#HotMessComedy, or How Amy Schumer’s Netflix Special Drove Me to Use Hashtags
Amy Schumer: The Leather Special. Promotional Image via Netflix
Netflix is ramping up the comedy specials, but so far only one in particular has really caught my eye. Watching Amy Schumer’s ‘Leather Special’ brought out my inner basic b*tch, which is why you’ll see so many #hashtags going forward.
I’m not sure what possessed me to watch “Amy Schumer: The Leather Special” on Netflix, but it seemed to be a particularly lazy Sunday, so I went ahead and did it. I guess before we actually start I should clarify I’m not an Amy Schumer fan, but I also don’t have this vehement hatred for her that so many online seem to have. I’m just not into her stuff.
But I’m also not a jerk; I give things a chance before critiquing them. And with more and more Netflix stand-up specials coming out (I’m particularly excited for Dave Chappelle), I wanted to see what passes for comedy through their eyes.
And if we’re being honest here, I was sorely disappointed.
Hashtag #HotMess
Amy’s brand of comedy is something I like to call #HotMessComedy (yes, the hashtag is absolutely necessary). It’s in essence bragging about how much of an insecure mess one is, with zero resolution by the end of the show. It’s honest, at least, but this brand seems relatively commonplace for the ‘average’ female comedian. I did stand-up back in the day and it annoyed me that women felt the need to resort to ‘gross-out humor’ that garnered half-laughs and a lot of uncomfortable giggling. There’s plenty of things that are hilarious about being a woman. All we have to do is talk about how f*cked up our feelings can get us and it’s instant comedy gold.
But to dilute it to a bunch of jokes about how truly nasty we can be seems cheap and unwarranted. It’s the ‘Amy Schumer’ style of stand-up set that seems like an easy target, and causes a cataclysmic eye roll from the internet. Yes, women have vaginas. Yes, sometimes they get funktastic. But where is the line between humor and #JustPlainIcky for the sake of icky?
Ms. Schumer started her show by coming out dressed head to toe in leather. It just seemed like a gimmick for Netflix to put an eye-catching title on the homepage, which worked, because here I am reviewing it. She talked about how the tabloids called her “brave” for wearing a dress, so why not wear an ill-fitting garbage bag in order to dig at them a little more?
#NoCorrelation
Not six minutes into this special, she’s already talking about her “p*ssy.” (I’m going to censor that word because outside of a personal sext scenario, I don’t like seeing it in print.) She just kept going on and on about her ‘p*ssy,’ likening its smell to a small barnyard animal. I don’t know about you, but even on my grossest days I’ve never experienced anything close to that. Ever.
She also said her “p*ssy” was “ISIS.” Not comparing it to ISIS, she literally said the situation down there “was ISIS.” Just saying something as topical as a terror group is your actual undercarriage seemed lazy and fell flat. What makes one’s p*ssy ISIS? Are there annoying little men down there who have to cover their faces for fear of being found out? Do they commit war crimes and other atrocities that us in the first world could only imagine? I’m all for #OffensiveHumor, but blatantly saying something for shock value loses all its cache.
It seemed apparent that Amy was taking her insanely personal experiences and likening them to a universal feeling. One of the keys of comedy is trying to find things that are relatable to any audience, and this helps by generalizing things. Not everyone is a sexed-up banging machine (anymore) and it doesn’t help for someone to tell you “you’ve had this same experience I have, don’t kid yourself,” when you clearly have not.
Did I also mention the audience clapped wildly for these two things: pushing a man off a cliff for refusing to perform oral sex, and a mention of the Nuva ring. It struck me as odd. Applause breaks usually happen after a profound moment, not another instance of manhating and an advertisement for birth control.
(Don’t) Preach
There was a strange pause in the middle of the show, where Schumer once again referred to the 2015 theater shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, which happened during a screening of Schumer’s film Trainwreck, leaving two women and the shooter dead. Amy name-dropped the victims, Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson, which seemed odd to do in a show chock full of c*mshots and sweaty vadges. The moment felt preachy and self-aggrandizing, something used to floof Ms. Schumer’s ego to astronomical levels during a comedy special.
While comedians have successfully gotten preachy in the past (George Carlin, anyone?) this moment was another way for Amy to make it all about herself. In reference to the tabloids criticizing her, she remarked “What’s crazy is that you can catch a hot load all over your t*tties and still not want your loved ones to get shot in a theater.” That was a ‘joke’ that was met with thunderous applause, and I failed to understand why. It felt as if everyone in the audience looked around at one another, silently assuming they should clap and cheer in order to make the special more believable as a stand-up show.
To compare, there were two moments where Amy bent over and showed the audience her rear end. About four people clapped. It felt forced and just another reason for us to be reminded how ‘brave’ she is for doing the entire show in a leather suit. I should also mention that Trainwreck was name-dropped twice, leaving me an icky feeling of #CommercializedComedy that just felt disingenuous.