MovieChat Forums > Amy Poehler Discussion > Doesn't hate herself and not self loathi...

Doesn't hate herself and not self loathing..


I like Amy a lot. She seems an anomaly with female comics/comediennes/comic actresses, in that she's not self deprecating and she doesn't seem to hate herself. I find that refreshing. Amy's cute and funny.

She doesn't mock her appearance like Tina Fey does all the time (and even did at the Golden Globes). I like Tina, too, but the self deprecating schtick gets old. Janeane Garofalo did that self deprecating a lot in the 90's (and still does), and after a while, you don't want to be around people like that anymore.

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It's true, while I'm unsure if she'd do stand-up and this would be different, she seems to have an uplifting touch to her charisma, almost resembling some of the optimism we love in Leslie Knope.

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Amy Poehler doesn't seem to rely on any particular crutch. She doesn't ignore her femininity, but she doesn't make all her comedy about being a woman. She deprecates, but without actually being down on herself. Energetic, but not hyper. Her level of commitment to any given role... I could go on, but I'll probably just wax about my love for improvisers-turned-comedian/actors (in general) and Amy (in particular).

I love Tina Fey, but she and Poehler both speak to me precisely because they both have their own style.

"Call me in about a week."
"So it could be cancer? Hey, doc. You don't be a stranger either."

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Amy is cool. Mainly because she just seems like such a fun, light-hearted person... she just has an unpretentious, straight-forward ("what you see is what you get") kind of energy. I've seen her in person a few times, at UCB and events related to her TV work, and she always comes across as warm, engaged and generous with her peers - supportive and easy to laugh along with others, different from comedians who act desperate for attention or try be constantly provocative because they're probably overcompensating for some sort of issue. A lot of comedians seem to be either narcissists or kinda hate themselves, and spend years picking themselves apart for material, which can't be that healthy for them in the long run. Amy, on the other hand, seems pretty comfortable with herself and not out to bully others for laughs and that's very appealing.

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A lot of comedians seem to be either narcissists or kinda hate themselves, and spend years picking themselves apart for material, which can't be that healthy for them in the long run.

That is certainly true, which is why I find Poehler refreshing, because she does none of that. In the long run, all that defeatist and negativity takes its toll, and it ends up not being funny anymore (and it wasn't really all that funny in the first place).

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