Sarah Silverman may have championed the word “vagina” on TV, but it was ultimately Amy Schumer’s sketch comedy program that got Comedy Central to uncensor the word “pussy.”
Speaking at New York’s Paley Center for Media, Inside Amy Schumer head writer and executive producer Jessi Klein called it “a great moment in U.S. history.” Vulture reports that it was a bid for gender equality, not made by Klein or Schumer, interestingly, but by a guy — another executive producer, Dan Powell:
“Dan decided that it wasn’t fair that they bleep the word pussy,” said Amy Schumer. “Because you are allowed to say the word dick on Comedy Central,” added Klein. At the time, Comedy Central’s standards arm would okay certain anatomical references like dick if they weren’t used in reference to sex, but Powell cried gender inequality.
“Halfway through the first season, we started to realize that a lot of the show was addressing women’s issues and gender politics,” said Powell. “I’d written a letter, sort of like write I’d write to my congressman, and I guess it struck a chord.” A conference call with network higher-ups soon followed, and the network assented. “That was Dan’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” said Schumer.
Here’s the sketch “pussy” first aired in, in all its glory.
(Photo: 92YTribeca)
