Last night, the third season of Inside Amy Schumer began on Comedy Central and—no surprise—Schumer is as hilarious (and vitally so) as ever. The show’s offered plenty of brilliant satires in the past, as well as skillful comedic commentary, but that “Football Town Nights” sketch on last night’s premiere was next-level.
Using high-school sports culture (and responsibly exploiting the popularity and familiarity of Friday Night Lights), the sketch delivers a fantastic evisceration of the distorted national conversation in the wake of rape and sexual assault cases in Steubenville, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, and others. Following a new coach and his wife as they try to dissuade the norm in small-town football culture, Coach has a tough time clarifying when rape is acceptable to his young team:
“What is she thinks it’s rape, but I don’t?”
“What if she’s drunk, has a slight reputation, and no one’s gonna believe her.”
“What if the girl says yes, but then changes her mind out of nowhere—like a crazy person?”
“What if my mom is the DA and won’t prosecute? Can I rape?”
“How do I get through to you boys that football isn’t about rape? It’s about violently dominating anyone that stands between you and what you want! You gotta get yourself into the mindset that you are gods and you are entitled to this. That other team, they ain’t just gonna lay down and give it to you—you gotta go out there and take it!”
“Clear eyes, full hearts, don’t rape.”
Think Progress has an interview with writer Christine Nagel (worth a whole read) about the inspirations and goals with the sketch:
“It was conscious choice not to put any girls in it,” Nangle said, partly “to not necessarily show the boys as malicious monsters” but really to make the story about “trying to figure out the messages that they’re getting. I don’t want that to say that any of these guys who do terrible things aren’t in charge of their actions, but in this particular sense, I wanted it to be about their surroundings.”
Inside Amy Schumer airs on Comedy Central Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m.
(via Pajiba)
