What You Don't Know About Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer's showbiz career has been nothing less than meteoric. Honing her skills in New York City comedy clubs, Schumer built a reputation as a fearlessly funny standup comic for whom no cow was too sacred. TV specials and her own critically acclaimed sketch-comedy series followed, leading to the movies and a level of fame that few comedians have managed to achieve.
In 2022, after laying low for a few years after the birth of her first child, Schumer hit the ground running. In addition to the launch of new Hulu series "Life & Beth" (in which she's creator, writer, director, and star), in February 2022, "Good Morning America" revealed Schumer would be joining fellow comic Wanda Sykes and actor Regina Hall to host the 94th annual Academy Awards. While Schumer's comedy has always been notoriously edgy, she told The Hollywood Reporter that she's "better behaved now, a little more housebroken." That is not to say, however, that she's stopped pushing the envelope. "I emailed my lawyer about two jokes the other day, and he was like, 'No!'" she quipped.
Even though her life and career has been diligently documented in the media, there's more to learn by reading on to discover the untold truth of Amy Schumer.
Her cousin is one of the most powerful members of the Senate
Amy Schumer shares a last name with New York Senator Chuck Schumer, and that is not a coincidence. "She was telling people she's my cousin, and it turns out, she is," the longtime Democratic senator told the New York Daily News back in 2014. "She is Gordon Schumer's daughter, he is a cousin of mine."
The first cousins, once removed, teamed up for a joint press conference in 2015 to unveil the senator's proposed gun-control legislation; the comedian became particularly passionate about the issue after a deranged gunman shot and killed two people during a Louisiana screening of her debut movie, "Trainwreck." "Unless something is done and done soon, dangerous people will continue to get their hands on guns. We know what can happen when they do," she said at the press conference, as reported by "PBS News Hour."
Several months after the politician's first grandson, Noah, arrived in 2018, he took to Twitter to share his hope that the youngster would soon meet his cousin's son, Gene, born in May 2019. "I can't wait for a play date between cousins — my grandson Noah and @AmySchumer's expected baby boy," he wrote.
She flirted with crime as a teenager and got arrested as an adult
Amy Schumer was one of many women who headed to Capitol Hill in 2018 to protest the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court after Christine Blasey Ford came forward with allegations that Kavanagh had sexually assaulted her at a high school party three decades earlier. As CNN reported, both she and actor Emily Ratajkowski were among more than 300 people arrested; Kavanagh was ultimately confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice.
As readers of Schumer's memoir "The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo" may recall, that wasn't her first brush with the law. In addition to being "the worst drug dealer ever" when she sold weed as a teenager, she also did some shoplifting. As Harper's Bazaar shared, her shoplifting career peaked when she was 14, when she and her sister "went on a total bat-s***, no-holds-barred spree" in which they grabbed everything from Dolce & Gabbana perfume to "leopard-print onesies."
Not surprisingly, the sisters were busted, putting an end to Schumer's career as a criminal. She wrote, "In the end, getting caught at Bloomingdale's really corrected my game."
She was once involved with a WWE wrestler
Before settling down with husband Chris Fischer, Amy Schumer had dated a few famous men, including fellow comedian Anthony Jeselnik. She broke up with Jeselnik, she told Howard Stern during an appearance on his radio show (via HuffPost), because the comic "was not attentive enough." By the time Jeselnik tried to woo her back, she told Stern, she already had a boyfriend: Nick Nemeth, known to WWE fans by his pro wrestling name Dolph Ziggler.
Given the show she was on, it wasn't long before the topic of sex was broached. According to Schumer, her beau's performance in the sack proved concerning ... eventually. "The sex was too athletic. Always," Schumer admitted. "[But] the first time, I was like, 'Oh, this is cool. Nobody's ever ragdolled me.' He was spinning me like a Globetrotter."
Elaborating during a visit to "Conan," Schumer described her "style" in the bedroom. "I like laying there ... so ..." She also admitted that the wrestler's WWE-caliber physique proved to be more intimidating than it was a turn-on. "I mean, he was in such good shape. When you're naked with someone, you wanna be the one bringing the thunder, you know?"
She can thank Charlie Sheen for getting her own show on Comedy Central
Amy Schumer was one of the comedians competing in the 2007 of NBC reality competition "Last Comic Standing" — think "American Idol" but with jokes instead of songs — but didn't win. However, that TV exposure boosted her career enough that she eventually landed on the radar of Comedy Central, and she was hired to be one of the roasters eviscerating Charlie Sheen at his 2011 Comedy Central Roast. Roast master Seth MacFarlane said what viewers were no doubt thinking in his introduction. "What can I say about Amy Schumer?" he said. "I actually mean that sincerely. I've never heard of this woman."
The following year, she returned for the Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne Barr. That appearance, The Washington Post pointed out, led to her 2012 standup comedy special, "Mostly Sex Stuff," and then her own sketch comedy series, "Inside Amy Schumer," which ran from 2013 until 2016. Discussing the show with Esquire, Schumer displayed a pragmatic understanding of the realities of television. "I think the show is really funny," she said, later adding, "The tricky part is: Will people watch it so Taco Bell will buy ad space? That's the bottom line."
Amy Schumer is a certified fitness instructor
Before she skyrocketed to fame, the pittance that Amy Schumer earned from standup comedy was not enough to pay the bills. As a result, she supplemented her income in various ways, one of which was by working as a fitness instructor.
Schumer opened up about that part of her past in her bestselling memoir "The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo." According to Harper's Bazaar, Schumer revealed that she's certified as a kickboxing instructor, a certification she said she used to teach "a lot of other stuff I had never even tried before, like yoga, Pilates, spin, step, and dance."
For those questioning whether she'd be their "first pick" as an exercise guru, Schumer was jokingly defiant when she wrote, "Let me inform you that my classes were very well attended and fun. I'd have the girls yell out the names of their ex-boyfriends or whoever they were mad at while they threw kicks and punches." As she explained, while she may have come up short when it came to "physique and expertise," she was able to compensate with "likability and motivational yelling."
Her godmother was the boss in Who's the Boss?
When Amy Schumer was just an infant, she told Us Weekly, she and her parents lived in the same building as actor Judith Light, known for her roles in "Who's the Boss?" and many other series. Light, added Schumer, "was friends with my mom, Sandra." Interviewed by BuzzFeed, Schumer revealed that Light is also her godmother. "Both my mom and dad chose Judith Light. She lived across the hall from us when I was a kid, living on the Upper East Side," Schumer said. "My parents ended up getting divorced, but she didn't want to choose between them as friends, so they both chose her."
Schumer also has a famous godfather, actor Doug Barr; as she reminded Us Weekly, he "was on the show 'The Fall Guy' with Lee Majors."
While Schumer didn't elaborate on the status of her adult relationship with her godmother, she has admitted that things with her actual mom are complicated. In her book "The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo" (via Harper's Bazaar), Schumer wrote about realizing her mother "manipulated me in unhealthy ways," which is why their current relationship comes with "Fort Knox-level boundaries."
The unorthodox way Steve Martin cast Amy Schumer in her Broadway debut
In 2017, Amy Schumer made her Broadway debut in the play "Meteor Shower." Written by comedy icon Steve Martin, "Meteor Shower" features Schumer as half of a married couple who invite another couple to their backyard to watch the titular astronomic event. The play offers "an offbeat and absurdist look at the comic anxiety lurking just beneath the surface of modern marriage."
Speaking with Page Six, Martin revealed the completely random way that he cast Schumer as his play's leading lady: "Once, coincidentally, I was at Amy's home and suddenly thought she'd be right for the role. She signed up immediately. No learning curve. She'd done one of my plays in college."
During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Schumer revealed she'd first met Martin when he and his bluegrass band, The Steep Canyon Rangers, appeared on a Fuse series she was co-hosting back in 2010. After Martin and Schumer recorded a promo for the episode, she "walked out into Times Square and I called my mom and my dad, and I cried, telling them that I got to do a bit with Steve Martin."
She owes her movie career to Howard Stern
Amy Schumer transitioned from TV comedian to movie star with the 2015 release of the Judd Apatow-directed film "Trainwreck," for which she was both the star and screenwriter. Schumer's movie debut proved to be a rousing success, with the movie (reportedly budgeted at $35 million) bringing in $140 million worldwide.
Interestingly, the origins of that movie actually extend back to 2011, when Schumer appeared on "The Howard Stern Show." What Schumer didn't realize was that Apatow was listening, becoming entranced by her "really dark" but downright hilarious stories while in his car. "In my head I thought, 'Oh, these are movies!'" he subsequently told host Howard Stern, jokingly thanking him "cause after listening to the show for 32 years, you finally made me some money."
Recounting that experience for Variety, Apatow recalled his epiphany to the time he watched Seth Rogen shoot a scene for his TV series "Freaks and Geeks" and realized "in a flash" that Rogen had the potential for movie stardom. "That happened sitting in a car listening to Amy," Apatow said. He shared, "I thought, 'This is a very unique personality and I'd like to see these stories in movies.'"
The hilarious reason she fought against her parents opening a shoe store
When she was a kid, Amy Schumer was given a nickname by her classmates in school. As she told Entertainment Weekly, it wasn't a particularly good one. "The kids would call me Amy Shoemaker instead of Schumer, because kids are, like, really creative," she quipped. Admitting the nickname "made me mad," she recalled a point when her parents were contemplating opening a shoe store, "and I was like, 'You can't do this to me! Nooo!' I begged them and whined my way out of it."
Interviewed by Vanity Fair, Schumer revealed another nickname, recalling her high school volleyball teammates called her "Shroomer." Even though she didn't indulge in psychedelic mushrooms, she "kind of thought it was cool."
