Talk of kids and pregnancy triggers a
thought about Baby Mama, the 2008 film
in which Poehler co-starred with Fey as
an unlikely surrogate mother.
“When I played that character I
would strap on the fake belly and I’d
be like, ‘Ha ha ha!’ ” But before long she
would be carrying around the real thing.
“Then I thought very fondly of those
times, when I could just take it o; at the
Perhaps motherhood has changed her
sense of what’s funny?
“To be honest, I don’t know that it
has,” Poehler says. “What it has done,
though, is certainly made me more
compassionate—it’s made me nicer!”
She laughs. “I got a job after my [first]
son was born that has allowed me to tap
Top row, left to right:
Barbie, Christian Siriano,
Michael Jackson, Jenna Bush,
Jupiterian and Dennis Kucinich.
Bottom row, left to right: Nettie
Bo Dance, Yorkie, Dolly Parton,
Dakota Fanning, Kim Jong-il and
Sharon Stone.
She’s serious on this count, describing
a script she has in development with two
other women writers for a movie called
Lunch Lady, starring a blue-collar superhero. Might it be an animated movie?
(Poehler has also drawn praise as the
starring voice of The Mighty B!, a kids’ cartoon she co-created for Nickelodeon.)
“No, but my muscles would be so
crazy that you’d think it was animated!
I have to say, I’d love to get paid to go to
a trainer and get into crazy shape so I can
Among her other performance aspira-
tions: “I want to play some kind of spy
where I rip o; my face and another one
sits underneath.
“I want to be killed in a movie—I
want to have a really spectacular end.
Right now I’m picturing a giant fall from
a water tower, but that could change.
“And then I just want to do, like, six
or seven of those Twilight movies and
just make some serious dough.” (More
laughter.) “I don’t know if it’s too late to
get in on that franchise?”
A romantic-fantasy series about vam-
pires may seem a wee bit of a stretch for
her, but no joke, you get the sense that
Poehler could take that infectious cackle
to just about anywhere she wants to go.
into that a little bit. I’m proud of how
funny Parks is, but nobody that works on
the show is too cool for that earnestness
or hope. Tapping into that is much easier
once you have kids, because kids are all
about what’s next. They aren’t cynical
or sarcastic.” She laughs again. “Well, it
would be really funny if you had a really
sarcastic baby.”
Despite Poehler cultivating a softer
side these days, her wish list for future
projects lacks no punch. And with an
uncertain future for Parks, there may
be opportunity for her to branch out
even more.
“I’d like to do a superhero action
film. Since I don’t expect people to cast
me in one, I’m trying to work on one
now myself.”
BLADES OF
GLORY ;2007;:
Who could forget
Poehler, again co-star-ring with Arnett, as the
sister in a brother-and-sister ice-skating team,
the Van Waldenbergs,
competing against Will
Ferrell and Jon Heder?
BABY MAMA
;2008;:
The phrase that
launched a thou-
sand cringes.
Poehler’s impreg-
nated Angie was
the perfect foil to
longtime friend and
co-worker Tina Fey’s
pragmatic Kate.
PARKS AND
RECREATION
;2009;PRESENT;:
Poehler’s Leslie
Knope, an ambitious
deputy director in an
Indiana town’s parks
department, earned
her a 2010 Emmy
nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress
in a Comedy Series.
UNIVERSAL PIC TURES ( 2); NBC UNIVERSAL
