‘I hear New Zealanders are beautiful’

Like most women, Amy Schumer has thought about her ‘‘level of attractiveness’’ more than she would probably like. She figures she is cute without being stunning, a girl-next-door type who is basically non-threatening but has enviable legs.

‘‘I feel beautiful and I feel strong and I feel good,’’ she says, ‘‘but I’m at this level on the spectrum of beauty where some people think ‘she’s really pretty’ and some people say ‘no, she’s a troll’ and I’m like, ‘they’re both right’.’’

Now the fourth-highest paid comedian in the world, Schumer is writing a movie with the most bankable actress of the moment, Jennifer Lawrence, and just bought a US$12 million ($17 million) penthouse apartment in New York.

She is enjoying a golden period of creative fulfilment and financial reward – but unlike the funny-but-not-hot Jerry Seinfeld or Seth Rogen, she still gets considerable flack for being a bogstandard size 12 and for supposedly having a ‘‘face like a potato’’.

It is 1am in Auckland and lunchtime in London, where Schumer is on tour. She is tired, a little breathy, and not particularly engaged in this phone conversation.

The impression is of someone who would rather be sitting under a tree eating a Cornish pasty, which is understandable, but unfortunately Schumer has two projects to promote: her sell-out world tour, which comes to Auckland next month, and her book of essays, The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo, in which she shares her unfiltered views on women and sex, falling in love, working like a dog, being an introvert, her arm’s-length relationship with her mother, her cheating, boozing, adored and now chronically ill father and – yes – her looks.

In her screen work, especially the Comedy Central hit sketch show Inside Amy Schumer, a critical smash since its 2013 debut, she brilliantly critiques the way a woman’s value is consistently reduced to her perceived beauty, regardless accomplishments.

‘‘I feel like it’s something that all women can identify with,’’ she says of returning to this theme again and again.

‘‘I am someone who’s a performer and I’m on camera, and it comes up.’’

Notably, the 35-year-old was of her asked to lose weight and tone up for the film Trainwreck, which she conceived, wrote and starred in, while her noodle-shaped costar Bill Hader just had to turn up and crack jokes.

* Amy Schumer’s first New Zealand performance is at Auckland’s Vector Arena, Saturday, December 17.