Saturday, 17 September 2011

Happy 40th Birthday, Amy Poehler

At the end of last season on Parks and Recreation, Pawnee's most upbeat and tireless civil servant, Leslie Knope  Amy Poehler, was presented with a choice: fulfill a lifelong dream and run for city council or continue dating her boss, the equally smitten Ben. By the end of next week's Season 4 premiere, her decision will be made.


If Leslie chooses to run, Poehler asks, "How cynical does she have to become to win an election? How does it change her?" In the name of Pawnee, she has already tended to an unsightly land pit, resurrected the town's dormant Harvest Festival, and gone head-to-head with the rival neighborhood of Eagleton over a shared park. Does she really want to scale new bureaucratic heights? "Pawnee is her kid, right?" Poehler says. "So she'll have to start to spending time away from her kid, and won't she miss her kid?"


Starting her career as part of the now iconic comedy group Upright Citzens Brigade, Amy has made her name as one of the funniest women on TV. Through her seven year stint on SNL Amy was a huge asset to the show rarely (if ever) failing to pull down laughs from the audience. (I still burst out in the spontaneous giggles thinking about her playing 'Kailtin' sketches.) On top of her sucessful SNL run, Amy has appeared in a slew of hilarous movies including cult hits like the 'Wet Hot American Summer' and mainstream smashes like 'Mean Girls.'


Now Amy is charming the pants off of everyone as lovable, determined and occasionally misguided state government employee Leslie Knope on NBC's hit show 'Parks and Recreation.' There's nothing better than seeing a cool lady like this playing a lead that's unlike any other female character on TV. And let's not forget that this is a woman who gets paid to make-out with Adam Scott at work and then goes home to her comparably hilarious husband, Will Arnett. If that's not something to aspire to, I don't know what is.

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