ICYMI, Amy Schumer is killing it lately. While on lockdown during the coronavirus quarantine, she’s been chronicling her journey to become a culinary goddess in Amy Schumer Learns to Cook. On July 9, the highly anticipated new HBO Max documentary Expecting Amy will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at her difficult pregnancy with now-1-year-old son Gene. And through it all, Schumer has proven to be more hilarious and relatable than we thought possible. In a word, we’re obsessed. So, naturally, we wanted to know even more about Schumer.
To that end, we did a little digging to find other reasons (as if we needed any) to love this obscenely funny (and sometimes just plain obscene) woman. Spoiler alert? Schumer doesn’t disappoint. For all the things you know and already find endlessly endearing about her, there are just as many you probably haven’t heard before. Like, did you know that she used to be a waitress? Or that, because of that background, she’s known for being a really generous tipper? Once, she left a four-figure tip on a $77 bill. Waitressing wasn’t Schumer’s only service-industry related job, either. We won’t spoil too much — you’ll just have to keep reading — but let’s just say Schumer was, ahem, “wheel”-y industrious in her 20s.
So, enjoy getting to know one of Hollywood’s most hilarious humans on an even deeper level.
Originally published August 2016. Updated June 2020.
She Renamed Her Son
Listen, changing a child’s name isn’t unheard of. Some parents realize a few months after their baby’s birth that the moniker they picked just doesn’t fit. But for Amy Schumer and husband Chris Fischer, the reason they changed their son’s name is more… complex. And in full disclosure, pretty comical.
Schumer explained why they switched up their firstborn’s name at 11-months-old on her podcast, 3 Girls, 1 Keith. “Do you guys know that Gene, our baby’s name, is officially changed? It’s now Gene David Fischer. It was Gene Attell Fischer, but we realized that we, by accident, named our son ‘Genital.’” Only Schumer!
She’s a Big Tipper
Schumer waited on tables for the better part of a decade, and she hasn’t forgotten it. She says she loves leaving huge tips, and even left a $1,000 on a $77 bill once.
Her Great-Grandma Was a Bootlegger
Schumer apparently comes from a long line of bold, badass women. Case in point? In 2017, she shared a photo and surprising family revelation on Facebook.
“#tbt me with my great-grandma Estelle Schumer. She was a bootlegger during prohibition and her liquor store is still on 54th st Schumer’s liquors,” Schumer wrote. “She was friends with Tennessee Williams and she called getting her hair blown dry getting a blow job. Even at this age she was always telling me ‘hide your money from men!'”
She Was a Pedicab Driver
Have you seen those pedicabs around? They’re bicycle-powered cabs with a cart behind the driver that usually seats two.
I always wondered how pedicab drivers had the strength to haul everyone all over any given city. Schumer spent one summer giving people rides in her pedicab and counts it among her worst jobs. Her thighs must be able to break bricks.
Her Father Has Multiple Sclerosis
You may have made the connection between her father in Trainwreck, played by Colin Quinn and her real-life father. Schumer is up front and very real about the struggles her family has faced as a result of her dad’s battle with multiple sclerosis.
Her Father Has Multiple Sclerosis
When Schumer and Fischer welcomed son Gene, Schumer probably had a good handle on the nursery — literally and figuratively. During her childhood on Manhattan’s famed Upper East Side, her parents ran a high-end baby furniture store called Lewis of London. No word on whether Schumer went with an Italian crib for baby Gene like the ones her parents used to import, but we bet she picked some beautiful pieces for his space regardless.
She Absolutely Hates Small Talk
Amen, sister! Small talk is the worst, and Schumer counts it as one of the things that she truly hates. There is a whole chapter in her book dedicated to the things she abhors, and one of them is pretty specific. She hates talking to people in elevators.
Amy writes that she really dislikes “Talking to anyone I don’t know on an elevator. (I guess this counts as small talk, which I’ve mentioned several times as something I detest, but it’s even more unbearable in an elevator because you’re trapped!).”
She Has a Theater Degree
If you watched Schumer in Trainwreck and other film roles, you probably though, Wow, she’s a great actress. Well, chalk it up to her natural talent, obviously, but also to the fact that she’s had some training.
She majored in theater at Towson University before moving to New York and taking classes at the iconic William Esper Studio for two years. Um, hello, we’d love to see more Schumer film projects — not to mention a Broadway role (or three!).
She’s an Activist
Schumer stands up for what she believes in from gun-control to animal rights and was among the hundreds of people arrested while protesting Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
Hundreds of people showed up at the US Senate building to challenge Kavanaugh’s nomination in 2018 after three women accused him of various forms of sexual misconduct.
Leave a Comment