Interview Magazine - May 2005
AMY POEHLER BY KATHLEEN HANNA
SATURDAY NIGHT'S MOST CRACKLING LIVE WIRE


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Taking over for Jimmy Fallon as co-host for the Weekend Update news desk on Saturday Night Live could not have been an easy task for Amy Poehler. Not only was the 33-year-old comedienne filling the chair of one of the show's most beloved goofballs, she was sitting in the shadows of some of the legends of fake news: Dennis Miller, Chevy Chase, and Dan Aykroyd. But Poehler--who co-founded the Upright Citizens Brigade improv troupe and has created a slew of memorable characters and impersonations in her four short years on the show-- is used to defying odds, often to a hilarious degree. Kathleen Hanna, front woman of the feminist punk band Le Tigre, checks in with the pint-sized comedic powerhouse.

KATHLEEN HANNA: Hi, Amy. Congratulations on landing the Weekend Update anchor job. I was so excited the first time I saw you and Tina Fey up there together.
AMY POEHLER: Thanks. It's been a blast--kind of scary, but a good scary. When it happened, I was like, "What?!" because it feels like there's this unwritten rule that two women can't do fake or real news together. But Tina and I have known each other since '93 back in Chicago. We've been working together for a long time, and we've always been the two women supporting each other in a very large group of guys. But there's this boring sexist instinct like, "You two are gonna be competing!"
KH: Do people try to get you to talk about or dis other comediennes?
AP: There's always that weird classification where you're being compared to other members in your group instead of the group as a whole, so it's always like, "Who's the best comedienne?" And I'm like, "What do you mean?" A lot of people ask me, "How is your comedy different?" "Um, I write about periods and flowers!" [laughs] It's not really different. Why does my work have to have an asterisk next to it?
KH: And if someone reviews your show, they'll never compare you to a man, who may have influenced you more than anybody. Paul Weller has been an incredible influence for me, and nobody's asked me about him.
AP: Right. People always ask, "Who are your female heroes?" Well, I love Steve Martin, so let's broaden it a little bit. But you know, it's pretty cool, because since I've been on the show the amount of women that are in the news and in the world, the pool of people we can poke fun at, just gets bigger and bigger.
KH: So, when you do your impersonations or impressions . . . whatever you call them . . . the Rich Little types of things--
AP: The make-em-ups and soundalikes?
KH: [laughs] Right. Do you just come in and say, "Oh, I worked up this really great Kelly Ripa," or does someone say, "You'd be good at doing that, you should try it"?
AP: It's a bit of both. Sometimes people will have an idea, and they'll say, "Hey, do you want to try to play Michael Jackson?"
KH: That is insane. It's such a good choice.
AP: Well, we were laughing because none of the African-American actors can play him anymore--they have to go through crazy makeup, which takes a really long time. All I have to do is put on a nose tip. It's crazy weird. So I definitely didn't come in and say, "I got a kick-ass Michael Jackson impression!" And then other times, you'll just stumble across something and think, Oh, I could play a weird version of Sharon Stone; let me try that.
KH: Before you were telling me about starting out in Chicago.
AP: Yeah, me and three awesome guys formed this group called Upright Citizens Brigade.
KH: Yeah, I've been to your improv theater in New York.
AP: It's a cool space; we opened in '99. Most of our shows are either $7 or $5 or free, so we have a lot of students come. It's a really great, young, poor crowd, literally hungry for comedy. It's the thing I'm most proud of.
KH: You've created a lot of memorable characters on SNL, like the hyperactive little girl Kaitlin. Do people run up to you on the street and yell, "Rick! Rick! Rick!!!"?
AP: You know, it's pretty cool. I'm psyched about people liking that character because I like her a lot. I'm so enamored of and nostalgic for that time when girls are all arms and elbows, and they're just really, really fun and crazy, and no one's told them they can't do anything yet, and they have, like, 50 things that they want to be and do. They're not ashamed of anything yet, and they're really free and full of play.
KH: Sometimes when I see older people in my family I haven't seen in a long time, they're like, "You're a singer, sing something!" Do people in your family or weird people you meet say, "Tell me a joke!"?
AP: Totally. All the time. People assume you're going to be really hilarious when you're walking out of the gynecologist's office or hungover buying coffee at Starbucks.
KH: Well, one of the cool things is that you seem like real, hardworking actors.
AP: [laughs] There's a certain--for lack of a better term--blue-collar feeling about the show because we have one week, and we gotta do it. Who knows how it's going to go, but let's give it a try. And you either succeed or fail in front of a lot of people. And the reason the show has succeeded for so long is because there's that feeling of what's-gonna-happen? There are highs and lows to it always, but it's so exciting to be living in New York and to be working on a live show. It's the closest I ever got to feeling like I'm playing rock 'n' roll.

Kathleen Hanna is currently on world tour with her band Le Tigre, in support of their most recent album, This Island (Le Tigre/Strummer/Universal). Above: Clothes by DONNA KARAN COLLECTION. Opposite: Jacket by REBECCA TAYLOR. Necklace by BULGARI. Cosmetics by NARS. Hair products by REDKEN. Styling: SCOTT FREE/The Rex Agency. Hair: RICK GRADONE/artistsbytimothypriano.com. Special thanks: QUIXOTE STUDIOS; BARRY PETT. Fashion details page 119. Photos: AUSTIN YOUNG.