Schumer nearly gave her son, Gene, an unintentionally hilarious nickname thanks to his middle name, Attell, a tribute to longtime friend and fellow comedian Dave Attell. During an episode of her podcast, reported USA Today, she revealed her son's name had been changed. "It's now Gene David Fischer," Schumer said. "It was Gene Attell Fischer, but we realized that we, by accident, named our son 'genital.' Gene Attell sounds like genital."
She thinks all her parenting instincts have been 'dead wrong'
The birth of son Gene was certainly a life-changing event for Amy Schumer and husband Chris Fischer. Like most first-time parents, they experienced the sharp learning curve that results from having to take care of a tiny, helpless newborn.
As a new mom, Schumer was not immune from feeling that whatever she did, it wasn't the right thing. Appearing on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Schumer was asked whether she felt she was a "good" mother, and she offered a very relatable response. "Actually, no. It's interesting. You know, you don't know how good you're going to be," she said. To illustrate, she shared some parenting advice she received from actor Natalie Portman. "[She] was like, 'You have more instincts than you know you have.' And what I'm finding is that Natalie Portman is a huge liar," Schumer quipped. "Because, so far, my instincts are all just dead wrong."
She confirmed that, she said, by reading a "parenting book about how toddlers thrive," and then realizing that what she thought was right, well, wasn't.
The former restaurant server has left some pretty stupendous tips over the years
Before becoming famous, Amy Schumer earned a living as a restaurant server, and still has mad respect for those who toil in the restaurant industry. As Page Six reported, in 2017, she enjoyed a meal at Michael Jordan's The Steak House, where she was a server back in 2004, and left an $80 tip on a $67 bill.
That wasn't the only time Schumer has been a big tipper. Back in 2016, she made headlines while attending a Broadway performance of "Hamilton" when she tipped the bartenders $1,000. Meanwhile, the Boston Globe subsequently reported that she left the server in a Boston eatery a $500 tip on an $80 bill. Schumer topped herself, reported Marie Claire, when she appeared on the series "The Great American Tip-Off" and left a $30,000 tip for the servers at comedy club the Comedy Cellar. "This is my home club," Schumer explained. "This place changed my life."
During an appearance on "The Howard Stern Show," she explained she liked tipping big "because it does make me feel great and I feel like I have no other choice."
She met her husband when he cooked her a meal
During an appearance on Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast, as reported by The Knot, Amy Schumer shared her meet-cute story with husband Chris Fischer, revealing she first laid eyes on the professional chef when he cooked a meal for her and her assistant, who is his sister. "I went really out of my way to make sure he knew I wasn't flirting with him. You know, I'd be like, 'Oh, I haven't [defecated] in three days.' Just really hitting him with the hotness," she joked.
She subsequently asked Fischer to help cater a party she was throwing for a friend. It was then, she revealed in an interview on "The Howard Stern Show," that things clicked between them. "It just felt like we were hosting this party together," she told Stern (via The Knot). As they worked together on the soiree, with Fischer busy in the kitchen and Schumer attending to other preparations, she began to take note of certain physical changes she was experiencing. "I got that feeling where all the blood goes to all the places," she explained. "And we were looking at each other a little bit longer. And it just changed."
She wrote an entire article defending her Formation video
Amy Schumer has tended to thrive on controversy, yet she's admitted it can sometimes become a bit much. As she told The Hollywood Reporter, there was a time when "the entire internet hated me," when she found herself defending herself against charges of stealing jokes and allegations of cultural appropriation.
The latter came about when she created a music video that seemingly parodied Beyoncé's "Formation," which found her hit with unexpected backlash. She responded to the criticism in an essay she wrote for Medium.
"It was NEVER a parody. It was just us women celebrating each other. The video Beyoncé made was so moving and I wouldn't ever make fun of that," Schumer said of the video, in which she appeared with such stars as Goldie Hawn, Joan Cusack, and Wanda Sykes. Continuing, Schumer insisted she had no intention of "[detracting from] any of the meaning from the video." In fact, she added, she even had the express approval of Beyoncé and husband Jay Z. "If you watched it and it made you feel anything other than good, please know that was not my intention," she said.
Why she went public about having liposuction
A few years after the 2019 birth of son Gene (and the subsequent release of "Expecting Amy," a three-part HBO Max docuseries chronicling her difficult pregnancy), Schumer took to Instagram to reveal she'd undergone liposuction. She admitted it was something she never intended to do, but said, "Talk to me after your uterus doesn't contract for 2.5 years and you turn 40."
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Schumer explained why she decided to go public. "Everybody on camera is doing this s***, I just wanted to be real about it," she said. "It's not about needing to be slamming, because I've never been famous for being hot, but I'd reached a place where I was tired of looking at myself in the mirror," she shared.
She elaborated during an appearance on Chelsea Handler's "Dear Chelsea" podcast, revealing she decided to have the surgery at the same time she was going under the knife to remove her uterus and appendix (via Page Six). She came clean about her lipo, she explained, because slimming down post-baby without it was "too hard, and I just want to be real about it."