Live at the Apollo
Writing and starring in Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning sketch show Inside Amy Schumer and in the summer’s romantic comedy hit Trainwreck catapulted comedian Amy Schumer to fame this year. Nevertheless, she proves the stand-up stage is her real home in HBO’s Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo.
In her first HBO comedy special, which aired Saturday night, Schumer practically flaunts the raunchy, self-deprecating and sometimes-political humor she’s now become known for. Her slew of sex jokes shock audiences but also open up a discussion about larger issues of superficiality and gender equality, examples drawn especially from Schumer’s own experience in the entertainment industry.
“I’m labeled a sex comic,” Schumer shares with palpable annoyance. “I think it’s just because I’m a girl. I feel like a guy could get up here and literally pull his dick out and everybody would be like, ‘He’s a thinker!’”
It’s a great line that elicits uproarious cheers and applause from her audience not simply because it is absurd, but also because it is, to a certain extent, the truth.
Expertly sandwiched within this personal story, Schumer imparts a surprisingly pithy moment of truth and vulnerability: “You’re made to feel really disgusting and weird if you’re a girl who likes to have sex.”
This is the genius of Schumer’s comedy. While on the surface her delivery is all confidence and conceit, it is rooted in good-intentioned honesty.
Of course, Schumer acknowledges she isn’t the sole victim of Hollywood sexism, using the outright gender discrimination in the industry as the basis for several bits. In one segment, she lampoons the beauty double standard when it comes to casting all male and female roles, making fun of the mind-numbing Kevin James-fronted comedy, Zookeeper. Schumer points out “the girl who’s in love with him, who he doesn’t notice, who’s been there all along waiting in the wings is Rosario Dawson, arguably the most fuckable actress ever.”
If you’re already an enthusiastic Schumer fan, chances are you’ve heard at least some of her set before. It seems she’s used recent press tours and talk show interviews as a testing ground for some of her quips on puberty (“My two front teeth didn’t fall out until fifth grade, which is late, and that same week I got my period, which is early. So I was just, like, this jack-o-lantern with tits”) and weight loss (“I was like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m sorry don’t people need food to live?’ and they were like, ‘That’s a myth!’”).
Still, Schumer debuts lots of meaty new material, earning laughs when she lists off insane (and seemingly made-up) sex positions and imagines important women like Michelle Obama and Ruth Bader Ginsburg pleasuring their romantic partners in less-than-empowering ways.
That’s not to say Schumer doesn’t make a few missteps — a number of one-liners fail to land, like those that use deaf people and burn victims as more or less the butt of the joke. Though Schumer might express subtle frustration with the “sex comic” label, her unapologetic gender-centric gags are her best, bar none.
So long as Schumer continues to command this comedic niche, she is here to stay.
