Stuff You Should Be Watching: Inside Amy Schumer

The internet to me is like the Matrix to Neo. I am plugged in at all times. However, even if you concern yourself with the goings on of the internet only 10% of the time in the last two months, odds are you’ve seen something about Amy Schumer. Because that girl is killing it right now. Season four of Inside Amy Schumer premiered this week and you can catch it on Thursdays at 10pm EST.

She already has a few standup specials under her belt, which I’ve enjoyed, and she had a hilarious movie last summer, Trainwreck. But it’s her Comedy Central show, Inside Amy Schumer, that seems to be everywhere. I don’t think there’s been a week since the season started that one of her sketches wasn’t being talked about.

Season three of Inside Amy Schumer, which is essentially a sketch comedy show, premiered in April with one of the greatest sketches – Last Fuckable Day. It’s really when I started watching the show religiously.

In it, Amy comes across Tina Fey, Patricia Arquette, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus sitting at a table in the woods as they celebrate Julia’s last fuckable day in Hollywood.

A lot of Amy’s comedy plays on gender stereotypes to the sexualization of women in music videos to beauty standards on television (in a parody of 12 Angry Men no less). Her humor is cutting edge and certainly crass, but smart, and I appreciate that few things are off-limits. I would describe most of the humor as topical and definitely from a feminist perspective. Some of it can be a little gross, as with her music video parody, entitled “Milk Milk Lemonade,” but comedy can be a dirty job and someone’s got to do it. She recently did a sketch on Bill Cosby in the “court of public opinion” that had my jaw dropping.

(Trigger warning for rape and rape culture ahoy.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sq4gVZ4cBc

Admittedly, her humor isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. It can be shocking at times, though my inner feminist has to wonder if I find it shocking because it’s a woman saying these jokes and that’s something we aren’t used to in mainstream media. But that’s a reflection for another time.

At the very least, I appreciate and applaud her for being able to get away with these jabs on national television. Girl has some balls; it’s just a bonus that she happens to make me laugh until I cry.

For those looking to give the show a try, you really can just start anywhere you want, though I think the most recent season has been the best thus far. It’s a sketch show, so there aren’t any running plot lines with which to familiarize yourself. Comedy Central also does a great job putting videos up, so you can kind of get a taste for it before you commit to sitting down for full show.

Aside from the show, I’m just fascinated by Amy as a comedian. The New Yorker did a profile on the appeal of her comedic take on things. They even address some of her critics who feel like Amy is only being raunchy in an effort to appeal to men.

Recently, Amy was honored as the GLAMOUR Awards, receiving their Trailblazer Award, and her speech was hilarious. She makes it a point to not be photoshopped and of her looks, as evidenced in her recent appearance in the 2016 Pirelli Calendar.

Inside Amy Schumer already been renewed for a fifth. And while had a pretty good year in 2015, I’m anxious and excited to see what she has in store for 2016. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go rewatch Thursday’s premiere for the third time.