They say if you can’t laugh, you’ll cry. Well over the weekend, Saturday Night Live personified that laughing through the tears sentiment with Amy Poehler‘s simultaneously emotional and hilarious farewell to the show she has called home for eight seasons. In September, Amy announced her departure, and Saturday’s show was her last. It was memorable, to say the least.
Amy joined the cast in 2001, and in 2004 took her place alongside Tina Fey at the “Weekend Update” anchor desk. Over the years she has appeared in more than 140 shows and created numerous characters from Dakota Fanning the TV host, to Kaitlin the hyper 10-year-old, Amber the one-legged model and – of course – Hillary Clinton the presidential candidate. So, to mourn Amy’s departure, let’s do as she did and laugh a little through the tears. Please enjoy a few of her best performances.
The genius of Amy’s Sarah Palin rap in rhyme, flow and overall awesomeness may never be duplicated. Fierce! No, tranny! No, hot mess! Tranny! What’s not to like about Amy as JoJo the valet telling Drew Barrymore, “Your boobs, I want to touch them”? Sadly, one of my all-time favorite Amy clips is nowhere to be found online. It was in December 2006 when she took the Paris-Britney-Lindsays of the world to task for flashing their most private of parts all over town. She also decrying the trend of, um, “deforestation” among today’s starlets by saying: “You need hair down there! It’s a backup system for underwear!” If someone can find me a clip, I’ll be eternally grateful.
The new mom (Amy and husband Will Arnett‘s son, Archie, was born Oct. 25) still has plenty on her plate after leaving SNL. Poehler is moving on to her own, as-yet-untitled documentary-style sitcom by The Office‘s Greg Daniels starting in April. She also still produces an animated children’s series, The Mighty B!, for Nickelodeon. And she just started work on the digital series Smart Girls at the Party, a web project that spotlights young girls doing extraordinary things. And, if there is any justice in this world, Amy will find time to slip another movie with her former co-anchor and Baby Mama co-star Tina into the mix. So, your turn. Share your favorite Amy skits. How will SNL manage without her?
