John Early officiated Amy Schumer's wedding in drag as a bad Christian stand-up
“Eyes up here,” admonished Search Party’s John Early to Seth Meyers on Tuesday’s Late Night, since Meyers couldn’t help but let those eyes wander to the actor’s nipples, peek-a-booing through the sheer, translucent white shirt he’d borrowed from his Search Party character’s wardrobe. That’s sort of Early’s comic persona in a nutshell, provoking double-takes with an ostentatious display and then seizing on the opportunity to scold you for noticing, as anyone who watched Early’s cringe-extreme episode of the Netflix sketch series The Characters knows. (“No one’s seen it,” noted Early following the audience lull after he brought his one-man showcase up.)
Well, at least one person saw The Characters, in that Early found himself on the receiving end of a baffling phone call from fellow comedian Amy Schumer asking him to officiate her 2018 wedding. In character. As Christian housewife stand-up comic “Vicky with a ‘V’” who Early portrayed on The Characters. Even though he and Schumer barely knew each other. Calling Schumer’s move “very punk,” Early yet sympathized with those in attendance at the ceremony (including Meyers) who were more than a little baffled when Early, in short blond bob and Vicky’s signature denim ensemble, launched into the ceremony in the guise of a character he’d played to little or no acclaim (apart from we here at the A.V. Club, but we weren’t invited) on an obscure Netflix series. Especially since Schumer’s first choice for officiant, Adele, had dropped out at the last minute. “For those of you asking, ‘Who even is he?,’ you’re not wrong,” Early told Meyers’ crowd.
Still, as a clip from Schumer’s nuptials showed, Early sort-of killed as the primly self-righteous Vicky (with a ‘V.’) Starting out by greeting the “dearly beloved, and Seth Meyers” (like Schumer, Early barely knew Meyers at that point), Vicky openly lusted after Schumer’s groom (chef Chris Fischer), before praising the couple as “two great grown-ups who are simply ready to hold onto each other real tight as our great nation burns to the ground.” So if your wedding’s coming up, Early’s shown that he (and Vicky) are pretty easy to book.