Amy Poehler Talks ‘Inside Out 2’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’

Amy Poehler is ready to laugh. Poehler, who will be honored with Variety’s Legends and Groundbreakers Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival on Oct. 20, notes there is a running joke around the offices of her production company, Paper Kite. “You know how people talk about living in unprecedented times? We’re like, ‘Let’s get back into precedented times.’ So, we’re calling 2025 ‘The Year of Precedented Times.’ And I think 2025 is The Year of Comedy.” 

Poehler elaborates, “We’ve had a lot of incredible art that’s come out of these deep, dystopian fears we’ve all been experiencing, which is great. But it kind of feels like we want to get back to laughing.” As for what makes her laugh, Poehler hesitates. “I have the pleasure and privilege of actually being friends with these amazing funny people,” she admits. “So, the first thought that comes to my mind is my friends.” Of course, when those friends include Natasha Lyonne, Maya Rudolph and Tina Fey, it’s fair to say many people would answer the question the same. 

You’ve played so many iconic characters and done different mediums and genres over the years, what is it that people bring up most when they see you? 

I’ve heard from a lot of people, especially as “Parks and Rec” remains a big comfort show, about Leslie Knope. But I think a lot of people resonated with “Inside Out 2” this year. I’ve never had a project where more people texted me and said, “Oh my God, I just got out of that movie; it’s incredible.” And then, strangely, there are a lot of people who still think I’m on “SNL.” Which is great, honestly!

With an election year, has there been talk of bringing Leslie Knope back à  la the special “Parks and Rec” did during the pandemic?

That episode was really something special. I kind of feel like if “Parks and Rec” was the art that came out of the “Yes we can” Obama time, I’ll be really interested after — God willing — Kamala wins, what will be coming out of that. It just feels like some new version that wouldn’t be “Parks,” but some younger people should think of.

Would Leslie be excited for Kamala or a little jealous that it’s not her to be the first female president?

Oh, I think she would be thrilled. One of the interesting things about that show and a reason I think it continues to be very watchable is the lack of contempt and malice for people who don’t necessarily agree. That, and the fact it’s a workplace comedy. I was just talking the other day about how “Inside Out 2” is technically a workplace comedy. It’s all these emotions with competing interests in a headquarters who have to find a way to work together.

In many ways, I think “Inside Out 2” might be even better than the original. I don’t know if that’s common feedback you’ve been getting.

They did such an amazing job. They took their time, and in doing so, our audience grew up as well. It has not been an easy decade, especially the last few years. I think now people have even bigger emotional language than we did 10 years ago. And people who saw the first film when they were 10 are not 20; and there’s a feeling they have of nostalgia combined with kids who are entering the real world for the first time. 

Also, [the people at] Pixar are just magicians. They’re so incredible at what they do, and the fact I get to be a part of it in any way is overwhelming to me. They just handle the nuance of how we have to figure out how to let go while parenting ourselves and letting our kids regulate themselves. The way they make you feel — the only way I can describe it is the movie feels like the opposite of being gaslit.

I went to Pixar’s offices once and demanded to meet the person who killed off Bing Bong. I’m still upset.

You know what’s interesting? In our first press tour, Richard Kind didn’t even do any press because no one even knew Bing Bong existed. And he’s such a genius. That goes down as one of the most amazing cinematic deaths. It’s incredible.

What is it like to play Joy, to be asked to embody this specific feeling? Do you find you’re in a good mood when you’re playing her?

I’m definitely in a good mood. The challenge of the first film was to make sure she wasn’t super annoying. I hope I succeeded, though some critics would disagree. But she has to be the engine and keep everyone moving. And the engine can be fun to play, but you have to balance that. There’s a moment in the second film that really chokes me up. It’s near the beginning, when Joy takes Sadness by the hand and they go to the belief system. And she says, “Wherever you go, I go.” And summed up so much of this recent feeling, whether it be art in comedy, that a black paint has been mixed in with our colors. Everything is a little bit different.

You mentioned your company, Paper Kite, which has been responsible for such varied projects as “Russian Doll” to “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.” Can you tell us what you’re working on with them and just in general?

We have a bunch of projects in development – nothing I can really talk about but we’ve got some podcast stuff coming up. And Tina and I were on tour a lot of last year, which was a blast. We can’t wait to go back out.

Speaking of podcasts, will there be future episodes of “Say More with Dr.? Sheila” coming our way?

Thank you for wording her title as a question! There absolutely will be She’s got a lot to say. But we’re talking about other things in that space what would be exciting to do. She’s been climbing in Matcha Picchu to clear her head so she’s back and ready to work.

There’s a famous passage in Tiny Fey’s autobiography “Bossypants” about how on “SNL” Jimmy Fallon once teased you after you said something considered unfeminine by saying, “I don’t like it.”  And you replied something to the gist of “I don’t care what you don’t like.” That story resonated with so many women. I’m curious, how did you sort of develop that sense of self or that ability to listen to your own voice even when people questioned you?

Well, I’m going to quote TikTok here but “I built this FYP brick by brick.” You have to build your own page, you have to curate your own algorithm in life. And every experience pushes you left or right and you often don’t know what is supposed to be happening for you. I feel like one of the blessings about being my age is that with experience, hopefully, comes wisdom or at least familiarity with how things are never quite what you think they’re going to be. You know how those old turtles have things stuck on them they’ve accumulated over the years? I think that’s me. You have all those things stuck on you and that’s what working during the 90s and getting to here is all about.