Aubrey Plaza exudes queer excellence and reprises Parks and Rec role with Amy Poehler on SNL
Plaza and Poehler reprised their Parks and Recreation roles as April Ludgate and Leslie Knope on Weekend Update. (SNL/Youtube)
White Lotus star Aubrey Plaza has hosted Saturday Night Live (SNL) and her performance saw her reenact her Parks and Recreation role with Amy Poehler and also fit in a joke with Joe Biden.
The 21 January episode of SNL saw Poehler and Plaza effortlessly take up their roles as Leslie Knope and April Ludgate.
But the iconic stint started with Plaza introducing president Joe Biden in the best way – by saying she was from Delaware and “was actually voted the most famous person” from that state.
“That’s a fact and he was pissed, he was livid,” she joked.
Plaza then attempted to stand up her claim by sharing that Biden sent her a video. She said in it he said: “Aubrey, you’re the most famous person out of Delaware and there’s no question about that. We’re just grateful you made it out of White Lotus alive.”
She then touched on being a page at 30 Rock during her college years: “I worked with the set design team here at SNL – the guys who make all these amazing sets for the show – and I’ve got to tell you, they win Emmys, they win Tonys, they’re some of the sickest perverts I’ve ever met, and I’m a freak.”
Plaza then recalled that as a page she would give tours of the NBC Studios, before she proceeded to give a tour of Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Center.
Two pages then added to the comedy by coming on the stage and giving Plaza her blazer, while she told them they “will host SNL someday” adding, “yeah, right.”
During a tour of the studio, Plaza gave incorrect facts saying that it was built in 1599 by William Shakespeare. She also ran into actor Kenan Thompson who asked her for his Starbucks order that he asked for back in 2004.
But on her way to the set department, where she used to work, magic happened as Plaza went on to mock tourists that would ask her if they would see a celebrity.
She then ran into her Parks and Recreation co-star Amy Poehler sending the audience wild as they embraced each other.
In Parks and Recreation Plaza played April Ludgate – a disillusioned intern turned Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman)’s assistant.
She played the role for six years from 2009 to 2015 and has been immortalised in meme history because of it.
In this recent SNL appearance, Plaza steals Poehler’s wallet and departs before reuniting with the old set design team and demanding that they bow before her.
In an immaculate reprise during the Weekend Update sketch, host Colin Jost introduces Plaza’s April as a longtime employee of the city of Pawnee, Indiana, who was joining the show to talk about local government.
“I will when you stop yelling at me,” April tells Jost. “OK, fine. So, yeah, everybody should get involved where they live. If you’re young, you should get a job as a garbage man or something.”
She then acts shocked when he asks her to list the jobs. “Fine. Drive a bus. You don’t have to be on time. Nobody cares,” she said.
“Work for the water department. You can drain the reservoir and find all the bodies and murder clues, or just be a dog catcher, and just say you couldn’t find any. Because when you work for the local government, doing the bare minimum is doing your part.”
Jost then asked if someone wants to work hard, with Plaza telling him to ask her old boss.
He then prompted Poehler, who was acting as Leslie Knope, with a question about what it takes to run a federal agency.
“Well, all you do is you show up every day, and you do the job,” she said.
“But I want to pick your brain about this job, about this show, because I used to watch this when Seth Meyers did it by himself with no one else, and he made it look really easy.”
She then asks if president Biden could see her when he Zoomed in and then avoids every one of his questions. She concludes by saying she and April couldn’t stay long because they had time-entry tickets to the M&M store.
Ahead of her SNL performance people couldn’t contain their excitement at seeing Plaza take to the stage.
“An Aubrey Plaza SNL monologue is worth staying alive for,” one person joked.
Another added: “They could just interview her for two hours and it’ll be their funniest show in 20 years.
In prepping for her stint as a SNL host Plaza passionately kissed SNL comedian Chloe Fineman.
The comedic genius has had some iconic roles in her career so far, from playing Kat in dark comedy Spin Me Round to playing Lucy Standbridge in comedic drama Best Sellers.
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