9 Things We Learned From Amy Poehler’s ‘Yes Please’
Just in time to fill the Parks and Recreation–shaped hole in our lives comes Amy Poehler’s very own memoir: Yes Please. Actually, “memoir” is a bit of a misnomer for this Dey Street Books-published tome — as is “tell-all,” although the comedian does tell it all. Instead, Yes Please is a 329-page nonlinear hopscotch across Poehler’s life and career, from Chicago’s Second City and the creation of the Upright Citizens Brigade to the glory days of SNL and Parks and Rec. Here are nine of the dozens of things you’ll Poeh-learn.
1. The woman can drop life-lesson nuggets like a boss.
Yes Please is full of glossy two-page spreads of Poehler koans like “Other people are not medicine” and “Calling people ‘sweetheart’ makes most people enraged.” The book’s three sections are headlined “Say Whatever You Want,” “Do Whatever You Like,” and “Be Whoever You Are.” But in the text itself, you never know when Amy’s going to drop some oh-so-underline-able knowledge like “If you can surf your life rather than plant your feet, you will be happier.” She’s chock full of pump-you-up sayings.
2. Poehler’s not shy about the pot she’s smoked or the sex she’s had.
She’s not shy about anything, really, despite saying, in her chapter on divorce, that she doesn’t “like people knowing my shit.” While there’s little info on her split with Will Arnett, there are entire chapters dedicated to sex (“I love it and I am here to say I am good at it”) and drugs (“I can’t perform, drive, or write stoned, and therefore I smoke pot a lot less than I used to”). She also says a few brief, sweet things about her new partner, Nick Kroll.
3. Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Louis C.K., and Mike Schur are the Poehler dream team.
Poehler is good at giving credit to the many talented performers and writers she’s worked with and befriended, but these four get more mentions than anyone. Meyers contributes a lovely chapter about the night Amy first gave birth. Fey (“my life partner”) gets her own chapter and an acrostic poem. C.K. (“my dear friend and relationship sponsor”) pops up frequently, often with timely wisdom. And Schur, the co-creator of Parks and Recreation, annotates Poehler’s long chapter about the show. (A few of his original script pages make it in, too.)
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