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Promotional art for Emergency Contact
Cover image credit: via TMDB

Emergency Contact

Amy Schumer

Netflix · 2023 · 51 min

A casual hour about the unglamorous side of domestic life.

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Amy Schumer’s style has always relied on a specific kind of oversharing, and she leans heavily into domestic absurdity here. She focuses on the realities of long-term marriage and the awkward mechanics of midlife health, using her husband and son as central targets. The core of her material is the realization that she has no obvious person to put down as her actual emergency contact on medical forms.

Filmed at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, this 2023 release was her first stand-up special in four years, marking a return to the stage after a period focused on television projects and film roles. Schumer spends a good portion of the set recounting the logistics of her personal life, including a detailed recounting of her decision to change her son’s middle name after realizing it sounded like “genital.” Other highlights include a long anecdote about a dinner party hosted by a blind man who refused to acknowledge his blindness, and commentary on laser face treatments and postpartum intimacy.

While the hour did little to sway her internet detractors, it was well-received by her core base of millennial viewers who appreciate her self-deprecating take on aging. Some critics noted that the set felt like a casual check-in rather than a major statement, but praised the specificity of her domestic observations over some of her broader pop-culture riffs.

The set list

4 bits

  1. Interacting with a 27-year-old in the front row to contrast life in one's 20s versus life at 42

    Ruminates on no longer being able to drink like before and settling for orthopedic sneakers as heels

  2. Mocking her appearance and directing camera operators to zoom in on her makeup and neck hump

    Self-deprecatingly inspects her makeup and 'widow's hump', contrasting movie heist laser dodges with cosmetic facial lasers, and joking about liposuction

  3. A dinner party at a blind rich man's house

    Explores self-perception, identity, and comfort without crossing into dark humor

  4. Marriage at the five-year mark and finding someone who can stand you as an emergency contact

    Addresses what it takes to stay married, culminating in quips targeting Hilaria and Alec Baldwin

How it plays

Tone
Laidback, dry, uncensored, unsparing, and self-deprecating
On stage
Relaxed, self-deprecating, well-assured, confident, carrying a modern elegance and genteel sarcasm like a 'dirtbag friend'
Pace
Chill, laidback, casual, stream-of-consciousness cadence relying heavily on facial expressions
About
aging in one's 40s, marriage and long-term relationships, body perception and cosmetic procedures, motherhood and naming a child, health, insomnia, and medical issues

What the critics said

Reviewed as a short, laidback, and sweet special that caters well to her core millennial fanbase without reinventing her comedy or hitting the emotional peaks of her previous special 'Growing'

In the room: Supportive and engaged core crowd laughing along with generational and marital relatable observations

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: bbfc.co.uk, metacritic.com, rottentomatoes.com, pastemagazine.com, decider.com, leisurebyte.com, media.netflix.com, imdb.com, variety.com.

Backstory

Material reflects reaching her 40s, reaching five years of marriage with husband Chris Fischer, life as a mother, post-pregnancy body changes, and touring on her second-half 2022 'Whore Tour'

Details

Released
Taped
Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles
Runtime
51 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Amy Schumer
Honors
Golden Globes, USA • 1 NominationPeople's Choice Awards, USA • 1 Nomination
Topics
Before
Growing (2019)

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