This is how legends are made.
“Can I dive in front of them and act like I fell?”
“I can't stop you."
Thanks #TIME100 pic.twitter.com/bdAjImc5J5
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) April 22, 2015And with that, a blonde woman in a navy dress confirmed what a few of us have known for a while:
Amy Schumer is the most important comedian working right now.
Schumer is everywhere you look right now. From hosting the MTV Movie Awards, to executive producing/starring in her own Comedy Central show that was just picked up for its fourth season, to starring in/writing an upcoming feature film directed by Judd Apatow entitled Trainwreck, she’s putting in work right now, and Time noticed. She’s on their list for 100 most influential people of 2015, hence the party with Kimye. (Tilda Swinton wrote about her for the award, and it could not be more Tilda Swinton. She describes Amy as, “fitted with a radar as keen as a rabbiting spaniel.” I MEAN SHE’S RIGHT BUT I DIGRESS.)
What is it that makes Schumer so right for this moment? There’s the brains-beauty combo that makes her so approachable. And when she’s got you, she’s calling out everything wrong with the world—and making you laugh at the same time. There’s something about Amy, and she knows it, too. She’s been given a colossal platform in an industry dominated by men, and she’s using it to say something.
Here’s her take on the world’s obsession with booty anthems:
And here’s her skewering rape culture:
What ultimately makes Schumer the comedian of the moment is her fearlessness. And her ambition. She’s drawing attention to social issues that a lot of people choose to ignore. She’s giving phenomenal speeches that are hilariously frank, and yet articulate the experience of millions of women at the same time. She’s the woman posing on the red carpet, but she’s also the woman that’s sprawled out on that same red carpet at the feet of pop culture royalty. A publicity stunt? Sure. A little silly? Probably. But it's silliness in service of an agenda. Schumer asked her publicist for permission to fake fall in front of the most unsmiling man on the planet. She did it, and she did it big. She’s seizing every opportunity she has. Bow down.
