Amy Schumer’s Appreciation for Sam Cooke, Among Other Things

Amy Schumer’s speech at the Gloria Awards and Gala last Thursday night got some deserved pickup over the weekend, because in the space of about 1,900 words the comedian managed to hit on a unique element of female shame that tends to accompany particularly awful adolescent sexual experiences, and to expertly flip the whole thing into a power ballad about learning self-worth and confidence. Oh, and Sam Cooke:

I could feel I was losing myself to this girl in this bed. He stood up and put a new CD on. “Darling, you send me, I know you send me, honest, you do …” I’m thinking, “What is this?” He crawled back into bed, and tried to mash at this point his third ball into my vagina. On his fourth thrust, he gave up and fell asleep on my breast. His head was heavy and his breath was so sour, I had to turn my head so my eyes didn’t water. But they were watering anyway, because of this song. Who is this? This is so beautiful. I’ve never heard these songs before. They’re gutting me.

Vulture has the rest of the transcript here, and the transcript from Gabourey Sidibe’s speech from the evening (“I live my life, because I dare. I dare to show up when everyone else might hide their faces and hide their bodies in shame. I show up because I’m an asshole, and I want to have a good time.”) is here. [Vulture]