“Saturday Night Live” hosted two MVP guests from Pawnee, Indiana on its Jan. 21 episode. To celebrate Aubrey Plaza’s first host, Amy Poehler reunites with her “Parks and Recreation” co-stars, bringing April Ludgate and Leslie Knope back for the show’s “Weekend Update” segment. The cast returns to their sitcom roles as April and Leslie talk about the importance of youth involvement in local government.
“Everyone should be involved in where they live, and if you’re young, you should get a job as a garbage man or something,” April said deadpan. She then makes a list of local jobs and offers advice on how to unwind. “Drive the bus. You don’t have to be on time, nobody cares,” she continued. “Work in the water department. You can drain the reservoir and find all the dead bodies and murder leads. Or just be a dog catcher and say you can’t find anything.”
At that point, Poehler — no stranger to the Weekend Update station — joined the square as Leslie. “I’d like to ask for your opinion about this job, about this show, because I’ve seen this show once, when Seth Meyers did it alone and no one else, and he made it look real Simple,” she joked to Colin Jost.
In addition to the “Parks and Rec” nostalgia, the episode parodies “M3GEN” (featuring Allison Williams), “White Lotus” and the Miss Universe pageant. Along the way, everyone from Joe Biden to Property Brothers stopped by.
Ahead of her hosting debut, Plaza shared in the episode’s trailer how long she’s been waiting to land on Saturday Night Live. In the sneak peek, Plaza tells Chloe Fineman that she’s not the only one who’s going to make an impression, and she sets out to recreate two slightly horrific scenes, one for Pollock’s Thea Gay Harden and Annette Bening in “American Beauty.” A frustrated Fineman asks, “Why are you doing this?”
The “White Lotus” cast responded, “Because I’m crazy, I’ve been waiting to do this show since I was 12.” Plaza then went for a kiss, and when Fineman asked what happened, she replied, “Shut up ’” Then they started making out, and one of the janitors at Studio 8H shook his head and continued mopping the floor. It’s a weird, wild hint at the hilarious chaos that Plaza’s first hosting is sure to bring.
In a Jan. 17 interview with Jimmy Fallon, the “Parks and Recreation” alum revealed that she once auditioned for “Saturday Night Live,” but she never got the chance to perform in front of Lorne Michaels. “I didn’t go to Lorne [Michaels] auditions, famous final auditions, but I did a tentative first-round pitch,” she said. “I remember a role I did that was like a Puerto Rican news reporter who was always trying to make all the news stories sexy. , even if they are terrible news stories. I just wanted to, like, exaggerate the news or something. “
In 2004, Plaza was also interning in the show’s set department (which she mentions in her opening monologue), where she was popular because she had no interest in learning any set design. Instead, she used her time on the set of “Saturday Night Live” to observe the cast. “I was just, like, creepy,” she said. “Like, I’m a creepy stalker. Now I’m hosting it, so my master plan works!”
Check out all of Plaza’s “SNL” skits below, including her return to the role of April.
