Review: 'Inside Amy Schumer'

Before I get into the details of the season four premiere of Comedy Central's Inside Amy Schumer, let's get the basics out of the way. She's funny. Very funny. Not "funny for a girl" or "funny on TV." She's a funny, talented performer and comedian. And as a result, I expect a lot from her.

Which brings us to the season opener of her sketch show, which I expected to enjoy a lot more than I did by the time it was over. I've been a big fan of the series and there are moments in this episode that are genius. A scene in which white, male congressmen come into the exam room to quiz her about her sex life (among other things) is a note-perfect piece of satirical comedy gold. The short segments of her speaking with friends/fans in a bar about their sex lives and relationships was also very solid and it gave viewers the chance to see a glimpse of her in a non-acting setting.

But I find myself in the awkward situation of being bored by Amy Schumer's vagina. Which is not something I ever thought I'd have to admit in public. She talks about it a lot in the episode and criticizing that seems about as misguided as complaining that Jeff Foxworthy spends too much time mentioning rednecks.

And yet, I find myself weary of the topic, primarily because there are so many other things she could talk about. Yes, it's empowering that a woman can do sexual comedy and I'm fairly confident that Amy Schumer's vagina is worth discussing at length. But more than once in the season premiere I felt that she was talking about it simply because it was easy and felt "shocking." 

I'm also not convinced that bits like "The Most Interesting Woman In The World" really works as either comedy or satire. Those testosterone-infused commercials are certainly worthy of being mocked. But her solution seems to be to just replace the male stereotypes with an overwrought female equivalent. It just seemed to all come off very flat, although her look in the mock commercials was more than a bit creepy.

I get that an old white guy and maybe I don't have the correct perspective for this topic. But in the same way that I think Melissa McCarthy is more talented than some of her roles would lead you to believe, I think Amy Schumer is capable of much more than she displays in this half hour of cable television.

Amy Schumer is very talented and even in an off week, Inside Amy Schumer is worth watching. But maybe her vagina should take a couple of weeks off.