Amy Schumer Owns The Fuck Out Of Her Success

Amy Schumer doesn't have time for dickish journalists. And she copped a few while in Australia for a few days last month.

There was the incident with the Matt Tilley 'skank' stand-off and then there was the Mamamia journo who showed her a picture of Tony Abbott in a speedo. Sigh. It's no wonder that she took swipes at local journos during her sold-out stand-up show in Melbourne.

The US comedian/writer/actor was out here to promote her Judd Apatow-directed film Trainwreck. Schumer was set up at Crown Towers' Club 23 in boudoir-like surrounds as she was pitted against an assortment of local media. She sat in a darkened corner for the press, propped on a plush black couch — black curtains one side of her, the Melbourne CBD-scape out a window on the other side. There is a glint of sun cracking through the grey sky right above her head — you are forced to squint if you look at her directly... what must she have been thinking?

"I have been a fan of Judd Apatow as long as I can remember."

Sitting down opposite Schumer, I pre-empt what may be interpreted as rudeness later in the interview and let her know that my notes are in my phone and not to think that I'm so bored that I'm checking texts or emails when I glance down to look at it.

Schumer reaches for a biscuit that sits beside her cup of tea and fires back: "Don't worry, I've got my notes on this cookie. Don't think when I raise it to my mouth that I'm eating it."

Schumer in person is as sharp as her on-screen persona, and it's highly likely that those in the media who crossed her on this day could become fodder for the next season of sketch show Inside Amy Schumer. At one point she interrupts the interview to correct my thinking that she'd supported Donald Glover some years ago. "I would not have been supporting," she states clearly as she held my glance.

Last season, she skewered the movie star interview in a skit where her Trainwreck co-star Bill Hader played the leery, sexist interviewer and Schumer the shiny-legged, gormless starlet.

"The talk shows," muses Schumer. "You know, 'I'm an actress on a talk show', so you come out saying 'It's cold' and 'I have a crush on you'. This false... this strange dynamic between actresses and these hosts. Like they pretend they're flirting and it's like weeeurgh... Bill was perfect."

As is Schumer's way, she took this gag to the next level; when appearing on the UK's most-watched chat program, The Graham Norton Show, she hit the couch with the shiniest legs ever seen on British TV. "I didn't know anyone was going to notice that," she laughs. But Twitter users were all talking about her shiny, gold legs... "It [social media] lit up, right?"

The Brits may not have got the joke (her show is not widely seen in the UK) but Schumer can handle the criticism. She's used to it. This year The Guardian has published two take-down articles (one inferring she was racist) while others are out to tear down her new film as a sell-out (or compromise) of her 'voice'. While in Australia a local female comedian even voiced disappointment in Schumer for choosing a male comedian to open her show (turns out that offending male opening act, Troy Kinne, is friends with Schumer).

"I've got my notes on this cookie. Don't think when I raise it to my mouth that I'm eating it."

Schumer's fresh take on gender humour has seen her praised as a modern feminist icon. She first came to prominence as the only woman among the final seven of the fifth season of US reality talent show Last Comic Standing in 2007. But she claims she never saw it as herself against the men: "It felt like me versus these other comedians who have been doing this ten times longer than me, literally. I had no business doing well on that show."

But it was female stand-up comics that inspired a young Schumer. When conversation turns to the topic of comedians Rita Rudner and Gilda Radner, Schumer lights up. "I just gravitated toward these women and wanted to see them when I was younger. I remember seeing Sarah Silverman for the first time on Saturday Night Live and just being so excited. And I'm sure that kinda let me know, 'This is possible for you.'"

She also cites Margaret Cho as important to her, but feels she may not get the recognition she deserves among today's comedy fans. "I definitely know that she's a huge influence of mine and I loved her," says Schumer, "but it's like... yeah... it's all like, 'What have you done lately?' and what's the latest whatever. But there are other people who kinda got this like lifelong pass because of their work and it doesn't feel like she's gotten that. But she does deserve it."

