Comedy Central
This recent episode of Inside Amy Schumer isn’t a big message episode, instead it’s just about being ridiculous, for the most part. What this means inevitably is that some sketches work (i.e. are consistently funny) and some don’t (i.e. are not consistently funny). So before I attempt to find a thematic through line which may not be there, let’s break down the sketches.
We start with “Listen Alert,” which seems to initially be a joke about “oh, guys never listen to women,” but then it cleverly subverts that by being a product for literally anybody with boring stories. Which really is everyone, when you think about it. So for a small price of one hundred thousand dollars a month, they’ll do anything but “listen to dreams,” a cliched but chuckle-worthy line. A short commercial to start the show, but it was amusingly edited and escalated well into absurdity, something that’s often difficult for comedy sketches (see: Saturday Night Live).
Next, there’s a sketch about Amy’s boyfriend getting confronted by her brother. At first it may seem a “don’t hurt my sister” bit, but it jumps into asking, pleading not to have anal sex with her. It’s so stupid, you wonder where it’s going — and then there’s the punchline, that his wife was paralyzed because of anal sex. Now that’s a stupid ending to a sketch! I found this one a bit … hit or miss. Didn’t quite work, just played on the comedic nature of so-called “unusual” sexual acts.
Up next was Time Travel:
This was a delightful exercise in absurdity, and it’s time travel, two things I particularly like seeing. A bunch of killer lines, a confusing and illogical series of events, not really any “point” at all. It’s interesting to me how often Amy in the sketch refers to her past self as stupid, and then demonstrates it. It’s a weird thing to name a character for yourself, and then make them look bad. It’s not a bad idea, it’s just unusual. Still, this sketch was the funniest of the night, even if, again, there was no real “point” other than amusement.
After that, there’s the “Wingwoman” sketch where Amy is helping out a friend (Rachel Dratch) pick up guys by essentially picking them up herself. Now, despite a bunch of funny lines (that Fifty Shades of Grey prequel with nine year olds, the brilliant run with Scott Disick, Casey Anthony, OJ Simpson, Ashlee Simpson), the sketch ended with a shrug and an “okay.” So funny pieces, but a bit of a letdown — kind a metaphor with this episode in general.
Finally we have “Amy vs. Salem,” which is almost a sketch with a point, where promiscuous women are called witches by the community. The joke here is that the men are describing what sounds like things they like, but can’t admit to it. So … sluttiness = witchiness = death, is I suppose the metaphor to modern times and how we look at women with many sexual partners. Didn’t really connect, and the ending with them whispering propositions to the judge (Colin Quinn) was a bit of a bleh way to cap it all off. A disappointing sketch.
In the interview segment, Amy interviews a woman who left the Amish community, and has a boring conversation. I guess they can’t all be winners. This episode, watch for “Time Travel” and “Listen Alert,” but the rest can be skipped. Next week is the season finale, and I am optimistic for good things.
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