Amy Schumer is back today. One thing I love about her is that, when asked how she could begin to defend the blatant product placement at the end of "I Feel Pretty," she says, "I can't defend it. I wanted it out of the script. I think it's a wrong choice." Refreshing!
Another thing I like: She is a writer. That is clearly what she is. Her preferred activity is being home on the couch, watching reality television with her two siblings. I believe this. She says money has given her security, and she remains as unhappy as she ever was. I believe this, as well. She made her own career by traveling around to clubs while also working day jobs (I think she was often a waitress). Very quickly, she realized that her kewpie-doll persona contrasted in a stark way with her sailor's mouth. If you heard a pretty, pasty blonde lady talking about cum-on-the-face, and about a condom getting wedged up way too high, trapped permanently--well, that's notable. That's unusual. She recognized that raunchy talk about a woman's experience of sex was not getting that much airtime in the world of comedy. And: Boom! It was as if she had found an entire neglected planet, and she colonized it. (Lorrie Moore did something similar with fiction. "The particular flawed female adult I had sitting around in my head just wasn't on the page, anywhere. So I put her on the page." One of Schumer's early triumphs was a skit that imagined "porn from a woman's perspective." It imagined a vast cult really eager to see what this would look like. And of course, the fictional porn was an image of a sweaty, naked, middle-aged man, up-close, writhing and making whale noises.)
Something instinctive in Teenage-Years Schumer caused her to keep a diary. Her family was imploding; her charismatic, straying father had a life-threatening condition. Her mother had fallen in love with a close friend. Marlon Brando said, "Take that trauma and make it drama!" Schumer seemed just to know, instinctively, how to do this. The sparkling, filthy-mouthed father and the sensible, strong sister reappeared years later, in Schumer's memoir, "Lower-Back Tattoo," and they appeared as well in "Trainwreck." (Curiously, the mother is 100-percent absent from "Trainwreck." The mother chapter in "Lower-Back Tattoo" is also among the weakest bits in Schumer's writing, I'd argue. That's because it is clear that Schumer hasn't really thought through her feelings toward her own mother. She remains more mystified than she herself realizes--and that confusion is there, awkwardly, on the page, despite Schumer's efforts to remain brisk and clear-eyed. It's an interesting failure. In other words, I'd contend, Schumer doesn't really understand or feel excited about her mother, and you sense that resistance and lack-of-delight on the page.)
I've been thinking about a few grace notes in semi-recent Schumer works. First, there's the skit where she swaps places with Anna Wintour. I really like the brief moment we get when Anna Wintour is doing her own stand-up in the Comedy Cellar. She says, to her fellow comic low-lifes, "The booker at Purdue--can you get me an introduction?" (Or something like this.) And: "I'm Anna Wintour, editor of VOGUE. I do colleges and clubs!" The actual routine is something very similar to what you might see in a Schumer set: "Anyone out there on a first date? Last date?" (Hilarity ensues.) "Remember: Wintour (read: WINTER) is coming. (Mic drop.)" My favorite moment is the clipped end of a story: "So I said to her, no, YOU go first." The crowd cheers. We don't get any context for why this sentence might be funny, and, for whatever reason, this tiny bit of absurdity makes my day. (Wintour deserves accolades for this performance.)
The other thing I enjoy: Schumer's take on Bill Cosby. It's not earth-shattering writing, though I enjoy the contrarian approach of having Schumer's character "defend" Cosby in "the court of public opinion." What I really love is Schumer's loosey-goosey exuberant approach to the character. "Sure," she says, "we've heard many FACTS"--and she says the word "facts" with the loudest subtextual air quotes I've ever encountered. "We deserve to laugh like no one's watching, and watch like no one's raping." Maybe my favorite bit is the brief snippet of "The Cosby Show" we get via wheeled-in TV. "Theo," says a familiar voice, "did you get your ear pierced?" (NO, DAD!) From Dr. Huxtable: "Well, I guess then you're just doing a really great imitation of Swiss cheese!" (Spot-on. Cosby's tiresome act did often involve berating young men for bits of "scandalous" self-presentation. "Pull your damn pants up!" There's something just on the edge of self-hatred buried under that line. And Schumer's implication is: THIS is what people found funny? And THIS is the source of some resistance to the Cosby-is-guilty revelation?) Anyway, the Swiss cheese line happens, and Schumer erupts. It's as if she has just heard the greatest imaginable material from Chris Rock. It's cutting and smart, and worth a re-visit.
