Amy Poehler still remembers the water works turning on before filming a Parks and Recreation scene with Michelle Obama — but it wasn’t tears that fell.
The former first lady joined Poehler on the most recent episode of her Good Hang podcast, where the comedian revealed she has “a very strong memory” about filming the 2014 episode together, including of the very first take.
“You were perfect, you got your line, you hit your mark, you said your line,” she praised Obama. “And my character, Leslie Knope, is supposed to be overwhelmed by seeing you.”
Knope, a career bureaucrat for the fictional city of Pawnee, Ind., had already made her admiration for strong female politicians well known by the show’s sixth season. The character’s “Hall of Inspirational Women,” featuring framed photos of Nancy Pelosi, Madeline Albright, was a prime example. But Knope wasn’t alone in her overwhelming reaction to meeting Obama.
“I, Amy Poehler, was also very jazzed,” she told the Becoming author, “and I went to say my line, and I drooled… I full-on drooled.”
After a peal of laughter, Obama clarified, “I don’t know if I saw it,” explaining that the day of filming “was a blur because the thing is, I’m not an actress, and I’m running lines and trying to figure out cues. But I was nervous. I was like, ‘I want to get it right, but I want to be myself in a natural way.’ So it was very much a blur.”
Poehler expressed relief that Obama forgot this particularly embarrassing detail from the day, but did recall her noticing at the time. “You just looked like, ‘Okay, maybe this is a choice.’ And then director yelled cut… I was like, ‘Did I just drool?’ And you were like, ‘You did, you did,'” she recalled.
In the episode “Moving Up: Part 1,” Leslie encounters Obama by chance backstage at a National Parks conference in San Francisco. Stupefied by the first lady’s sudden appearance, Knope finds herself vigorously nodding her head in agreement as Obama speaks, prompting the Harvard Law grad to ask, “Are you nodding because you agree with me?”
“Yes, I agree with you on all things, throughout history, until the end of time, forever,” Poehler casually responds.
NBC
Michelle Obama on ‘Parks and Recreation’ in 2014
Over a decade since that fateful meeting, Obama marveled at what Poehler called her “very active salivary glands.” The host of the new IMO podcast joked, “That’s real active… Just talking and drool comes out of your mouth. Now those are some active glands.”
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Being set within the world of local government, Parks threw quite a few political cameo opportunities over the course of its seven-season run on NBC. But none thrilled Leslie like the first lady. Some, like former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, even made other cast members uncomfortable.
Recalling the politician’s surprise cameo on a 2013 episode of the show, star Jim O’Heir recently shared that Gingrich “was on set and [showrunner] Mike Schur decided to throw a cameo appearance his way. I have to be honest, I wasn’t thrilled, since I’m not a fan of Newt or his politics, but I trusted Mike and knew he was always thinking about what’s best for the show.”
Watch Poehler’s interview with Obama on Good Hang above.
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