Amy Schumer: The Leather Special

Amy Schumer: The Leather Special
Promotional poster
Written byAmy Schumer
Directed byAmy Schumer
StarringAmy Schumer
Country of originUnited States
Production
Running time57 minutes
Original release
NetworkNetflix
ReleaseMarch 7, 2017 (2017-03-07)

Amy Schumer: The Leather Special is comedian Amy Schumer's first stand-up special for the streaming-service Netflix. It was recorded at Colorado's Bellco Theatre in Denver on November 5, 2016. The hour-long special premiered globally on March 7, 2017.

Production and release

Schumer recorded The Leather Special at the Bellco Theatre in Denver, Colorado on Saturday November 5, 2016.[1] The show was part of a 2016 world tour with shows on three continents.[2]

Netflix released the special on March 7, 2017.[3]

Reception

On Metacritic it has a score of 72 out of 100 based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".[4] On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 8 critics.[5]

The San Francisco Chronicle's review was entitled "Schumer's comic genius on full display in Netflix special" in which David Wiegand described The Leather Special as "an hour of hilarious, raunchy comedy", praising Schumer's "timing, her way of landing a punch line with a bang, so to speak, and then tossing a little afterword over her shoulder".[6] In Entertainment Weekly, Ray Rahman wrote of the special: "It's pretty much 85 percent sex jokes. The good news is that all the sex jokes are very funny! And even when Schumer turns her attention elsewhere, she still kills it."[7] Lorraine Ali of the Los Angeles Times was more critical, stating, "Ironically, the dirtier it gets, the less daring it feels", and that "the material feels like it could have come from a set three years ago."[8]

The special received a large number of negative ratings from audiences (averaging of one star out of five on Netflix a week after premiering)[9][10] as well as far more reviews total than other Netflix comedy specials released around the same time.[10] Reporting by Splitsider suggested that Reddit commenters contributed to this,[11] citing posts on the Donald Trump-supporting subreddit, /r/The Donald, actively encouraging negative reviews, with messages such as "please go and 1 star that piece of shit".[12] Schumer later responded, saying the attacks by alt-right "trolls" made her feel "powerful and dangerous and brave".[13] While some of the user reviews represented misogyny, others came from "self-proclaimed Schumer supporters" who did not like this special.[14] Vice Magazine noticed that the Metacritic user score for The Leather Special which at the time was only 1.2 out of 10, and used it to suggest Netflix original programming had become mediocre in the years from 2013 to 2017.[15]

References

  1. ^ Owens, Dylan (10 January 2017). "Denver sets the stage for Amy Schumer's first Netflix special". Denver Post. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  2. ^ Roffman, Michael (24 June 2016). "Amy Schumer announces massive world tour". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  3. ^ Petski, Denise (2017-01-10). "Amy Schumer Comedy Special Set At Netflix". Deadline. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  4. ^ "Amy Schumer: The Leather Special". Metacritic. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  5. ^ "Amy Schumer: The Leather Special (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  6. ^ Weigand, David (March 6, 2017). "Schumer's comic genius on full display in Netflix special". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  7. ^ Rahman, Ray (March 10, 2017). "Amy Schumer: The Leather Special". Entertainment Weekly. p. 62.
  8. ^ Ali, Lorraine (March 5, 2017). "Amy Schumer's 'Leather Special' on Netflix is mostly full of unapologetic raunch". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  9. ^ Budowski, Jade (2017-03-14). "Amy Schumer's 'Leather Special' Is Getting Overwhelmingly Negative Reviews From Netflix Subscribers". Decider. Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  10. ^ a b Nakamura, Reid (March 14, 2017). "Amy Schumer's Netflix Special Slammed By Users: 'She's Lost Herself'". Yahoo! TV. Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  11. ^ Vilkomerson, Sara (2017-03-15). "Amy Schumer Netflix Special Reviews Manipulated by 'Alt-Right' Trolls". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  12. ^ Wright, Megh (2017-03-14). "Alt-Right Redditors Have Tanked Amy Schumer's Netflix Ratings for 'The Leather Special'". Splitsider. Archived from the original on 2017-04-02. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  13. ^ Bruner, Raisa (Mar 17, 2017). "Amy Schumer Has a Surprising Response to Her Internet Trolls". Time. Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  14. ^ "Amy Schumer's 'Leather Special' Is Getting Overwhelmingly Negative Reviews From Netflix Subscribers". Decider. 2017-03-14. Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  15. ^ "Netflix Originals Are More Mediocre Than Ever". Vice Magazine. 18 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2021-02-15. Retrieved 2019-12-10.