To call The Naked Gun movies “stupid” is not an insult. From the Files of Police Squad!, The Smell of Fear, and The Final Insult are funny, because they’re stupid. It’s a compliment. The scene where Jane Spencer tells Frank Drebin that she practices safe sex and he replies “so do I” before they both put on full-body condoms? To me, you are perfect. It’s hard to imagine a Naked Gun movie without quintessential straight man Leslie Nielsen, who died in 2010, but according to Liam Neeson, he’s been “approached” for a reboot. And because everyone loved the first time they worked together, the person doing the approaching was Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Neeson said that he’s probably done making action movies after this year. “I’m 68 and a half, 69 this year. There’s a couple more I’m going to do this year — hopefully, COVID allowing us — there’s a couple in the pipeline and then I think that will probably be it,” he revealed. “Well, unless I’m on a Zimmer frame or something.” He’s not done with acting, however. “I’ve been approached by Seth McFarlane and Paramount Studios to maybe resurrect the Naked Gun films,” he said, adding, “It’ll either finish my career or bring it in another direction. I honestly don’t know.”
No one tell O.J. about this. There’s nothing to see here, Nordberg.
Melania Trump had already signaled her readiness to leave the White House long before her husband finally (sort-of) conceded the election to Joe Biden. During one of her final FLOTUS acts, she made her delayed response to the failed MAGA coup of the U.S. Capitol all about herself, and she must be thrilled to never have to hang Christmas decorations again. So, it wasn’t too surprising to see her flash a rare public smile while literally leaving the building on Biden’s Inauguration Day. She wore all black, as if she was attending a funeral, but she did look happier than usual.
Then Donald and Melania took their last trip on Air Force One while heading to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. Oh boy, she made quite the outfit change.
Former President Trump and former first lady Melania Trump exit Air Force One for final time as they arrive in South Florida.
The New York Post took note of the blazingly bright dress with a whole lot of orange going on. The garment hails from Gucci and costs $3700, but it’s an attention grabber. It really feels like she might be trolling with this selection. One Twitter user joked that this is “the traditional Slovenian divorce dress,” and Melania has come full circle from what could be an acceptable funeral outfit to a straight-up vacation dress. She’s clocking out!
She’s wearing the traditional Slovenian divorce dress.
Even more tellingly, though, Melania didn’t even pause after exiting the airplane to pose for photos with her husband. She sauntered away, like she gave no f*cks, and she was totally done giving any f*cks at all.
Melania has run out of F**ks to give. She no longer has to even pretend to like him pic.twitter.com/APFVN7oyS2
With COVID lockdowns becoming our new reality for the past year or so, it was probably inevitable that they’d eventually become our movie reality too. Which means that Doug Liman’s new film for HBO Max, Locked Down, set in a contemporary locked-down London, is probably just the first of its kind. Torn from our living rooms!
Sure, you’ve been trapped inside small drab rooms yammering into Zoom windows for the past year, but what if Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor were the ones trapped inside the small drab rooms, and the Zoom windows contained a rotating cast of celebrities, like Ben Stiller and Ben Kingsley and Mindy Kaling and Stephen Merchant? Wouldn’t that be worth watching?
Sadly, not really. Locked Down is a “heist movie” with no heist. In the place of things happening, it has people talking about things happening. Rather than feeling cathartic, it’s merely banal, yet another unwelcome reminder of our own isolation. Please can we just get two hours of good-looking, well-dressed people with fresh haircuts hanging out together in a crowded bar? That would be a welcome kind of escapism.
Anyway, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anne Hathaway play Paxton and Linda, a partnered but unmarried couple of 10 years, who had made the decision to uncouple just before the lockdown order came down and now, unhappily cohabitating, are stuck in a row house driving each other a bit nuts.
Ejiofor’s character is, separately and simultaneously: a neurotic, a biker, an ex-con, a poet, a former heroin addict, sober for 10 years, and works as a delivery driver. Hathaway’s character, meanwhile, is: someone who used to date a heroin-loving biker, an ex-pagan, slightly bisexual, and the well-to-do, extremely put together current UK CEO of some kind of fashion company. If, on paper, it seems like all those quirks don’t really add up to coherent characters let alone explain compatibility, well, it’s also true in practice.
We discover all of these things gradually, through various arguments between the two and their separate Zoom calls with acquaintances and employers, as varied as Paxton’s boss at the delivery company, played by Ben Kingsley, and Anne Hathaway’s boss at her retail company, played by Ben Stiller. It seems as if writer Steven Knight (Allied, Eastern Promises) imagined the heist, and then worked backwards from there, building the kind of characters one might need to pull it off. Trouble is, Locked Down is a two-hour movie in which the “heist” doesn’t happen until about an hour 40, and so we spend most of the run time “exploring” these characters, who don’t seem like they were initially intended to be explored. They seem more like utilitarian combinations of quirks now shorn of their utility, like box trucks forced to race the Indy 500.
