Review: Amy Schumer, Judd Apatow, and More at The TRAINWRECK Comedy Tour
Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing the final stop on the Trainwreck Comedy Tour at the Wiltern Theater here in Los Angeles. Created as a way to promote the upcoming film Trainwreck, the tour travelled across the country and hit seven stops in eight nights with stand-up acts performed by cast members Vanessa Bayer, Mike Birbiglia, Colin Quinn, Dave Attell, and director Judd Apatow, as well as headliner Amy Schumer.
Schumer, the star and writer of Trainwreck, has seen her popularity blossom over the past year or two thanks to her hilarious Comedy Central series Inside Amy Schumer. One of the funniest shows on TV, it's also a rare series that gives a prominent voice to feminist ideals, which may explain how it won a prestigious Peabody Award earlier this year. She's well aware that she's having "a moment" right now, referencing her viral speech at the Glamour Awards and how people seem to be looking to turn anything she says or does into a news story. But she seems ready and able to handle the new wave of fame that's about to wash over her, telling stories of high class functions and fancy dinners but always with the type of self-deprecating fashion that makes her the butt of the joke. (She and Mindy Kaling, for example, had an unspoken "bread-off" recently, in which they apparently tried to out-eat the other in order to prove how comfortable they were in their own skin.)
But it was a comedy show, and me just repeating all of the jokes I remember would do a giant disservice to how funny everyone was. Bayer (who you'll recognize from Saturday Night Live) was the weak link of the bunch, with the highlight of her set being a fantastic Jennifer Aniston impression. Birbiglia killed in an extended riff on late people vs. on-time people that was seemingly inspired by latecomers to this show, but was more likely a finely-tuned bit (which just speaks to the effectiveness of his easy-going delivery style). Quinn and Attell were as solid as you'd expect, and Apatow — who just recently started performing stand-up again after a twenty year break — slayed with a killer Bill Cosby impression that tore into the comedian's horrific rape scandal. And as expected, Schumer was pretty damn brilliant.
I basically wrote this post as an excuse to try to convince you all to see Trainwreck, which I think looks pretty great as both a star vehicle for Schumer and as a return to form for Apatow, whose recent directorial work hasn't exactly had the same impact that his first few films did. If you haven't gotten on board the Amy Schumer train yet, seek out her Comedy Central show immediately and find out what you've been missing. She's one of the funniest comedians in the country right now, and if early word about Trainwreck's quality proves true, she's about to get a big popularity boost when the movie comes out on July 17th.