Schumer has now leapt ahead of her idols and landed in Hollywood, writing and starring in a bona fide Hollywood box office hit rom-com. Teaming up with A-list director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Funny People, This Is 40), together they have attempted to flip the rom-com norms. In Trainwreck, Schumer's character takes on the hedonistic behaviour normally assigned to the male lead in Hollywood films while her co-star Hader plays a man looking for love (y'know, what Hollywood considers 'feminine'). However, some fans are saying Apatow has crushed her voice in Trainwreck but she still stands by him. "I have been a fan of Judd Apatow as long as I can remember," Schumer proudly proclaims. "And you know what? Watching Knocked Up [Apatow's 2007 box office hit] in the theatre, it made me break up with my boyfriend at the time. I thought it was so funny but it also really made me think. I just loved that in this movie you could feel so emotional and warm and also be laughing so hard."

Schumer insists that Apatow isn't the kind of guy who would lean on a writer to change their point of view (Lena Dunham has expressed a similar view about working with Apatow on Girls). "He's so not intimidating. He's just a comic. He's just like an artist, like us. He's like... y'know, he's a dad. He loves talking about comedy. He doesn't have this air about him so he just made me feel really comfortable expressing myself and my opinions. We just became friends."

Friends are important to Schumer — she is not forgetting those she started out with. Indeed, Trainwreck features cameos from a few of her New York comedy buddies, most notably the wild Bridget Everett (you might know her as the cabaret performer who guests at the end of each season of Inside Amy Schumer).

"It's really funny because it's like everywhere I go [here] it's like, 'So you saw a koala, you ate a meat pie...'"

"She's the best," boasts Schumer of her pal (that's her stealing the baby shower scene in Trainwreck) and confesses that Apatow was encouraging of her including friends in the film. "He was so cool about being like, 'We're in New York, this is your town and we're gonna use your people.' He just trusted me and I'm so proud of all my friends in the movie. They just did the best job. And they didn't get hired because they were my friends, I genuinely believe they are the funniest people. I'm especially happy for Bridget, she just had a special come out — it was on Comedy Central, maybe it's available on iTunes now... Gynacological Wonder."

In Sick In The Head, Apatow's best-selling book of interviews with American comedy greats such as Dunham, Jim Carrey, Louis CK, Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman and Chris Rock, he paints her as one of the most driven artists he has ever worked with. Schumer says this is not wrong. "Absolutely. I'm not like a hard worker in general but when it comes to performing and comedy. Like the only things I've ever worked hard on are acting, writing and volleyball. In school I was horrible but when I care I'm a really hard worker."

That hard work has paid off of late with the third season of Inside Amy Schumer showered with Emmy nominations. Her show received seven nominations, putting her ahead of Emmy favourites The Big Bang Theory, Late Show With David Letterman, Modern Family and Louie.

"Plural," smiles Schumer as if still not quite believing her Emmy luck. "My sister and I were in bed, watching it on the web as they were announcing them and they went 'Amy... Amy Poehler' and we both went [sighs heavily] and they said [whispers] 'Amy Schumer' and we dove on each other. We were jumping on the bed and clapping and crying."

But she's most proud of the directing nod she's scored for the 12 Angry Men episode — a star-studded, black and white take-down of sexism in TV. "I was not expecting that. But I really wanted it."

So how exactly did she pull that cast together for 12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer (it stars Jeff Goldblum, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Quaid, Eastbound & Down's John Hawkes and Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser)?

"Well," Schumer explains enthusiastically, "Giamatti had done a scene the season before and we love each other. And I'd worked with Jeff Goldblum and sent it to him. I'd met John Hawkes a couple of months earlier and we really hit it off. And then, I don't know... I still really can't believe it happened. It was magic."

But all that recognition has brought celebrity fame along for the ride. That's something Schumer can't quite get her head around yet. Her short stay in Australia unleashed a social media avalanche that was 'Amy Watch'. "It's really funny. It's also exciting. We got to the airport and there were photographers and my show sold out really fast — and those were two things that were totally surprising to me. It's another country, my show airs here but I don't think on a network that's that popular so it just blew me away... It's really funny because it's like everywhere I go [here] it's like, 'So you saw a koala, you ate a meat pie...'"

Trainwreck is in Australian cinemas from August 6