, most controversial comedian is female?"

In 2005, she played a therapist in a skit session with Josh Homme of the band Queens of the Stone Age. This interview was on the Queens of the Stone Age bonus DVD of their album Lullabies to Paralyze. In 2006, she placed #50 in the annual Maxim magazine List. In 2007, she placed #29 and appeared on the cover of Maxim's Hot 100 List issue.

On June 3, 2007, Silverman hosted the MTV Movie Awards. During her opening act, she commented on Paris Hilton's then-upcoming jail sentence with Paris Hilton being in attendance: "In a couple of days, Paris Hilton is going to jail [...] As a matter of fact, I heard that to make her feel more comfortable in prison, the guards are going to paint the bars to look like penises. I think it is wrong, too. I just worry she is going to break her teeth on those things."

On September 9, 2007, Silverman appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards. Subsequently Silverman mocked Britney Spears following her comeback performance, saying she's "Wow, she is amazing. I mean, she is 25 years old, and she has already accomplished everything she’s going to accomplish in her life. It’s mind-blowing," and called Britney's children "the most adorable mistakes you will ever see".

• Sarah Silverman Online - Fan Site
• Sarah Silverman - Fan Site
• What I've Learned interview with boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel for January 2007 Esquire.
• Sarah Silverman at the Television Critics Association on her Comedy Central series The Sarah Silverman Program.
• The Sarah Silverman Program - official site
• Jesus is Magic - official site