Amy Schumer arrived on the comedy radar in the summer of 2007 as she went deep on the reality show Last Comic Standing. The comedian competition series allowed her to shine and her career built. She did guest spots, acted in sitcoms and had a solo comedy special. But things finally went into orbit when Comedy Central aired <I>Inside Amy Schumer</i> in the Spring of 2013. Inside quickly became a sensation for the channel that had been looking for a fresh series after Chapelle’s Show imploded in 2004 when Dave walked away. Schumer gave a mix of sketches, stand up and odd interviews that made her quickly became “did you see what she did last night” topic on office instant messengers. Now all four seasons and 39 episodes have been brought together on Inside Amy Schumer: The Complete Series.
The first episodes started out with a cultural bang as Amy auditions for an infamous online video. Do you remember “Two Girls – One Cup?” Well Amy has to compete with a Brazilian model for that chose role that caused an entire world to reconsider sharing a drink cup. The sketch sets the tone for the show as Amy attempts to figure out this acting gig. When she finally goes for the disturbing short, she gets told one more thing from the producer. It’s gross and cutting which sums up a lot of the sketches on her series. This is a show for grown ups.
Setting up the tone for the sketches, Amy has routines that she taped in front of a studio audience. The routines for the first two seasons are put together in the bonus feature section. She also does a little woman on the street interviews with people about topics in sketches. It’s kind of like how HBO used to run their late night show about games people played. Instead of a musical guest that wrapped up many episodes of The Chapelle’s Show, Amy sits down and interviews a person with an interesting job or background. She has a great style with people who aren’t stars including strippers, plastic surgeons, over endowed people, a ballerina, a woman that’s 106 and others. It’s easy to see that at some point in her career, she’ll be offered a talkshow host gig. Although is she really going to want to gush over someone pushing their latest movie? She also talks to her fellow comics at a bar party that pops up in a few episodes.
Why did Inside Amy Schumer come to an end after four episodes? Because she found success in making feature films. Between the third and fourth season she was in Trainwreck. The movie was a massive hit although two women were killed when a man with a gun opened fire in a theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. During the the forth season, Schumer addresses this nightmare. “Welcome to the Gun Show” has her on a QVC show where they’re keep selling guns and pointing out loopholes in the law so that people who shouldn’t have weapons can order anyway. Later during her stage moment, Schumer talks about the two women and the others injured who wanted to see a movie and not be a victim of gun violence. This show wasn’t just always about drinking wine and bad dates.
Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The show was show in high definition video so it looks fine on the screen. You’ll see all the weirdness clearly. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. It’s all rather clear and you’ll get to feel the musical numbers used in a few sketches. The episodes are subtitled.
Season One Stand Up (24:16) has her on stage routines that formed part of the intro elements to the sketches.
Go Behind the Scenes with Amy (5:13) has them cover the three months it took to make the first season. You see the pressure she’s under to have 10 episodes ready and still keep up her stand up act.
The Writer’s Room (4:11) introduces us to the people who wrote the sketches. It’s s tight room, but they identify the culprits.
Amy Goes to Vegas (5:18) takes us along to Sin City when Amy’s playing a casino. She hangs with her sister on the Strip.
Making Inside Amy Schumer (3:11) has her excited to have her own series. She talks about the collaboration on the show. We see how they’re always tweaking the sketches during production.
Amy On Stage (4:10) is the behind the scenes of the stand up for the show.
Unaired Sketches include Brother (4:04), Dance Audition (2:39) and Engagement Photographer (2:58).
Season Two Stand Up (23:23) is the stage bits from her sophomore effort.
Outtakes (14:55) are from five sketches in season 3.
Amy Goes Deep are more of her interview segments.
Inside Amy Schumer’s Writers Room (10:18) appears to be a web series about the people who wrote Amy’s show. Although it appears to be actors playing the writers and not people from the original piece on the writer’s room.
Comedy Central & Paramount Home Entertainment presents Inside Amy Schumer: The Complete Series. Starring: Amy Schumer. Boxset Contents: 39 episodes on 7 DVDs. Rated: Unrated. Released: February 23, 2021.
