Amy Schumer is not one to hold back when it comes to shamelessly delivering stories from her personal life. Not only is a certain level of vulnerability necessary for the art of stand-up comedy, of which she is a nearly two-decade veteran, but her work in film and television has been noticeably autobiographical. She’s continued this trend with Hulu’s Life & Beth, which she writes, produces and stars in as the titular character. As she recently confessed in our interview, this is her most personal work to date, and she has gone out of her way to include the cringiest stories from her life as a form of therapy.
If there’s one thing you need to know about Life & Beth, it’s that these stories are lifted from Schumer’s personal life. Don’t be fooled by the title, as Beth is even her middle name. When CinemaBlend caught up with her about Life & Beth Season 2, I asked if there were stories that she considered to be too cringey for the show, and she admitted that making the audience cringe was the whole point:
A million, but no… I think I went for the cringiest, most painful ones, you know, like, I think it's really therapeutic. I always try and talk about the things that make me feel the worst about myself and that were the most painful as a way to help me process. And I think, you know, to help other people alleviate some of their own pain and shame. Shame is not helpful, you know, unless you're hurting other people. Then you feel that shame, honey.
It’s no secret that pure vulnerability within your art is a way to shed any shame one might be holding on to, and in the case of Life & Beth, the result really is a beautifully told, and relatable story. She also mentioned that these stories are just as much “painful” as they are cringey, which is fitting given some of the show’s subject matter.
Life & Beth tackles such issues as Schumer's complicated relationship with her father, flashes back to traumatic experiences from childhood, and even addresses her fiancé John’s (played by Michael Cera) Autism diagnosis in Season 2. This obviously echoes her experiences with her actual husband, who is on the autism spectrum. The point is, this show is Amy Schumer at her realest.
Not that this is new to Schumer. As previously mentioned, she has been getting real with audiences her whole career. One of the first things we learned about Trainwreck, the film that launched her into superstardom, was that it was also autobiographical. There were plenty of bits that didn’t make the final cut, but this may have been due to their filthy, NSFW nature given the film’s notoriously raunchy humor.
Then, of course, there’s Inside Amy Schumer, which not only won Schumer an Emmy, but allowed her to once again therapeutically poke fun at her personal life. With the revival of the show, she even started writing sketches that dealt with motherhood and marriage, once again showing how her art is largely dictated by what the comedian is truthfully going through at the moment.
Life & Beth Season 2 premieres on the 2024 TV schedule on Hulu in its entirety today, February 16! Yes, it may be cringey, but in the best of ways. The show is heartfelt and real, and I will continue to sing its praises in hopes of having another delightful conversation with Amy Schumer and Michael Cera, part of which you can view at the top of this article. If you’re not subscribed to Hulu, we’ve got the lowdown so you can cringe, laugh and cry right along with us.