Mostly they spend the movie describing past action in expository dialogue. Hey, remember that thing that happened? Of course I do! But surely you must remember that other thing that also happened…
Hearing characters describe a story, naturally, isn’t nearly as compelling as seeing that story, and it creates in the present characters who don’t make much sense — Ejiofor the affable, ex-con neurotic biker poet, Anne Hathaway playing her character as a standard manic rom-com white professional lady, frequently exasperated with little provocation. It’s hard to enjoy them in the present with them constantly describing a past that doesn’t seem to connect.
Director Doug Liman, so brilliant at shooting people doing in movies like Edge of Tomorrow, American Made, Go, etc, seems to have painted himself into a very talky corner in Locked Down, and apparently put in a lot of work to do so. He was so convinced that people would be desperate to watch a movie about a pandemic lockdown that he brainstormed a movie in July, flew all the way to London on a prop plane to shoot Locked Down in September, and spent the next few months editing in time for release this week in January. It’s often said that art thrives on limitations, but Locked Down wears its rushed schedule and logistical difficulties on its sleeve. That so many characters are never in the same room feels more like a practical consideration than a narrative one. Which makes Locked Down understandable, just not… well… watchable.
That Doug Liman and Anne Hathaway and Stephen Merchant and the gang got to keep doing what they do during this whole thing is genuinely inspiring, but more in an abstract way than a must-see TV way. Locked Down is probably best appreciated as a sort of WPA make-work project for the crew and actors rather than something to watch. Hopefully, it’s remembered as an anomaly and not a harbinger of a new normal.
‘Locked Down’ is now available on HBO Max. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. You can access his archive of reviews here.
Ever since the pandemic began, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been on the forefront of using his star power and social media presence to encourage public safety measures. Whether it’s chomping on a cigar in his hot tub as he intimidates “unwise” spring breakers into going home, or melting hearts with his donkey and miniature pony, the Governator hasn’t been messing around when it comes to encouraging Americans to do the right thing during a public health crisis. And it’s exactly that kind of attitude that Schwarzenegger brought to his latest PSA where he implores eligible citizens to get the COVID vaccine as soon as they can. It also didn’t hurt that he dropped the perfect Terminator quote in the process.
“Today was a good day,” Schwarzenegger tweeted. “I have never been happier to wait in a line. If you’re eligible, join me and sign up to get your vaccine. Come with me if you want to live!”
Along with his Terminator-themed message, Schwarzenegger included video proof that he stopped by a drive-thru vaccination center to get his COVID-19 shot. You can watch it below:
Today was a good day. I have never been happier to wait in a line. If you’re eligible, join me and sign up to get your vaccine. Come with me if you want to live! pic.twitter.com/xJi86qQNcm
While this latest PSA is definitely a necessary message (getting COVID vaccines into the arms of Americans becomes a crucial mission for the incoming Biden administration), nothing can compare to the 10-minute message where he rebuked Donald Trump for inciting the attack on the Capitol building. Not only does the video include Arnold revealing deeply personal details about growing up with an abusive father who served in the Nazi regime, but he busted out his Conan sword to make a rousing point about the strength of democracy. You just don’t mess with that.
You might recognize Alex Bleeker from his work as the bassist in classic indie outfit Real Estate. Bleeker’s latest solo effort, Heaven On The Faultline, will sound familiar to longtime Real Estate fans, soaked in reverb with a dreamy feel that makes it perfect for moments of relaxation. The album’s lyrics stay true to its sonic palette, taking pleasure in the simple joys in a world where existential anxieties loom large.
To celebrate the forthcoming effort, Bleeker sat down to talk about his time in Real Estate, love for Dionne Warwick, and Independence Day, in the latest Indie Mixtape 20 Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Honest, Heady, Pretty Good!
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
Well, In 2050, assuming that I don’t die an untimely death, I will be 64 years old. That’s still below retirement age so hopefully I won’t need to be remembered at all! No matter where I find myself in my life, or what predicament humanity may or may not find itself in, I hope that I’ll be continuing to write, record, and release my music into the world by way of some unimaginable futuristic platform. Maybe we’ll still be pressing records on vinyl in 30 years too.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
From where I sit at this moment, deep into the COVID-19 pandemic, EVERY CITY is my favorite in the world to perform in. I miss live music so much and I hope that it will be a part of all of our lives again very soon. That said, I hold special places in my heart for Lisbon, Portugal and for Vancouver, Canada.
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
It is impossible to name just one person. In general, my friends who make music inspire me the most. I can say that when I was making Heaven on The Faultline, I was thinking a lot about a band called Lives Of Angels and a band called Wet Tuna. I was also listening to Dr. Alimantado’s dub records a lot. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has the most disciplined and dedicated music making practice of anyone I’ve known personally, and her output is continuously inspiring to me.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
Many years ago Real Estate played a small and intimate festival on the Southern tip of Italy. It was high summer, and we took a long, hot, difficult drive in a van without air conditioning to get to the small town that we were playing in. It was one of those really hard days on tour that just felt like a nightmare. When we finally got to our destination, we were treated to a wonderful home cooked meal. I don’t even remember what we ate exactly, but I remember that I could taste the love and care in every dish!
What album do you know every word to?
The Grateful Dead – American Beauty, Green Day – Dookie, among many others.
What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?
