WATCH: Amy Poehler and Aubrey Plaza Reprise Their ‘Parks and Recreation’ Characters for SNL’s Weekend Update
Fans of Parks and Recreation got a treat during Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update segment, as host Aubrey Plaza reprised her April Ludgate character from the show — and was soon joined by Amy Poehler, the SNL alumna who portrayed Leslie Knope on the NBC sitcom.
“According to a recent study, local governments are having trouble hiring new employees,” said Colin Jost to start the segment. “Here to encourage young people to get involved in local government is a long-time employee of the city of Pawnee, Indiana, April Ludgate.”
Plaza chatted with Jost in Ludgate’s trademark monotone, urging young people to “get a job as a garbage man or something.”
Other local government jobs that young people should consider, according to Plaza’s Ludgate, included driving a bus (because “you don’t have to be on time — nobody cares”), working for the water department (“you can drain the reservoir and find all the bodies and murder clues”), or “just be a dogcatcher and just say you couldn’t find any.”
“Because when you work for the local government, doing the bare minimum is doing your part,” said Plaza.
“Okay. But what if you actually want to work hard?” asked Jost.
“I don’t know,” replied Plaza. “You’re annoying me. Just ask my old boss, Leslie Knope.”
With that cue, Poehler slid into the frame as the audience cheered (her appearance was not a total surprise; she had made a brief cameo during Plaza’s opening monologue).
Poehler’s Knope was a peppy presence on the set, and then took a bit of a meta turn as she asked about working at SNL and anchoring Weekend Update — a gig that Poehler herself had for several years.
After a bit of banter back and forth with Plaza and Jost, Poehler asked if Jost would mind if she “tried to tell a joke,” reading a bit from the Weekend Update cue cards.
After rejecting a few scripted jokes for being “too mean,” she read — displaying a very Knope-like glee — one about a bus service for puppies that involved a “Rosa Barks” pun to close out the segment.
Watch above, via NBC.
