POEHLER OPPOSITE To most people, Amy Poehler is the hilarious hot blonde chick on Saturday Night Live. In the world of funny, she's a legend and a pioneer. Coming out of the real comedy central, Chicago's improvisational ground zero, Amy started her own breakthrough improv group, the Upright Citizens Brigade, with Matt Besser, Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts. And that's only part of what makes her so kickass. We sent straight lady Marcelle Karp to find out how she does it all.

You came to NYC from Chicago with the Upright Citizens Brigade, you got a Comedy Central show, you started a theater where you have shows every night and you even give improvisation classes. Whoa. Can you explain the ideology behind improv? Improv is all about being in the moment. Saying yes. Trusting your partner. Taking risks. Being your own director, writer, and editor. Listening, finding patterns, choosing characters. Improv is not a means to an end, but its own unique art form. Del Close was one of the first people to believe that and put it to use. Basically, improv is the only time I truly feel like I'm living my life onstage.

Why did you join the cast of SNL when you already have your own thriving theater? I think the number-one reason--and probably the reason I do most things--was that I wanted to work with those people. And for any person that does sketch, SNL is that weird thing that you pretend you don't want to do and you really want to do; you dream about it and you don't dream about it--you think you could never get it. It's this weird kind of step that--if you're any good--you either avoid on purpose or you try to get. So it was a mixture of all those things.

Coming from your own show, what was the adjustment factor like on SNL? I was very spoiled by UCB--it was our sketch show. We had a few extra wrtiters, but for the most part, whatever we wrote pretty much got in. On SNL, you really are a part of a much bigger machine. It's a completely different style than I'm accustomed to. You have to get used to the amount of rejection you have to go through. I knew nothing about how SNL worked. For the first month I was like, "Where are the bathrooms?" I was so freaked about how the machine runs, like "Who do I need to talk to about this sketch?" and "How late do you have to stay on Thursdays?" The nuts and bolts of it were freaking me out--I could barely concentrate on writing. And I still have fantastic panic dreams now that I'm on the show--in technicolor. They're astoundingly awesome, where I've missed my cue and then Al Franken is wagging his finger at me, and my old boyfriend is watching. It's a great venue to collect your subconscious craziness.

Who was the host of your first show? Reese Witherspoon. My first show was right after 9/11. My first read-through was supposed to be on 9/11--it was totally insane. Everybody was so afraid of how we were gonna do this. In some ways, it was kind of nice because nobody was paying attention to the new kids, nobody gave a shit that we were doing it. It was like, "Hang on, good luck, see ya later!" I was living in Tribeca, my neighborhood was falling apart, the place I worked at had anthrax--it was all happening at the same time. I couldn't have felt like more of a New Yorker. That show makes you feel like one. If you want to live and work in New York, SNL's the coolest show to work on. There's this weird energy that has everything to do with the city. You feel so distinctly New York.

People who watch SNL have really strong opinions about it. The minute you get on this show, you have to be ready for every single person in America to share their opinions with you because they feel like they own the show--and they do. They own it as much as you do. Everybody feels like they can tell you what sucks now and what was great then.

Do you get starstruck? I get starstruck more by the musicians than by anyone. I remember walking down the hall and seeing Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty and Peter Gabriel talking. I had a crazy wig on and pajamas for a scene that got cut and I had to ask Bruce and Peter and Tom to move out of the way. I had to be like, "Excuse me."

How many times has Chris Kattan copped a feel? Too many to mention. He's a sweet nice guy who loves to hump on you.

You do a kickass Sharon Osbourne. You know what's funny? There are so many good impressionists on the show. And it's not my strong point. I mean, I will work at something, I will try to get good at it. And that one came to me easy. We put the wig on and I was like, Whoa, I really look like her. I just want her to get her own talk show going so I can get some more airtime. You start reading the newspaper in such a weird way too. Could I play Lizzie Grubman? Or would Dratch? Or Maya? Who'd play Lizzie Grubman?

You SNL chicks were Glamour magazine's Women of the Year. Ana Gasteyer gave a funny speech. She said, "Thank you to all the women here--the inspirational women, the politicians, the writers and the actresses--because without you, we'd have nobody to parody, so keep on doing what you're doing!"

You're in a big old movie coming to a theater near you real soon, right? It's calledEnvy. Barry Levinson directed it. I play Jack Black's wife, and we get super rich and drive our best friends and neighbors, Ben Stiller and Rachel Weisz, crazy. Very fun time.

What cracks you up? People who are cocky and wrong. Elaine May. Walter Matthau. Goofy faces. Stupid dances. Late-night sleepover jokes. Steve Martin. Steve Coogan. Horrible accents. Falls where nobody gets hurt. Fake anger. Fake indignation. Fake arguments. Real slapping. Obvious plastic surgery. Baby monkeys. Earnest porn. Catherine O'Hara.