Amy Poehler may be a seasoned performer, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had her fair share of embarrassing moments while acting.
The 53-year-old comedian recently revealed the moment that left her red-faced with Michelle Obama – which happened when the former First Lady made a cameo on her hit sitcom Parks and Recreation in 2014.
Amy recalled the story on her podcast Good Hang, where she confessed the unfortunate incident to Michelle, 61, herself.
‘We were busy. We were hitting a bunch of places that day – you were perfect, you got your line,’ Amy told Barack Obama’s wife.
‘You hit your mark, you said your line and my character Leslie Knope is supposed to be overwhelmed by seeing you and I, Amy Poehler, was also very jazzed and I went to say my line and I drooled,’ she recounted, laughing.
Michelle also let out a laugh and said she did not remember the incident, with Amy admitting she is ‘so glad.’
‘I don’t know if I saw it,’ she reassured Amy once again.
Michelle herself reflected on the episode, recalling it being a ‘blur.’
Amy Poehler may be a seasoned performer, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had her fair share of embarrassing moments while acting
‘I’m not an actress and I’m running lines and trying to figure out… I mean you can’t be a good actress on top of everything else,’ she admitted.
‘But I was nervous. I was like I want to get it right but I want to be myself in a natural way so it was very much a blur.’
In the Parks and Recreation episode Moving Up: Part 1, Leslie, played by Amy, runs into Michelle backstage at a National Parks conference in San Francisco.
Shocked by meeting her unexpectedly, she finds herself enthusiastically nodding her head as Michelle was talking, prompting her to ask, ‘Are you nodding because you agree with me?’
‘Yes, I agree with you on all things, throughout history, until the end of time, forever,’ she gushes in response.
While most people would be thrilled to receive advice from either women, they admitted the hardest people it is to impress – and give advice to – are their own children.
Amy shares two sons – Archie, 16, and Abel, 14 – with ex-husband Will Arnett, while Michelle shares daughters Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23, with husband Barack.
Michelle also admitted that despite her experience and expertise, it doesn’t extend to her children, who often don’t listen to her.
The 53-year-old comedian shared the moment that left her red-faced with Michelle Obama – which happened when the former First Lady made a cameo on her hit sitcom Parks and Recreation in 2014
In the Parks and Recreation episode Moving Up: Part 1, Leslie, played by Amy, runs into Michelle Obama backstage at a National Parks conference in San Francisco
‘Every now and then I make a good point to [my kids] and I was like “Do you know who I am, I’m Michelle Obama,”‘ she said indigently.
‘People line up for my advice and you you’re walking away like I’m stupid,’ she continued. ‘Like yeah, I’ve written books, I’ve given speeches the whole world has listened to me and I can’t get you to just do what I told you to do yesterday.’
Over the weekend, Michelle opened up about her grief as she reflected on her first Mother’s Day since her mom’s death.
She took to Instagram with a clip from her IMO podcast – which she hosts alongside brother Craig Robinson – to discuss the impact of losing mom Marian Robinson in May last year.
In the video shared to Instagram, the mom candidly opened up about her grief and explained: ‘As many people know, we lost our mom and just sorting through how you feel because the first instinct is to say “I feel good, I’m great, I’m good.”‘
Craig agreed, adding: ‘Mom was so beloved by so many people from your orbit – which is gigantic – and my orbit and her own orbit.
‘We spent a lot of time managing everybody else’s grief and we really haven’t talked much about our own grief so I’m happy we are able to do this now.’
Michelle – who shares Malia and Sasha with former president Barack Obama – continued: ‘You put it well. You find yourself managing other people’s grief because particularly with somebody like mom that was in her own right amazingly – after all these years – she was a famous person.
‘She meant a lot to so many people – people who knew her well, friends who grew up with us when we were little kids to… I got letters from heads of state and ambassadors. She became a world figure. That’s a pretty amazing thing.’
She died at age 86 with Michelle confirming her passing on social media at the time.
