We all know that the "pay gap"–women earning 78 cents for every dollar a man earns doing the same job–is hooey When you adjust for such factors as employment choices and hours actually worked, the supposed "gap" disappears.

And it also turns out that the gender warriors who have made the "pay gap" their pet cause can't even dig up any real-life examples of the "gap" to trot out for the gullible and advance their cause.

Case in point: Sarah Silverman.

Last year Silverman made a video in which she pretended to undergo a sex-change operation so she could–presumably–get paid as much as a male comedian. Oops! Within seconds the LGTB community was on Silverman's case–because you're not supposed to make fun of "gender reassignment surgery" in this ultra-PC, humor-deficient age.

That video was actually pretty funny, and it's always fun to watch professional victimologists in full outrage mode–too bad Silverman's "cause" was fake.

Her latest vid, arriving just in time for Equal Pay Day, April 14, featured Silverman complaining that she once got paid only $10 for a gig, when the male standup she'd followed had gotten $60.

“I was doing stand-up, you know, just around town. And I did a show — I was out with my friend Todd Barry and we were doing sets around town together. And you know I was pretty well known already, and we both did back-to-back 15-minute sets at this club, the New York Comedy Club, and he paid me 10 bucks.

It was a Saturday night. I didn’t think anything of it, you know. And we were outside talking and Todd somehow brought up, you know, mentioned that he got 60 bucks. He just got $60, and I just got $10. We did the exact same time back-to-back in the same show.

And so I went back inside and I asked the owner, Al Martin, and I said “Al, you why did you pay me $10 and you gave Todd Barry $60?” And he, you know, it was so perfect: He goes, “O, did you want a $60 spot.” It was symbolic. I didn’t need $60. But it’s … um … you know, it’s pretty shitty.”

Well this time, not only was the cause fake, but so was Silverman's story. Martin got wind of Silverman's video diss and was not amused. He posted this response on Facebook:

Are you kidding ? You come in to my club 15 years ago and ask me for a guest spot , I did not ask you to perform and you were not booked, and Then you ask me for pay ? You asked to work out some material ..
Then you make this a gender pay thing ? Sarah great cause I am with it, but I did not pay you less cause of gender …..I paid you less because Todd Barry was booked and you weren't…It was a GUEST SPOT, so I gave you some car fare, which actually is more than almost any club would have given for a GUEST Spot…Funny how in your attempt to become a super hero with a noble cause, you forgot that little fact…GUEST SPOT ….GUEST SPOT

Ha ha–as it were!

Exactly illustrating my point that when you adjust for such factors as employment choices….

So Silverman, in an interview with Salon, apologized–in the way that Rolling Stone apologized for running that fake rape story about UVA:

Oh goodness.  All I can say is I remember that story exactly how I said it. I know that Todd called the club earlier in the day to let them know I was in town if they wanted me to do a set.  They put me up for a 15 min spot just after Todd’s 15 min spot. I didn’t expect to get paid, that’s not why I was there, but when I got off stage Al, the sweet club owner, paid me 10 bucks and I signed the payment sheet. I was like, oh, nice.  I inferred from that that this was a paid spot not a guest spot.  Either way I would have been fine.  Then when Todd pointed out that he received 60 dollars for the same spot I went back inside and asked Al why Todd got sixty dollars and I got ten. That’s when he certainly could have said “Because it was a guest spot, Sarah.  I was just being super nice and gave you ten dollars for cab money.” But instead, (and I will always remember this exactly how he said it because it was unbelievably hilarious) he said, “Oh- did you want a $60 spot?”

My regret is that I mentioned Al by name- it should have been a nameless, faceless anecdote and he has always been lovely to me.

This is also HARDLY an example of the wage gap and can only do that very true reality a terrible disservice if I were trying to make it one.  When I was interviewed by Levo, they asked me “Do you remember a time you were paid less for the same job” and this story, being just that, popped into my head.   To Al, I truly am sorry to bring you into this as you employ women and pay them the same as the men I’m sure.  To the maniacs who want to use this as a chit against women’s issues, I ask that you please don’t.  Because that would be super shitty. Feel free to aim your vitriol at me but leave this issue of working women out of it, K?

Translation: My personal experience with the "gender pay gap" is so much fabricated horse manure. But the narrative–the narrative that women earn less than men doing the same job–is still true! Pay no attention to me! Pay attention to the narrative!