Amy Poehler revealed that Meryl Streep didn’t just wing it during her appearance on SNL50 last month.
The Parks and Recreation star and Saturday Night Live alum dished about sharing dressing rooms with the legendary actress for the show on the latest episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast.
“There were so many people that people had to share dressing rooms,” Poehler said of the celebrity-packed event, “so I was sharing my dressing room with Meryl Streep.” During that brief time, she discovered just how seriously Streep was taking her first ever SNL appearance. Streep has never hosted the late-night variety show despite her long-running career.
Ahead of SNL50, Streep was set to join Kate McKinnon, Woody Harrelson, and Pedro Pascal for a reprisal of the “Close Encounters,” sketch. “Meryl Streep, she was getting ready for her sketch and really rehearsing it,” Poehler said on the show. “I remember thinking, ‘I have never rehearsed as hard as Meryl Streep is in this one moment,’” she added with a laugh.
Streep’s hard work paid off, however, as her turn as Colleen Rafferty Sr., the mother of McKinnon’s character, Colleen Rafferty in the sketch series, which depicts the differing alien abduction experiences among the characters, was well-received. As has been tradition with the sketch series, McKinnon always cracks up the week’s host to the point of breaking character—and Streep was no exception during the SNL50 version.
Poehler was still surprised to see how seriously Streep was taking her role in the bit, as she watched her rehearse in their dressing room.
The comedian, who would later take the stage for the special several times to celebrate her time on the show, was chill beforehand. “Just like a fan, I took a picture of the door that said my name and Meryl Streep,” she said, as Streep vigorously rehearsed. She thought as she watched, “Don’t overthink it. Just be loud.”
