How Amy Poehler turned a fluffy interview into a bold political statement

People


How Amy Poehler turned a fluffy interview into a bold political statement

By Emily Reynolds

7 years ago

When Amy Poehler was faced with a raft of standard interview questions, she had different ideas about how to tackle them…

Being a writer, director and actor contains its fair share of being interviewed – and, we imagine, a lot of the same questions tend to come up time and time again. 

So when Amy Poehler faced a set of quick-fire questions for The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘40(ish) Most Powerful People In Comedy’ list, we wouldn’t have been surprised to see some fairly homogeneous answers.

But, in fact, the comedy star decided that she’d take a different approach to the interview – and her answers were surprising and amazing in equal measure.

Where other stars said their dream endorsement would be Volkswagen cars or skin care products, Poehler answered with “a giant whale just died in Thailand after eating 80 plastic bags”. 

In just a few flippant questions, the interview also covered school shootings, Hurricane Maria and more: the full list of questions is below.


My most memorable heckler…: “Who cares? The whole world is on fire.”

Dream product endorsement: “A giant whale just died in Thailand after eating 80 plastic bags.”

Guilty pleasure: “Let’s not forget over 4,600 people have died in Puerto Rico.”

I’m funny because…: “I don’t even know anymore.”

If I didn’t work in comedy…: “I would never leave my house.”

College comedy audiences are…: “Kids that are afraid they will be shot in their own schools. What has happened to us?”

Sitcom you’d reboot?: “Mr. Rogers. I miss him. We need him.”

The funniest thing about the Trump administration is…: “Are you kidding me?”


The answers, unsurprisingly, went down very well on Twitter. 

Good on you, Amy – we wish more celebrity interviews were like this. 

Image: Getty

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