Amy Poehler: The Seriously Funny Interview

Maria Ramirez, Fashion Wire Daily / Newscom The Parks and Recreation star has a laugh about rapping with Sarah Palin, re-teaming with Tina Fey, a hit and run with Steve Carell, and Will Arnett’s shameful viewing habits.

Amy Poehler has five parenting tips: “Always remember your kid’s name. Always remember where you put your kid. Don’t let your kid drive until their feet can reach the pedals. Use the right size diapers…for yourself. And, when in doubt, make funny faces.”

That's the first thing you notice when you talk to Poehler: She's quick on the draw, always at the ready with a funny reply. Then again, she’s one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe, and just finished a seven-and-a-half year run on Saturday Night Live—where her penchant for fearlessness made her the go-to cast member for every female character with an accent, physical tic, or urge to dance while pregnant.

“Tina Fey and I have 15 things in development: Laverne and Shirley, Starsky and Hutch 3, Cagney and Lacey, Wonder Twins Activate From Two Hot Broads, Little House on the Prairie: The Musical: The Movie.”

Poehler is also one-half of two powerhouse comedy duos: best friend Tina Fey, with whom she collaborated on SNL and hit movie Baby Mama, and husband Will Arnett (of Arrested Development fame). Though tell her she and Arnett are on their way to first-couple-of-comedy fame, and she’ll freak. “Certainly I’m not schizophrenic enough to be able to comment on that in a way where I could step back,” Poehler confesses. “I would never deign to even… that’s a ridiculous premise.”

Ridiculous, maybe; but arguably true. Tonight marks Poehler’s foray into yet another comedy arena—her highly anticipated new show, Parks and Recreation, premieres at 8:30 PM ET on NBC. Conceived as a spinoff of The Office and co-created by said hit’s producers Greg Daniels and Michael Shur, Parks and Recreation has since evolved into a show entirely its own. Poehler plays Leslie Knope, a midlevel bureaucrat in Pawnee, Indiana, who turns a construction pit into a park, with the help (and occasional handicap) of co-stars Rashida Jones (The Office, I Love You, Man) and Aziz Ansari (Human Giant).

NBC, or perhaps more accurately, NBC Entertainment Chairman Ben Silverman, has high hopes that Parks will quickly become the next Office, and have billed it as such. No pressure, right? “Certainly, I’m a huge fan, and of Steve Carell in particular, who I think is a genius. So if you want to use my name and his name in the same sentence, I’m totally fine with that. Because that would mean if I Google [myself], his name will come up too.” So if I type Steve Carell ran over Amy Poehler with her car, and then backed up over her again… “Yes. It’s fine. I don’t care [about] the context.”

In all seriousness, Poehler is not worried: “Once you watch the first episode, you’ll realize the different world we’re in. Besides, a lot of people don’t know that there’s a Ukrainian Parks and Recreation that going to come out after ours. So they’re the ones that are gonna have to work hard.”

Not that she’s not busting her ass right now—shortly after giving birth to son, Archie, in October, Poehler and Arnett relocated to L.A. so she could start production on Parks. They’ve kept their apartment in New York; Poehler is determined to return. “I know that you’re supposed to get kind of tired of the city, but I’m on 13 years now and there’s really no other place I’d rather live,” she says. "People talk to you a lot in restaurants [in L.A.]. People ask you, 'What are you eating? That looks good.' It’s strange. It is totally unnerving. My first instinct is to make a fist," she laughs. "And then I realize they’re just being nice."