The latest season ofInside Amy Schumercontinues to be one of the more unsung highlights of the television year, with some excellent cameos by the likes ofJake GyllenhaalandLena Dunham, amongst others. It’s been a pretty excellent continuation of the ideas Schumer touched on in herChris Rock-directed HBO comedy special from New York’s Apollo Theater, and one of the most recent sketch clips from this season directly references a point she made in that stand-up special.
I’m talking specifically about her well-overdue ragging on the unbearableKevin JamesvehicleThe Zookeeper, in which theKing of Queenscomedian starred as the titular employee who can suddenly speak to animals. Schumer rightly brought up the absurdity of James, an overweight schlub, paying no mind to, and yet being chased after by,Rosario Dawson’s character, one of his colleagues at the zoo. Were, say,Melissa McCarthyto romance Dawson’s male equivalent - let’s sayIdris Elbaor maybeChris Hemsworth- Schumer argues that people (white men, mostly) worldwide would cackle and harangue out of disbelief.
In this latest clip, she moves that idea over to the everyday sitcom, where an overweight Kevin James-type makes jokes about overeating and turning his bathroom into a hot weekend in Fallujah and gets big laughs as compared to Schumer getting almost no laughs whatsoever for her lines criticizing his obesity. It’s a point well taken, and it of course ends in the realm of the absurd, as Schumer’s work so often does. But considering the unending nonsense that’s been posted against the upcomingGhostbustersremake - again, mostly by men - this is a pretty topical moment for Schumer, who has never begged off from controversial subject matter. You can see how the sketch unfolds below.
Here’s the clip:
