- What about these, like, moments that,
you know, Beth is clearly dealing with of, like,
where you realize, while on paper,
it seems like everything is working,
ostensibly, that you have this kind of existential crisis
where it's like, "Oh my god, like, I'm on the wrong path,"
and, like, you don't know how you got there.
Does that resonate with you on both a personal
and professional level?
Are there instances you can trace?
- Oh, yeah.
A really good chunk of my life
I spent in situations that I thought,
because everything signals
that that's what you're supposed to like doing,
that's what you're supposed to wanna do,
that's who you're supposed to be,
and then realizing: This
doesn't make me feel good, actually?
And wow, it didn't even occur to me
that I am really unhappy.
Like, and also,
I had a therapist once that was like,
"Well, you have really low self-esteem."
And I was like, "No, I'm, like, really confident."
And she's like, "Yeah,
but you also - "
And I was like, "God, that's true."
And when I was talking to Violet Young,
who plays young Beth, incredible actress,
she asked me that question while we were doing prep.
"Is she confident or is she - "
And I'm like, "It's both."
And it's this thing that I still
am navigating my whole life and still today.
- Well, look, it's Amy Schumer.
Amy, it's so good to see you in my little Zoom box.
How are you? - It is so nice to be
in your little Zoom box.
I'm good, I'm really good.
- Congrats on the new series.
'Life & Beth' is fantastic.
I've seen the first few episodes.
It's not only great,
but it's got some great punnage.
So, I mean, this checks all my boxes
in what I'm looking for. - Right?
Yeah, this show's right up your alley.
- Talk to me a little bit about
how this one reflects where you're at in your life
because, you know, not to psychoanalyze,
but a lot of your work - Yeah, get on the couch.
A lot of your work has reflected your life, very authentic
and true to yourself.
And this is about Beth, who is having some personal
and professional major issues.
Does this reflect anything
of what you've been dealing with the last few years,
or what?
- Oh gosh, absolutely,
especially as a new mom.
All of the processing, your old trauma,
and, like, any parenting book
is just like, "Toddlers just want empathy.
"It's just like adults."
So, that aspect has been a huge revelation, of course,
and also being a chronic pain sufferer
and trying to, kind of, navigate that
and figure out the source of the pain
and how it's, you know, connected to old traumas,
that metaphor is not in any way lost on me.
And that's something that I have been dealing with,
and yeah,
and I really wanted to include that
as an arc in the show, as well.
- There's also this, like, thing about,
and this resonated with me
and I'm sure resonates from your own life,
like, early in the series, you get up and perform.
And you've just had - you've suffered a traumatic -
hugely traumatic news has just entered your world.
And you know, doing standup and
doing as much work as you do,
I'm sure you've had those moments
where you've had to just, sort of, like,
bury the personal life issues
and just get onstage and do your thing.
Is that inspired by any particular incident or moment,
or is it just something that resonates generally?
- I mean, I have had
extreme events in my life happen
and then needed to go onstage right after,
but I think it's more signaling,
like, that this change is happening
and that she's -
that her whole life has been pretty performative,
and her job,
and who she is in her relationships.
It's just this moment where
she kinda can't keep going
in a way that, you know, somebody who's just
turned 40 this year,
it's, like, all your defense mechanisms,
all these things that've sort of gotten you through
are not gonna help you anymore,
and you gotta evolve.
And that last moment arcs a signal,
like, what doesn't bend breaks,
and you better, you know, pivot.
- You alluded to this.
So, the show kind of goes back
and forth a bit
from Beth's present life
and her teenage years.
And I'm curious, like, again,
being inspired from your own life in certain degrees,
talk to me about teenage Amy.
Where was she on the awkward scale of 1 to 10?
Did she - how would you describe, generally speaking,
where you were at,
comfortable in your own skin, et cetera, back then?
- Well, I think that, like, vacillating between
supreme confidence and just total self-hatred,
it was very present dynamic.
I was, like, I was not -
I wouldn't say - I wasn't, like, a nerd,
you know what I mean?
Like, I mean, I was
in my interests and the stuff I loved,
but I was able to navigate high school
and middle school OK.
I mean, but that was part of the performative thing.
I was really, like, dying inside,
but I always had a date to the dance.
I played volleyball. You know,
everything looked good on paper.
- Are there particular moments,
I mean, all of us have this,
but, like, moments in your teenage years that
kinda continue to crop up,
that feel like they have had
huge ripple effects about the woman
that I'm talking to today?
- Yeah, I think so many.
I think that's why I wanted to examine this time in my life
because I just think so much of our DNA is, like,
just set up
in our nervous system by those teenage traumas.
My defense mechanisms,
my defense mechanisms with men, family.
I mean, all that is like,
it takes a lot of undoing.
And then a lot of it is, like,
even though you recognize the problem,
it doesn't help it go away.
So, it's a constant negotiation and battle.
- You've said this show is, in part about, you know,
for yourself releasing your own fear and shame, right?
And I'm curious, like, when you talk to young women today,
teenage women or young women that are coming up in comedy
or acting, et cetera,
do you have words to, kind of, help them
get a head start on that process
of not being so hard on themselves?
Like, what do you say to them, generally?
- It's like, I know that there's no real advice.
You just can't - you have to just live it, you know?
But the young women I talk to,
I mean, young anybody I talk to,
the things that I try to say are,
"Don't be too proud to pivot."
So if you've always been like, "This is my dream."
Well, pay attention to what you're good at
and what you're liking,
and just because you've been saying it for a long time,
don't try and please other people.
Don't try and please your parents.
Your most important relationship is with yourself.
With young women, I mean,
really, I feel like I learn from them more.
Thank god for this younger generation
'cause they're like, "The way you guys were doing it
"is really sad and we feel bad for you."
- Last time, you and I were, like, talking a lot.
There was like a - there was a period of
like a year or two, right?
- Yeah. - Where there was like,
it was the explosion of Amy Schumer in pop culture, right?
- Right. - It was around, like, 2015.
It was, like, the peak of 'Inside Amy Schumer,'
and there was 'Trainwreck,'
nd there was - you hosted our [MTV] Movie Awards,
you had the book.
By all accounts, like, everything was awesome.
- I was J.Lo.
- You were J.Lo before
and after J.Lo was J.Lo.
- I was Ben Affleck and J.Lo.
- You were Bennifer.
But, like, again,
did success correlate with happiness then?
If I was talking to you,
did that feed your soul
as much as you would hope it would?
Or like, where were you at happiness-wise?
- I'm, like, I don't remember. [Laughs]
- I don't know if it's a good sign or a bad sign.
- I know, I'm like, "OK,
"somebody was obviously having a lot of wine."
I think there were moments
during that time where I was really unhappy.
You know, I just didn't have any time
and, you know, like, I have pretty severe endometriosis
and so I was in pain,
and just all these things.
And like, drinking a lot, for sure.
And it wasn't, like, a really damaging
or toxic time, but it was just a lot of work.
And I was touring,
like, at this insane level, doing arenas,
and you know, just all that stuff
catches up to you physically.
Yeah, and then also that you just reach a saturation point
where people are like,
especially women, like, they get kind of like,
"OK, alright bitch, we've seen you."
And then I kinda just, like, listened to that
and kinda chilled for a couple years.
Did comedy at a different level, did a Broadway show,
wrote whatever,
and just waited until I felt inspired to
really write a story, and that is this show, so.
But, you know, getting that successful,
like, getting that level of success and everything,
the fear of it was worse than it actually was.
Like, it wasn't bad.
It was good.
It's just like being a mom.
The fear of so many of these things is worse than -
- So, as you were chasing all of that,
also in the pit of your stomach,
you were, like, you were also fearful of it?
Like, you were chasing -
- I was, like, scared of what it meant
to be a famous person,
especially as someone who grew up watching,
like, Britney [Spears] and Paris [Hilton],
and, like, how they were just, sort of, you know, torn down.
Like, people just loved them,
but also loved to burn them at the stake and -
- Right. - Being really afraid of that.
And then, you know, the realization of, like,
well you're not Britney. [Laughs]
There's, like, a sect of famous people that
paparazzi are gonna, whatever,
and I'm not in danger of that.
I'm not a Marvel person,
and, you know, generally people see me
and they go like, "Oh, you know, good work, keep going."
But, I just didn't know what it would mean to be
a famous person.
I mean, the possible constant surveillance is weird
and it is weird to see pictures of yourself
when you didn't know people were taking them.
Other than that - [Laughs]
- Other than that small thing
of being surveilled 24/7.
- Yeah, just the constant surveillance.
- Yeah, no, it's a little thing.
Is it fair to say you think, like,
your most satisfying greatest successes
have been the ones that you've, kind of, self-generated?
It seems like whether it's the stand-up,
the book, 'Trainwreck,' this series,
it feels like sometimes just, like,
outside looking in, that Hollywood
doesn't know what to do with you as much as, like,
you kinda know what to do with yourself.
- Oh, hell yeah.
I mean, I'm sure you feel that, too.
It's like, because, you know,
and it's not, like, Hollywood's fault.
It's just I had realized early on,
it's gotta be you directing how you market yourself,
what you wanna do, whatever,
because people will just have an idea and run with it.
So, it is up to you.
And the stuff that I'm the most proud of
is the stuff that I have created, personally.
- Let's talk about the Oscars.
Amy, congratulations.
- Thank you! - Talking about Hollywood.
- Hollywood.
Hollywood's biggest night, I heard!
- I've heard that mentioned once or twice.
So, was this a secret dream
or not-so-secret dream?
Did you ever fathom getting the invite?
Was this something, like, you know, any prominent comic
knows that their day might come for something like this?
- Yes.
I had been asked to host awards shows before,
and I had a really good time doing the MTV [Movie] Awards.
- You were awesome.
- Thank you, such a blast.
You know, I just, I think it's pretty widely known
that it's, like, a pretty thankless job,
where you're putting yourself at risk.
It's just a target on you,
especially with other comedians.
Just in the way -
you're putting yourself on just this huge stage where,
not to call myself LeBron James,
but, you know, when you're at the top in some ways,
people are mad at you.
There's so much risk that goes with it,
but I think just coming out of this pandemic
and just this moment,
and, you know, I had surgery for my endometriosis.
Like, I just feel better
and I just, I feel like performing,
I'm really excited about doing this show
and Wanda [Sykes] and Regina [Hall]
are absolute comedy royalty.
And I don't know, I'm only excited about it.
Maybe that's my naivete,
but one of the lessons I've learned is just, like,
fear isn't helpful. - Right.
- So, I'm just gonna do,
try and work on what's in my control.
- You're gonna kill it.
It's gonna be amazing, I know it.
Let me run through a few of the big Oscar films.
Tell me - look, you obviously have
a great acting career, too.
How would you have cast yourself in any of these films?
'Dune.' Does Amy Schumer have a spot in 'Dune?'
What would you have wanted to play?
- No, I don't see myself in 'Dune.'
I mean, I hope we do that thing.
I think we're gonna do the thing
where, like, we put ourselves in some movies.
I think - - Got it, yeah.
- I think some people, like Wanda and Regina,
and hopefully myself, like, you see them
and you just kinda start laughing.
Like, to see any of us in 'Dune'
is really funny to me.
You know, I think any of the Oscar movies this year,
I couldn't see myself in.
I was very lucky
and proud of the movie 'The Humans,'
and I'm happy that I was in that one.
- No 'West Side Story,'
no song and dance?
- Oh my god, I loved 'West Side Story.'
I saw it in the theater in that sweet spot
before Omicron really hit.
God, what a joy.
I can't wait to watch that again.
- Wait, here's one.
'Don't Look Up,'
your buddy Jennifer [Lawrence],
you fit into that world.
You could have been
in 'Don't Look Up' somehow? - Yeah, I don't know.
Adam McKay has my number.
I don't know.
I guess he went with Jonah Hill again. [Laughs]
- It's always down to the two of you.
- Could have been me.
- Speaking of our old friend Jennifer Lawrence,
whatever happened to the buddy film?
Did the script ever get written?
- Oh, yeah. - We talked about that
years and years ago.
- I know. We totally had a script
and we were working on it.
It was - it felt like it was gonna happen,
and then, just a couple personal things happened,
not between, you know, me and Jen or anything,
but in the end I'm glad we didn't make it.
And I don't know if Jen and I will ever work together.
Just, she's, like, actually one of my best friends,
and I wonder,
I mean it could be really fun.
Maybe we will work together someday.
I shouldn't say that,
but yeah, it just made sense, personally,
for us to not make this movie.
- You've got a 'Housewives' super fan in this film -
in this TV series, rather. Michael Rapaport.
I know Jen is a 'Housewives' super fan.
Where are you at?
Where are you at among the three?
Who is the biggest super fan among the three of you?
- I mean I'm a Bravo-head myself,
but no, Michael's the 'Housewives' aficionado.
- It's almost disturbing how well he knows.
- He knows it a little too well,
but I mean, if we're talking 'Below Deck,' 'Vanderpumps,'
'Summer House.'
I'm like, I'm such a -
I watch Bravo, like, almost every night.
I don't know,
but when it comes to
'Housewives,'
I have to just bow down.