Amy Schumer released a standup comedy album, Cutting, in 2011. Her standup comedy special Mostly Sex Stuff premiered on Comedy Central on August 18, 2012, to positive reviews. Schumer said in February 2012, “I don’t like the observational stuff. I like tackling the stuff nobody else talks about, like the darkest, most serious thing about yourself. I talk about life and sex and personal stories and stuff everybody can relate to, and some can’t.”
In June 2012, Schumer began work on a sketch comedy series for Comedy Central. The show features single-camera vignettes of Schumer playing “heightened versions” of herself. The vignettes are linked together with footage of Schumer’s stand-up. The show, Inside Amy Schumer, premiered on Comedy Central on April 30, 2013, and was picked up for a second season that began in 2014. A behind-the-scenes miniseries entitled Behind Amy Schumer premiered in 2012. The third season premiered on April 21, 2015, with a fourth season ordered the same day.
In 2014, Schumer embarked on her Back Door Tour to promote the second season of her show. The show featured closing act Bridget Everett, whom Schumer cites as her favorite live performer. She also appeared as a guest on an episode of comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s Internet series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2014.
She hosted the 2015 MTV Movie Awards, which took place on April 11. Schumer wrote and played her first leading film role in Trainwreck, co-starring Bill Hader, which was released on July 17, 2015. In August 2015, Jennifer Lawrence said she and Schumer planned to co-star in a film for which they and Schumer’s sister Kim were co-writing a screenplay. Schumer performed as opening act for Madonna on three New York City dates of the singer’s Rebel Heart Tour in September 2015.
On October 17, 2015, Schumer’s comedy special Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo premiered on HBO. In 2016, it was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety Special, Writing and Directing. On June 23, 2016, during her sold out performance at Madison Square Garden, Schumer announced her first world tour starting on August 26 in Dublin.
Schumer is also the author of a 2016 memoir entitled The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo. It held the top position on The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller list for two weeks in September 2016.