Audience Members Walk Out of Amy Schumer"s Tampa Performance After It Gets Political
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NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 16: Actress Amy Schumer performs onstage as Baby Buggy celebrates 15 years with "An Evening with Jerry Seinfeld and Amy Schumer" presented by Bank of America - Inside at Beacon Theatre on November 16, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Baby Buggy)
This was posted on Rodney Hos AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
The most memorable moment at tonights Amy Schumer concert at Philips Arena had nothing to do with her privates or theKardashians or the inevitable heckler.
About 45 minutes in, she abruptly ended her run of hilarious stories focused almost exclusively on her s*x parts, blacking out from drinking too much and various aspects of copulation that are far too explicit for me to mention in any detail. Instead, she brought up how triggered she felt hearing about several women alleging thatDonald Trumpsexually assaulted them. (She had told Howard Stern a few weeks ago about being raped herself by a former boyfriend.)
So she had the producers turn upthe lights up and asked women brave enough to stand up if they were victims of sexual assault. Several dozen did.
Amazingly, Schumer turned an arena with 8,500-plus people into a safe place for people to acknowledgean incredibly personal aspect of their lives.
A lot more people appeared to walk out over her political comments during her show the next night in Tampa, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The comic has seen her star rise steadily over the past decade, fueledby her award-winning Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer, which tackles gender issues with a dollop of raunch and a playful sense of satire. Notably, sheis the first female stand-up comic to headline a solo show at Philips Arena.
Schumer isnt one to forget her roots. Sheopened the show name-checking her original comedichomein Atlanta: the Punchline Comedy Club and referenced owner Jamie Bendall. Later, in self-deprecating tone, she said, Ill be back at the Punchline next week!
Schumer confidentlyfilled the entire arena, aided bytwo screens enabling even the concertgoers in the rafters to see heroften goofy facial expressions and occasional physical humor. She wore an extra-tight orange dress and black top, noting that she skipped the Spanx due to a cyst. She swigged straight from a bottle of wine. Ive become rich and famous and humble, she cracked.
Early on, she noted, Im sweating like Katt Williams! (The often arrested Williams himself headlined shows at Philips Arena last year.)
She also expressed her full-throated support for Hillary Clinton, something she said she wouldnt have done if her opponent wasnt so crazy, she said. A Trump supporter began yelling at her. She quickly offered for him to come on stage to explain why. He didnt. She could have mocked him for his cowardice but chose to move on, except to note, Youre coming to my show. Should you be surprised?
The video screens before the show warned people not to usesmartphones for pictures orrecording or even sending texts to the babysitter while in the arena. Security guards watched attendeeslike hawks, shining lights on them or verbally chastising them if they saw even a glimmer of light from a phone. Do itthree times and they were booted. Amazingly, some folks couldnt stop using their phones and were escorted away.
About an hour in, Schumer did allow folks to take pictures for a few minutes for thosewho absolutely had to Instagram the moment could. Otherwise, she wanted people to live in the moment and enjoy the show. It appeared most attendees did save for astray Trump supporter or two.
Seemingly every new season of Inside Amy Schumerhas brought us the same question: What is Amy going to donow that shes gotten famous? Her profile has increased considerably each year that the sketch show has been on the air, and audiences are perpetually wondering how the show will be affected by that. Weve watched her gradually evolve from a favorite at the Comedy Central roasts to a full-fledged superstar who pals around with Jennifer Lawrence. In that context, its natural to wonder how that ever-increasing fame is going to affect the comedy of someone who is known for dark humor and has never cared too much for keeping the audience comfortable. Luckily, Amy and her writers have done a fine job handling these adjustments in stride, and the show has continued to be one of the most consistently uproarious comedies on television.
One of the most frequently covered aspects of this show has been its feminist-leaning tendencies. After the second season hinted at feminist concepts with sketches like Hello, MLady, which skewered nice guys who turned cruel at the first hint of rejection, season 3went into it full bore, with several sketches taking on explicitly feminist concepts. In the same episode, we saw the Football Town Nights sketch thatlooked at rape culture in high school, and Last Fuckable Day, a spot-on satire of Hollywood ageism. There was also the Emmy-winning song parody Girl, You Dont Need Makeup, which seemed to be a specific parody of One Directions What Makes You Beautiful but could be a stand-in for any song that attempted to appeal to female audiences with generic lines about how youre perfect just the way you are, without offering real substance. The twist that the boy band dudes change their mind after actually seeing her without makeup drove the point home perfectly. Looking at these sketches, it was clear that Schumer had embraced the idea that she was a voice for feminism in comedy, and was bringing that into her show on a regular basis.
And yet, none of these sketches could match the masterpiece of season3, the 12 Angry Men parody. This was an episode-length sketch focusing on the question of whether or not Schumer was hot enough to be on television. It followed the premise of the classic play note-for-note; in the beginning, only one juror thinks she is, then spends the rest of the episode convincing the jury to change their minds. This involves asking whether or not Schumer gives them a reasonable chub (a welcome addition to the lexicon), before eventually they all change their mind. This was Amy Schumer taking on sexism directly, and using her newfound fame as the platform to do it. Essentially, this was an entire episode dedicated to digging into the real meat of the rancid concepts those other sketches had only touched on briefly.
Really, the 12 Angry Men episode could have been an unmitigated disaster; to begin with, stretching out one sketch into an entire episode can be a huge problem if you dont have the material to back it up. More importantly, the sketch ran the risk of being excessively heavy-handed. Can 22 minutes of hearing why old-school objectification of women is bad and harmful really make for an entertaining comedy show, or will it leave viewers merely feeling chastened rather than entertained? Luckily, the sketch ended up being hilarious mostly because it used a light touch. The raging sexist attitudes that made up the jury room were presented as silly and out-of-touch rather than dangerous and menacing, similar to how the Hello MLady sketch succeeded by portraying potentially creepy guys as awkward and a bit douchey, but ultimately harmless rather than as a serious threat. These sketches expose the idiocy of sexism by portraying it as a ridiculous sideshow rather than as an imminent threat.
But while season3 established Schumers interest in feminist-minded comedy, a few key things happened in between the third and fourth seasons. The first was that Schumers feminism faced a backlash. Older jokes like I used to date a lot of Hispanic guys, but now I prefer consensual re-surfaced, causing people to ask whether hailing Schumer as a feminist comedy icon was a smart move. Now, theres a strong argument to be made that the punchline to that joke isnt all Latino men are rapists but rather can you believe how horrible and racist that thing I just said was? She was using irony as a way of mocking the foolishness of racism. Still, you get the feeling that when Schumer made the joke, she had no idea that she would eventually become either a major celebrity or someone who the world of social justice cared about. She didnt have to choose her words as carefully back then, and now, in light of her increased fame, it was coming back to bite her.
Still, it didnt hurt her that much, because the other major development that took place in between seasons was that Schumer became an even bigger celebrity than she was before. Trainwreckbecame a massive hit, she starred in a Super Bowl commercial, filmed a standup special at the Apollo, and began a standup tour where shes played at sports arenas for upwards of20,000 people. Rather than just being a star in the comedy world, Schumer has become a legitimate A-list celebrity. This couldnt help but lead to the question of whether or not she was too famous for cable TV. With season4 beginning, we had to wonder whether or not Schumer had become too much of a big fish for her current situation.
So far, that hasnt been a problem yet. Schumer has used her newfound celebrity to recruit other A-listers like Liam Neeson and Lin-Manuel Miranda. These sketches could have been exercises in vain look how famous I am narcissism, but they were both pretty d**n funny, with Amys attempt at writing her own version of Hamiltonparticularly drawing some major laughs. But while Schumer has had some fun palling around with celebrity friends, the show has also taken on a more serious tone at times as well.
The second episode of season4 began with a parody of QVC-type shows that was dedicated to selling guns. As the sketch goes on, it points out all of the dangerous gun loopholes that exist, while a list of pro-gun congressman appears on the screen. This sketch was clearly a direct reaction to a shooting that occurred at a showing of Trainwrecklast year. While Schumer may have held anti-gun views before, this tragedy undoubtedly affected her on a personal level, giving her the need to speak out about it. This sketch is funny at first, and certainly effective in making its point, but its the closest Inside Amy Schumer has ever come to being a bit too heavy-handed in its message. Still, considering how close this issue likely was to Schumers heart, she can be forgiven for being too on-the-nose just this once.
Elsewhere, the show has shown off its serious side in the Amy Goes Deep segments, which is often the least funny but most interesting part of the show. In season3, she interviewed trans activist and adult actress Bailey Jay, in an interview that was met with mixed reviews. Some criticized it for asking questions about trans people that they would rather not be asked, while others praised it for starting a much-needed dialogue. This season, she has continued to bring on guests from walks of life we might not otherwise think about. One of her best interviews with the series was with a woman with Down Syndrome. Schumer succeeded here by not condescending, and treating her like a human being. But while that segment was heartwarming, Schumer was also willing to get dark with the segment where she interviewed a sociopath. This person spoke openly about not empathizing, and described some pretty disturbing behavior of their childhood. Still, Schumer took the interview head on, never recoiling, and always keeping an open mind to what her guest had to say. If the criticism of Schumer after her old jokes started an internet controversy was that she was a typical White Feminist, the Amy Goes Deep segment is what can prove those assertions. Week by week, she has shown that there is no under-discussed aspect of humanity that she is not willing to provide a voice and representation to.
With Schumers celebrity status lurking in the shadows of her show, we cant help but wonder how much longer Inside Amy Schumer will be for this world. Still, while its here, its something we can appreciate. Schumer is using her celebrity to have fun with some of our favorite big stars, but more importantly, knowing she has one of the more popular comedies on basic cable, shes used her fame to give people we normally wouldnt hear from a chance to tell their stories. Most importantly of all, shes been able to take on more of an activist persona while not giving up the bawdy humor that made us love her in the first place.
Inside Amy Schumer - Last F**kable Day - Uncensored
It will come as no surprise to fans of Amy Schumer that she was voted Class Comedian as revealed by this yearbook photo from South Side HS in Rockville Centre, LI.
Photo: Jeff Rayner/Coleman-Rayner
But classmate Stephen Cannoli Cannone, who shared that honor, says she was voted something else too: Teachers Worst Nightmare.
That doesnt show up in the 1999 yearbook, though. Schumer failed to pose for the photo because she had a habit of cutting class.
Shes really smart so she would kind of play with the teachers without them even realizing it and then we would work off each other making jokes, said Cannone, 34.
The gut-busting cohorts were both part of a group known around school as the funny and crazy crowd.
The mischievous clique was also partying at a college level when they were only 15 years old, hitting bars in Manhattan with their fake IDs and never missed a night out.
The hilarious buds first met when Cannone moved from Manhattan to Rockville Centre in 1990 and attended the same elementary school as Schumer.
We used to walk home from school at the same time every day on the opposite sides of the street and she would sometimes make wisecracks at me, Cannone reminisced. We were only about 9 or 10 then.
Stephen Cannone in his Manhattan office.Photo: Helayne Seidman
Though Cannoli didnt pursue a life of comedy himself, he says humor has brought him a long way in his profession as a sales and marketing consultant.
He also promised that Schumers rise to stardom hasnt changed her.
I cant see fame ever getting to her, he said. Shes always going to be who she is.
