Before Amy Poehler became a familiar face on Saturday Night Live, she waited on Oprah Winfrey at a Chicago restaurant.
Poehler, 55, recalled the experience in The Wall Street Journal‘s The Job Interview video series, published October 28.
She had moved to Chicago after graduating from Boston College, taking improv classes and performing while picking up restaurant shifts. Winfrey was already a major television personality whose nationally syndicated talk show was based in the city.
Poehler’s own television breakthrough came when she joined SNL in 2001.
Poehler Doubts Winfrey Remembers Their Restaurant Encounter
“I bet she doesn’t remember it. But I do,” Poehler said of her famous customer. The anecdote drew renewed attention when PEOPLE covered the interview on November 8.
When the interviewer suggested reminding Winfrey, Poehler turned the idea into a joke: “When I get home and we have dinner, I’ll let her know.” In a Yahoo excerpt from Yes Please, her 2014 memoir, Poehler recalled seeing Winfrey at Carlucci, where she worked.
Waiting Tables Gave Poehler Plenty of Improv Practice
The interviewer asked whether restaurant work was an extension of Poehler’s comedy training. She agreed, pointing to the need to answer customers’ questions on the spot.
Her example was a diner asking what went into a sauce. A waitress could sound as though she knew what she was talking about even when she didn’t, Poehler joked. She also boasted about a more practical skill, she can still carry four plates on one arm.
From Chicago Improv to Leslie Knope
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Poehler’s interest in improvisation began at college, where she performed with My Mother’s Fleabag. According to The Second City, she met Tina Fey in classes at iO in 1993. The two later auditioned for The Second City Touring Company within hours of one another and toured together.
She also teamed up with Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh to form the Upright Citizens Brigade. The group moved to New York in 1996, eventually creating a Comedy Central series and opening theaters and training centers.
At SNL, she co-anchored Weekend Update with Fey and later Seth Meyers. Poehler left the regular cast in 2008 and began playing Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation the following year. The sitcom ran until 2015, earning her a Golden Globe along the way.
In the WSJ conversation, Poehler said playing Leslie had improved her ability to listen and engage with the world. Spending her working days expressing affection for the other characters also gave her energy.
She still thinks about Leslie when she catches herself becoming indifferent. The character’s enthusiasm, she explained, was rooted in a refusal to feel embarrassed about caring.