The sketch can be watched here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARhyKBNFHmY
For this blog post I chose the Inside Amy Schumer sketch, “You Can’t Go in There”. Inside Amy Schumer is a satire sketch comedy show, which tends to focus on sexuality and gender roles in American society. In this sketch, Amy portrays a secretary in the office in the 1970’s. Amy is informed that she is not to let anyone into her boss’s office, unless they have an appointment with him. A man rushes into the office and informs her that he needs to meet with her boss, Mr. Blake, immediately. Amy yells at him, “you can’t go in there”! He ignores her and goes in anyways. Her boss comes out asking what happened and tells her that next time she should put more “umph” when she is yelling at someone. Another man comes into the office saying that he also needs to meet with Mr. Blake now. Amy once again tells him “you can’t go in there”. The man ignores her and walks in the office anyways. Amy follows in to explain that she did what she was told. But the man states that even though she told him he could not go in he still felt like she said he could. Men continue to barge in without regarding Amy. Finally, Amy decides this is the last straw. A man walks in the office saying he is there to see Mr. Blake. Amy yells at him, “You can’t go in there”! She then attacks the man. Amy starts punching him and strangling him. But she soon realizes that he was actually supposed to have a meeting with Mr. Blake.
This sketch is interesting with how it makes fun of 70’s shows with how people always go in without the secretary’s permission. It is a classic bit. Another interesting part about this is how it shows gender stereotypes in the work place. The only people meeting Mr. Blake are men, while Amy is the secretary. Mr. Blake states that women would kill for a job like hers telling people not to come into his office. Mr. Blake assumes that this is the only job for a woman. He also states that since she is a woman she can only focus on one thing. Mr. Blake thinks that she should be able to at least be able to accomplish this. Throughout the whole episode Amy is typing on a typewriter. Her boss points out that she is typing nothing. This shows how women are looked at as not being able to hold serious jobs in the work place, and how they are servants to men in the business world.
Another interesting observation of this piece is the underlining story that takes a bit more thinking to full grasp. This sketch is about the rape culture in America. Amy continues to tell men that they can’t go in. But they ignore her and go in anyways. When Amy is questioned as to why she let them in she explains that she told them they could not. They never believe that Amy said it with enough force. They put blame on Amy. This relates how people tend to not believe rape victims. Some people believe they could have done more to stop it, which is completely absurd, as they do not respect their request. What also is interesting about this is how in order to get a man not to go in she had to use excessive force, similar to women using pepper spray on a man. Amy was defending the office, but this comes across as psychotic. It shows the viewer of how rape culture isn’t fully understood.