Yes Please

I love Amy Poehler so much. 

Actually, I lied a little: I love Leslie Knope so much.  Parks and Recreation is perhaps my favorite TV show ever.  I never even liked Amy Poehler very much before I discovered her show; I was never much of an SNL watcher or fan, I didn’t think Baby Mama was funny nor do I love her in Blades of Glory, and I always thought the Upright Citizens Brigade was (honestly) a group like Amnesty International, working toward a better world.  (Arguably, the UCB kind of is working toward a better world, but not quite the one I was thinking of). 

But I love Parks and Recreation so much, and I have watched it for years, so when I heard Amy Poehler was publishing a book, I requested it from my library right away.  Months later, when I finally topped the request list, it dropped into my lap just in time for a 10-hour road trip, like a beautiful snowflake of ridiculous stories and insights and thoughts. 

I love books like hers, where I get a little insight into someone I admire’s life and I can walk away feeling like the world is just a little brighter for having this person in it.  I did the same thing with Tina Fey’s book, Bossypants, over the summer.  Again, I never loved Tina Fey until I watched her TV show 30 Rock, but once I binge-watched that whole show in less than a month, I had to read her book.  She too sparkles in her real life, and I can easily imagine these two women as best friends, much as they both claim the other to be (each even has a chapter devoted to the other in their respective books, which is really cool). 

Amy Poehler is a surprisingly good writer.  She’s honest in her work, never once shirking how difficult a task it can be to write a book or parent a child or even just have a successful career.  That honesty is very endearing, although I admit it might be grating if you weren’t already a fan of her.  Regardless, she’s clever – her writing is light and funny, even in the few moments where she delves into the darkness of her life.  Her essay describing the birth of her children, wherein she recounts a hilarious moment on SNL between herself and Jon Hamm contains moments of grief subtly intertwined in the absurdity of the events.  The video interview version of this story is below:

The story is at roughly 1:30 if you want to check it out.  You can always read the book :) 

She also skims over some elements of her celebrity with grace.  For example, Poehler went through a pretty public divorce, an event that I bet would have lots of juicy details.  But she skims right over them; instead, throughout the book, anytime her ex-husband Will Arnett comes up, she has nothing but positive things to say about him.  This is especially clear when she writes about their two little boys.  I have no idea how amicable or awful their divorce was – I don’t pay a lot of attention to the tabloids, so the fact of their divorce is about all I’ve got on the subject – but she talks about all the positive things about Arnett, about how much she appreciates him because of her boys, how he supported her in their early careers, and more.  She could have easily trashed his reputation or revealed intimate details or anything else, but chose not to.  That’s pretty admirable for anyone, including a celebrity. 

I have to admit: Her essay over the experience of Parks and Rec is my absolute favorite.  Let’s face it, that’s a huge part of why I wanted to read the book in the first place.  She recounts how she got involved in Parks and Rec, of course, and spends a little time talking about the evolution of the show and its plot as it moved into its prime seasons (which she defines as 3 and beyond).  But the best part is the section at the end of the essay, wherein she recounts her relationships and experiences with each cast member and even delineates her favorite moments with them on the show.  It’s *amazing* to read, like a peek inside the show.  She and Rashida Jones, for example, really are basically best friends in real life, which to me makes their on-screen friendship that much sweeter and more hilarious.  Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer spends most of his time cracking Poehler up, and her favorite moments are when Andy stops paying attention to someone, which luckily happens all the time. 

One of my husband’s favorite moments on the show is between Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe), Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott), and Leslie Knope (Poehler), where all three are in the car on the way back from Indianapolis.  Leslie and Ben have been trying desperately to ignore the fact that they are incredibly attracted to each other, and to do so, Ann (Rashida Jones) and Leslie put together a road trip mix filled with awful, awful choices – including Jimmy Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” speech and recordings of old-timey car horns.  There’s also a banjo track, which plays out as follows:

In an amazing coincidence, this is also Amy Poehler’s favorite Rob Lowe moment, and I could not have been happier about it J

This essay alone was worth reading the entire book.  Frankly I enjoyed the whole thing; Poehler’s writing style allows me to bask in her life, to be absorbed easily and then gently dropped back into my own when I was through.  And if you’re a Parks and Rec fan like me, it’s just one more gem to make you love it even more.