I don't know how I'll feel about "I Feel Pretty." But, let it be known: I do love the straight-talking phenom that is Amy Schumer. It takes sweat and brains to lay down the groundwork for that kind of varied and consistently surprising career. Lest we forget!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sq4gVZ4cBc
Another thing I like: She is a writer. That is clearly what she is. Her preferred activity is being home on the couch, watching reality television with her two siblings. I believe this. She says money has given her security, and she remains as unhappy as she ever was. I believe this, as well. She made her own career by traveling around to clubs while also working day jobs (I think she was often a waitress). Very quickly, she realized that her kewpie-doll persona contrasted in a stark way with her sailor's mouth. If you heard a pretty, pasty blonde lady talking about cum-on-the-face, and about a condom getting wedged up way too high, trapped permanently--well, that's notable. That's unusual. She recognized that raunchy talk about a woman's experience of sex was not getting that much airtime in the world of comedy. And: Boom! It was as if she had found an entire neglected planet, and she colonized it. (Lorrie Moore did something similar with fiction. "The particular flawed female adult I had sitting around in my head just wasn't on the page, anywhere. So I put her on the page." One of Schumer's early triumphs was a skit that imagined "porn from a woman's perspective." It imagined a vast cult really eager to see what this would look like. And of course, the fictional porn was an image of a sweaty, naked, middle-aged man, up-close, writhing and making whale noises.)
Something instinctive in Teenage-Years Schumer caused her to keep a diary. Her family was imploding; her charismatic, straying father had a life-threatening condition. Her mother had fallen in love with a close friend. Marlon Brando said, "Take that trauma and make it drama!" Schumer seemed just to know, instinctively, how to do this. The sparkling, filthy-mouthed father and the sensible, strong sister reappeared years later, in Schumer's memoir, "Lower-Back Tattoo," and they appeared as well in "Trainwreck." (Curiously, the mother is 100-percent absent from "Trainwreck." The mother chapter in "Lower-Back Tattoo" is also among the weakest bits in Schumer's writing, I'd argue. That's because it is clear that Schumer hasn't really thought through her feelings toward her own mother. She remains more mystified than she herself realizes--and that confusion is there, awkwardly, on the page, despite Schumer's efforts to remain brisk and clear-eyed. It's an interesting failure. In other words, I'd contend, Schumer doesn't really understand or feel excited about her mother, and you sense that resistance and lack-of-delight on the page.)
I've been thinking about a few grace notes in semi-recent Schumer works. First, there's the skit where she swaps places with Anna Wintour. I really like the brief moment we get when Anna Wintour is doing her own stand-up in the Comedy Cellar. She says, to her fellow comic low-lifes, "The booker at Purdue--can you get me an introduction?" (Or something like this.) And: "I'm Anna Wintour, editor of VOGUE. I do colleges and clubs!" The actual routine is something very similar to what you might see in a Schumer set: "Anyone out there on a first date? Last date?" (Hilarity ensues.) "Remember: Wintour (read: WINTER) is coming. (Mic drop.)" My favorite moment is the clipped end of a story: "So I said to her, no, YOU go first." The crowd cheers. We don't get any context for why this sentence might be funny, and, for whatever reason, this tiny bit of absurdity makes my day. (Wintour deserves accolades for this performance.)
The other thing I enjoy: Schumer's take on Bill Cosby. It's not earth-shattering writing, though I enjoy the contrarian approach of having Schumer's character "defend" Cosby in "the court of public opinion." What I really love is Schumer's loosey-goosey exuberant approach to the character. "Sure," she says, "we've heard many FACTS"--and she says the word "facts" with the loudest subtextual air quotes I've ever encountered. "We deserve to laugh like no one's watching, and watch like no one's raping." Maybe my favorite bit is the brief snippet of "The Cosby Show" we get via wheeled-in TV. "Theo," says a familiar voice, "did you get your ear pierced?" (NO, DAD!) From Dr. Huxtable: "Well, I guess then you're just doing a really great imitation of Swiss cheese!" (Spot-on. Cosby's tiresome act did often involve berating young men for bits of "scandalous" self-presentation. "Pull your damn pants up!" There's something just on the edge of self-hatred buried under that line. And Schumer's implication is: THIS is what people found funny? And THIS is the source of some resistance to the Cosby-is-guilty revelation?) Anyway, the Swiss cheese line happens, and Schumer erupts. It's as if she has just heard the greatest imaginable material from Chris Rock. It's cutting and smart, and worth a re-visit.
I don't know how I'll feel about "I Feel Pretty." But, let it be known: I do love the straight-talking phenom that is Amy Schumer. It takes sweat and brains to lay down the groundwork for that kind of varied and consistently surprising career. Lest we forget!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sq4gVZ4cBc
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