Should ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ Season 5 Be Considered a Legacy Revival? Although the show’s off-air time hasn’t been as extensive as later season revivals such as “Arrested Development” or “The X-Files,” six and a half years can feel like an eternity in popular and political culture, especially when With a worldwide pandemic. Schumer himself should have been particularly aware of the fullness of this time; When Season 4 of the show debuted in the spring of 2016, she was fresh from a moment in the huge hit “Trainwreck” and cultural enthusiast; An ongoing Comedy Central sketch series seemed almost ludicrously small-scale for such a rising star.
Since then, she has starred in two more massive big-screen comedies, made her Broadway debut in Steve Martin’s “Meteor Shower”, gave an underseen but outstanding performance in “The Human”, penned her Hulu series “Life and Beth”. and directed. Co-hosted the Oscars, married and had a child together. Yet she had to sacrifice some of her warmth to the general cultural backlash, some of her Hollywood movies that weren’t as big or endearing as “Trainwreck,” and, in her telling, some of her sketch-writing mojo was a Certainly the seriousness of the anti-feminist Trump presidency. Has the culture – and the ruthless streaming-TV economy – moved on from the busiest sketch-comedy series of a decade ago?
If so, it could be a blessing in disguise for “Inside Amy Schumer,” allowing the series to continue without the baggage of the next big Amy Schumer project. The first two episodes of the new fifth season, the former home produced for Paramount+ rather than Comedy Central, have both inspired silliness and angry bites—sometimes coexisting, sometimes sequestered in separate sketches. Schumer and her revolving writers and cast (the show doesn’t have a regular on-screen ensemble) are still able to satirize ideas and performances of American femininity with precision and heightened absurdity, like the first-episode The scene features Schumer, Bridget Everett, Olivia Munn, and Cazzie David expressing Instagram-ready “gratitude” that won’t allow them to undergo any cosmetic procedures (of course, they go into detail that doesn’t count). There’s a similar increase regarding the second-episode bit. New Forms of “Shapewear” Spanx And how it encourages women to feel ashamed of their bodies.
There are times, however, when Schumer is aiming for the kind of approval-based clatter (the jokes that prompt more applause than laughs) that can become stock in business for commentary shows. went. A fake tourism ad for Colorado, based on the idea that people from nearby states would travel to a place where abortion remains legal, is quick and clever, as at the end of John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight”. Found thing… and a little one-note, like, well, kind of thing found at the end of “Last Week Tonight.”
There are few sections that could, in theory, balance this with gentle silliness. The previous incarnation of “Inside Amy Schumer” attempted to show the cast what Schumer actually happened to enjoy, and both episodes provided for review handpicked-looking music videos for veteran comedy writer Ron Weiner’s ditties. To which “30 Rock” is credited. “Futurama,” and “Arrested Development” and whose work here recalls the lyrics to Bruce McCulloch’s “Kids in the Hall.” Weiner’s songs are amusing, but next to Schumer’s best material fall a little flat; It’s a promising change of pace from last season’s stand-up and interview segments, but one that hasn’t fully paid off yet.
So it’s up to other sketches to balance out the more chilling bits about abortion and campus safety—and some of them, like the silly but perhaps self-satisfying “Fart Park,” aren’t quite as fully imagined as the show. are doing. The latter is represented by a sketch similar to the first of the season, an instant classic that begins as an advertisement for a mood-altering drug before following an increasingly dark tangent about Schumer’s new pottery habit. .
The unspoken conceit of the original show, that Schumer would play a variety of characters named Amy, would alternately lash out at her own shortcomings and the way society fails and alienates women, a terrifying ode to Schumer’s sensibility. The vehicle remains—perhaps even more so than his first love, stand. At the time of the show’s initial hiatus, it was understandable that she wanted to focus on other projects; Now, it seems strange that this ever went away.
“Inside Amy Schumer” Season 5 premieres October 20 at Paramount+. will be on With new episodes every Thursday.