Aubrey Plaza and Amy Poehler reprised their roles as April Ludgate and Leslie Knope from their NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation for a skit on Saturday Night Live. The show ran for seven seasons from 2009 to 2015 and also starred Paul Schneider, Rashida Jones, Nick Offerman, Aziz Ansari, Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe.
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The 38-year-old hosted SNL for the first time, where she was joined by singer Sam Smith. In the skit, Poehler’s character, Knope, made reference to her past as an SNL cast member, telling Weekend Update host Colin Jost, “I used to watch this when Seth Meyers did it by himself with no one else.”
Weekend Update
She then asked Jost if she could read some of his jokes, going through a few saying they were “too mean” before settling on one about pups. The skit was a nod to the comedian’s past experience on the show and her role as co-host of Weekend Update.
During the show, Plaza partook in several sketches, including one where she played “M3gan 2.0”, a version of the character “M3gan,” and another where she portrayed a Na’vi, a creature from Avatar. Another sketch on the show was a spoof of the Miss Universe contest, with Tony Hawk and the Property Brothers, Drew and Jonathan Scott, as judges.
Aubrey Plaza Opening SNL Monologue
Last year, Poehler expressed interest in reprising her role as Leslie Knope. When asked about the possibility of a reboot, Poehler said she was “always standing by” for a revival of the sitcom.
“Anytime anybody gives me the word, and I’m down,” Poehler told People. The show aired on NBC and was created by Michael Schur and Greg Daniels. It followed the lives of employees working in the Parks and Recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, with Poehler’s character Leslie Knope being the central character.