And The ‘Best Jewish Mom Award’ Goes To Amy Schumer’s Mom

Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer April 18, 2018

The fact that so much of Amy Schumer’s comedy graphically exploits her own sexuality will surely be the topic of countless future college theses, but not of this article. The question of Schumer’s verbally exhibitionist style, like the recent appearance the comedian made on the Ellen show to divulge truths like “What’s the craziest place you’ve ever had sex?” (answer: “My butt”) is not for us to consider. We are instead here to investigate how Schumer’s mother deals with these utterances.

On a segment of the popular talkshow called “Amy Answers Ellen’s Burning Questions,” DeGeneres prompted Schumer, “My spouse gives the best…” Schumer, recently married to chef Chris Fischer, immediately supplied an answer that cannot be printed here. The camera panned to Sandra Schumer. Like a seasoned pro, she gently shook her head, and then burst into gentle laughter, like a mom from a Windex commercial, laughing while wiping up spilled juice. When DeGeneres noted Mrs. Schumer’s presence, Schumer lightly placed her hand over her mouth, turned a delicate shade of magenta, and acknowledged that she had “heard worse.”

Kol hakavod, Sandra! All the respect. We salute Jewish mothers everywhere who let their daughters’ dreams soar even when doing so means hearing about sex acts on daytime television.

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO