The show critique portion of this review was written by my colleague Jessica Gonzales.
When Inside Amy Schumer premiered in 2013, most everyone was familiar with the Comedy Central sketch show format. It was extremely successful for Key & Peele and Chappelle’s Show. Amy Schumer was riding high off the success of her run on Last Comic Standing when her show premiered, and even though the format was mostly the same there were some fresh nuances like “(wo)man on the street” segments. The episode setups were usually excerpts of live stand-up from Amy, sketches that usually centered around an overall theme for that specific episode, street interviews with random people, and finally an interview with an unusual person. The show won three Primetime Emmys during its run of four seasons and thirty-nine episodes.
Inside Amy Schumer included a large crew of notable comedy writers, including Kyle Dunnigan, Tig Notaro, Gabe Liedman, and Jon Glaser. There were often big name familiar faces, like Tina Fey, Amber Tamblyn, Nikki Glaser, Natasha Lyonne, and Rachel Dratch, that would appear in sketches as the show went on. It really hit its stride in the second and third season with plenty of quality content and laughs. Even with the slight dip in quality during the fourth season, it was still enough to keep me interested. Some of my favorite sketches were just Amy at her silliest, making music videos like “80s Ladies” and “Milk, Milk, Lemonade…”, but her satirical wit really makes the show shine when she’s commenting on feminist issues in society like women being “put out to pasture” at a certain age, or even non-feminist issues like the struggle we all go through when having to explain how laptops work to our parents.
When it comes to Amy Schumer, people have very strong opinions. Many of those opinions are, let’s face it, rooted in misogyny. People complain that she is loud and obnoxious, too fat to be funny, and too gross. All of these things are untrue, obviously, because Amy is just unafraid to voice her thoughts and opinions. This usually causes this type of backlash because society has never really approved or appreciated women like her. She has said in the past that she wants to help women to have a voice on certain issues, and one of the things people are afraid and ashamed to talk about is sex, so yes, she uses her comedy to make the topic more approachable. So take a deep dive Inside of Amy Schumer with this series set. It’s worth your time and attention just for the laughs and dopamine hit alone.
Video Quality
Inside Amy Schumer comes to DVD with a 480p transfer that is steady and pleasing for the format. This DVD offers up an impressive amount of detail from the various settings and clothing. Compression artifacts are present without being too overwhelming. Black levels are decent with only a minimal amount of blocking. Colors are nice and fairly vibrant, especially with the series primarily taking place in brightly lit settings. The outfits on the show offer the most impressive color palette with hues that practically leap off the screen. Skin tones look natural, and there are some decent facial details present. This presentation is good enough for DVD, but this would have made for an excellent looking Blu-Ray.
Audio Quality
The DVD comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 Audio track that sounds pretty great. The series is mostly dialogue driven with very little in the way of action to give the track any overwhelming sign of life. Dialogue is mixed well and comes through crystal clear without ever being stepped on by any music or sound effects. Directionality is rendered accurately so that sounds originate from all the natural spots. Environmental sounds such as crowd chatter add a dynamic touch to the proceedings. Although there is not constant activity in the track, it presents the series exactly as it was intended and that is really all you can ask. The set also includes optional English subtitles.
Special Features
Seasons 1 & 2
- Season One Stand-Up: A 24-minute set presented in full that the was used throughout the season. You have seen many of the biggest laughs in the course of the episodes, but there are many small moments that did not make the show that are equally hilarious and worth checking out.
- Behind Amy Schumer: Five behind-the-scenes- featurettes totaling 25 minutes which shines a spotlight on some of the talent in the writer’s room, Amy going to Vegas, what a day on the set looks like and Amy performing her set that will be used throughout the season.
- Unaired Sketches: Two sketches are included here totaling seven minutes that were not used in the show. The first involves a sibling relationship that is a bit too close and the second involves a solo Amy performing at a couple’s dance audition. Both of these are good for some laughs.
- Season Two Stand-Up: Another full 24-minute set that was used in the second season. Much like the season one set, it is really fun that this was included for fans.
Season 3
- Outtakes: Fifteen minutes of alternate takes from sketches throughout the season including material from the beauty pageant sketch, the freestyle boyfriend and more. The best part about these are watching the actors crack up from some of the outrageous stuff that is said.
- Unaired Sketch: A three-minute unaired sketch involving an engagement photographer is provided here that goes to some hilarious extremes.
- Amy Goes Deep: Four additional interviews totaling fifteen minutes are included here in which Amy tells a teenager how much better life is after school and finds some differences and commonalities between an elderly straight and elderly gay couple.
Season 4
- Inside Amy Schumer’s Writers Room: Four videos totaling ten minutes are included featuring new writer’s picking on Kyle, the writer’s dealing with hunger, male writers trying to understand the female perspective and more. This is a fun little spin-off series that is one of my favorite features in the whole package.
Final Thoughts
Inside Amy Schumer easily joins the ranks as one of the best sketch comedy shows to come from the Comedy Central factory. A lot of unearned hatred has been directed her way in recent years, but we must not forget that she is one of the funniest and sharpest minds to come out of the comedy scene in the past decade. At least once an episode, there will usually be a bit that will have you crying from laughter, which is no easy task for any comedian. Paramount Home Entertainment has delivered a modestly-priced, shelf-friendly collection that gathers all four hilarious seasons for safe keeping. The set itself would have been better as a Blu-Ray collection, but the A/V quality of the DVDs are passable and there are a nice assortment of special features. Recommended
Inside Amy Schumer: The Complete Series is currently available to purchase on DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the DVD.
Disclaimer: Paramount Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this set free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
