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Tag: 12 angry men

  • Amy Schumer Viral Success Rewarded with New HBO Special

    Amy Schumer is on fire. The outspoken comedienne has been taking it to the sexist men who have dominated her industry since the dawn of open mic nights. And people have been listening.

    Using her Comedy Central series Inside Amy Schumer as a platform, the saucy minx has tackled topics related to how females are treated with a fervor. Her most recent viral success an over-20-minute re-imagining of Sidney Lumet’s classic film 12 Angry Men.

    In the original film (and play), 12 men sit on a jury, tasked with deciding whether they find a man guilty of murder. The verdict must be unanimous. The jurors take an initial vote amongst themselves, hoping they can be done with the business of justice and get home to their families and pursuits. They all vote the man guilty, except for one juror. Henry Fonda played the role of the single dissenter in the original film. The story explored and exposed the prejudices and secret hatreds of the men in the hot room.

    Amy Schumer used that setting as her canvas. Joined by the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Paul Giamatti, Kumail Nanjiani, Nick Dipaolo, John Hawkes, and Vincent Kartheiser, Amy Schumer crafted a story wherein the verdict those 12 men were to return was about her.

    Is Amy Schumer hot enough to have her own television show?

    This incredibly funny bit joins several other wildly successful bits of late to catapult Amy Schumer into the realm of “household word.” And now she is about to get an HBO special directed by none other than Chris Rock.

    HBO announced that hte special will tape May 29 at the Apollo Theater. It will air later this year.

    Add to that the upcoming release of her summer film Trainwreck, directed by Judd Apatow, but written and starring Amy Schumer herself, and it certainly looks like her star is on the rise.

  • Amy Schumer Skit Blows Up Online, Keeping Streak Going

    Amy Schumer is getting attention, and she is using that attention to speak out about some things that she seems to think we all should pay attention to. Sure, lots of people get 15 minutes of fame and have the presence of mind to say something that they hope sticks with us after they’ve faded back into obscurity.

    The difference with Amy Schumer seems to be that she is getting the attention precisely because of what she is saying, but also how she says it.

    While satire and parody have been tools of argument and political expression for centuries, entire political careers are now being arguably altered thanks to the spotlight that a well-timed joke puts on an otherwise uncomfortable topic. Saturday Night Live is seen by many as bringing about the demise of Sarah Palin’s brief political aspirations.

    Amy Schumer isn’t so much taking aim at a particular person or persons as at conventions that have either gone unchallenged or unsuccessfully challenged. This week on her program Inside Amy Schumer, she went face-first into the topic of good looks being used as a determination of a woman’s worth. This is not the first time Amy Schumer has gone there. In fact, she seems to be owning this topic.

    This week she gathered a Who’s Who of Hollywood men in a parody of Sidney Lumet’s classic 12 Angry Men. The “trial” in this case was not about murder, but about whether or not Amy Schumer herself was hot enough to be on television.

    Notables such as Jeff Goldblum, Paul Giamatti, Kumail Nanjiani, Nick Dipaolo, John Hawkes, and Vincent Kartheiser tossed out lines like:

    “It’s an undisputed fact that a woman’s value is mostly determined by her looks.”
    “As it should be!”
    “It’s true. Look at Susan Boyle right? Voice of an angel, but because she looks like an 18th century paper boy, we treat her like toilet shoes.”

    “This isn’t complicated. Just another example of an average-lookin’ chick who watched too much Top Model. Now she thinks she belongs on the cover of Fuckable Magazine.”

    “No women are funny. But if you have to hear them blab, they at least better be hot.”

    Amy Schumer took on a similar topic recently with a skit that observed Tina Fey and Patricia Arquette toasting Julia Louis-Dreyfus having officially aged to the point of no longer being considered sexy.