There's more from where our Winter Issue cover story on Amy Poehler -- newly crowned Golden Globe nominee -- came from. Below, more outtakes from her interview with Paper contributing editor Alex Scordelis.
ON HAVING SUPPORTIVE PARENTS:
My parents have always gone to my shows. The UCB has very supportive parents. The four of us had parents who were together, which is strange, looking back. The audiences at our shows in the beginning were usually 10 people: two crazy people, two people that Besser helped get there, maybe three or four actual audience members, like friends or people who were interested in improv, and a set of parents. Usually it was mine or Ian's, because they lived a little closer. My parents watched every SNL live, and my dad even had a UCB license plate.
ON MILLENIALS' TV-WATCHING HABITS :
Here's an interesting fact that Old Lady Poehler learned the other day: most kids don't even have TVs in their dorm rooms! Think about that! Aubrey Plaza's sister just graduated from college, and didn't have a TV in her room. These kids are like I wanna watch whatever I wanna watch and I'm gonna watch it on my beautiful computer.
ON THE EARLY DAYS OF THE INTERNET:
I remember when we were performing back in the early days of UCB, we didn't have... the Internet. The Internet was just starting. You could do a show and tape it and send it to people, but you couldn't say, "Check out my stuff online." Now you literally don't have to get onstage to be hired to do anything.
When UCB first got to New York, we got a job working on a show at Broadway Video called This Is Not a Test, hosted by Marc Maron. And it was "For the Internet" - in quotes. And someone told us, "Eventually, everybody is going to use the Internet." And they showed me the most rudimentary example of flashing text on a screen. And I remember saying, "This is never going to work."
ON HER UPCOMING PROJECT WITH HER LITTLE BROTHER:
I have a younger brother, Greg. He's three years younger than me. He's 39, and he lives in Sweden. I'm working with him right now on a show that I'm producing called Welcome to Sweden, That we're shooting and airing on Swedish television, and hopefully NBC at some point. He's a writer, and for many, many years he was a lawyer in New York. And then he met a Swedish girl and moved to Sweden, and he kind of taught law and wrote there.
ON HER TRANSITION FROM UCB TO SNL:
It was strange a little bit because I'd been working with friends I'd known for a long time. And I'd done sketch for a couple of years, so you don't want to repeat yourself, you're worried about doing your tricks. But millions and millions and millions of people have no idea what your tricks are, or who you are. So sometimes you have to force yourself to play to your strengths, you know? I was already writing new stuff I wanted to do that I hadn't done before when I got to SNL. Or maybe do what you think you do well for a little while, till people get to know you.
ON LESLIE KNOPE:
Leslie truly believes that no problem is too big, and no person is too small. It's a very Horton Hears a Who kind of thing. But her goals have changed a little bit in that she's gone from believing she wants to be the next president of the United States to seeing how difficult it is to make change happen. Me and [the show's creators] Greg Daniels and Mike Schur talked about this long arc of a person who right out of Obama's 2008 Audacity of Hope times who has very little power and works as a deputy director of a parks department in a small Midwestern town, but believes that things can be better, and it's represented by idea that "I can build a park." And throughout the course of the seasons, she fights against rejection and apathy and cynicism and tries not to get infected by those things, but they do change her. That's the long arc. But really, the show's just funny characters doing stupid things.
ON HER LOVE OF IMPROV COMEDY:
Improv and sketch, inherently, are not a singular action. You have to depend on other people. There's an ensemble mentality. Even some of the language -- 'getting on an improv team' or 'working with an improv coach' -- references sports. As actors and comedians, we all secretly want to be athletes. Improv can be the closest we'll come to feeling like an athlete. We have to perform together, and we win or lose together. It's different than stand-up. You have to learn to work well with others. This is just my path and experience, but I've always loved collaboration. I feel like I learn so much working with good people, and often putting other people's ideas ahead of my own. That always has helped me. It's not the path for some people.
But you will realize that in this business, which frankly is shrinking more and more, it's harder to work the way you want to work if you're a total asshole. And at UCB, you have work well with others. I stake no claim in the talented people who are there, but the UCB Theater is my proudest career achievement.
READ OUR WINTER ISSUE COVER STORY ON AMY POEHLER HERE
Amy wears a dress by Marissa Webb.