Again, it would be impossible for me to choose just one. Seeing the Congos perform in a basement in Manhattan was definitely a surreal live music highlight. I also remember Black Dice show at Market Hotel circa 2010 that positively blew my mind. 2 concerts that made an extraordinarily lasting impression on me both happened at Madison Square Garden. One was Phish’s first show back from their 1.0 hiatus, 12/31/2002, and another was my first concert ever, Billy Joel, not sure the year…
What is the best outfit for performing and why?
Whatever makes me feel like I’m comfortable and looking good, baby!
Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?
I hate social media and regret that I ever became addicted to Instagram, but here we are. I’m still on Instagram every day and I’m trying to break the habit … so lately I’ve been enjoying following Japanese illustrator Hiroshi Nagai.
What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?
Dionne Warwick’s “You’re Gonna Need Me” has gotten a considerable amount of play time in our van over the years.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
I was looking up a bunch of hiking trails near my house.
What album makes for the perfect gift?
Why, my forthcoming record, Heaven on the Faultline, of course! Pre-order today!!
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
In 2008 I was playing a solo gig at a warehouse venue in Detroit called Scrummage University. We crashed there that night. After the show a big party continued to rage on. When I could party no longer, I told one of the people that lived there that I was ready to go to sleep. Without skipping a beat, he proceeded to inflate a full sized bouncy castle in the middle of the room (it was a giant warehouse), and told me I could sleep on it. Eventually I fell asleep there while others stayed up and partied around me, unphased.
What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
I don’t have any yet! DM me if you have an idea for a cool one.
What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?
Aretha Franklin, every time. Also, I’m never going to turn off “One Of These Nights” by the Eagles. I’d be pretty surprised if I ever heard Throbbing Gristle on the radio so probably wouldn’t change the channel if that ever happened.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
Tough Question! Sappy Answer: In general, my wife, being such an incredible partner and companion. Also, my parents acted selflessly to give me a really strong upbringing.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Do your best to stay relaxed in as many situations as possible. It always helps.
What’s the last show you went to?
It must have been a little promo show that Martin (Real Estate) and I played in mid March 2020, right before the whole world changed.
What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?
Independence Day, every time. The best.
What would you cook if Obama were coming to your house for dinner?
Which Obama? The whole family? I’d probably make my most reliably impressive dish… miso black cod.
Heaven On The Faultline is out March 5. Pre-order here.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as the 46th President and Vice President of the United States on Wednesday afternoon in an inauguration ceremony that was unlike any other we’ve seen due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and threats of violence from right-wing groups. Things happily went off without a hitch on Wednesday in D.C. and one of the main people that stole the show was Nikolas Ajagu, the husband of Kamala Harris’ niece, Meena, who went viral when sneakerheads on Twitter noticed someone going down the steps behind the podium in a pair of the Dior Jordan 1 highs.
Meena Harris confirmed he was indeed rocking the Diors, a bit to her dismay, and couldn’t believe her husband’s sneakers were trending on the day of her aunt’s inauguration as vice president.
Ajagu wasn’t the only one stepping out in Jordans for the inauguration, as Biden’s granddaughter, Maisy, was out there in a pair of the “Sisterhood” Jordan 1 mids.
It was a great day for all of us in the “nice sneakers are dress shoes” crowd, who can now point to Ajagu and Maisy as pillars of excellence in wearing Jordans to as formal an event as there is, the presidential inauguration. If they can make that happen, you too can wear your finest sneakers to the next wedding or formal event, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
If you live in an apartment complex or a college dorm, you might be wondering why it sounds like your neighbors are all screaming pirate songs at the top of their lungs during random hours. First of all, they’re called sea shanties not “pirate songs” — get it straight. Second, get ready to sing along. Because, as you’ve probably figured out by now, these joints are catchy.
Like most music trends these days, we have TikTok to blame for this one. Sea shanties are all the rage on TikTok right now, so much so that a sub-community at TikTok has been created around the phenomenon, known as ShantyTok. But why are sea shanties resonating with people so strongly at this particular moment?
If you’re looking for someone to blame — or thank, depending on where you fall — then look no further than TikTok user Nathan Evans.
Hailing from Scotland, the aspiring musician and now TikTok star kicked off the trend just before Christmas after he uploaded an acapella rendition of “The Scotsman.” Accompanied solely by a steady rhythm provided by his pounding fist, Evans’ cover quickly amassed millions of views. Evans quickly followed up the surprise success with another acapella shanty performance, this time with the old New Zealand whaling tune, “Soon May The Wellerman Come” — the epicenter of ShantyTok.
Our Favorite ShantyToks
Currently, Evan’s performance of “The Wellerman” has been viewed more than seven million times, but that’s not what’s so cool about it. What’s far more impressive is the bizarre community that has formed around the video, which is being shared, remixed, chopped, screwed, and reinterpreted by thousands of TikTok users. Music producers are adding beats and synth leads, vocalists are adding their own touches, creating a choir of harmonies around Evans’ original performance, and musicians are adding their own talents into the mix.
In fact, the whole thing has developed much like in the olden days, when a bunch of bored sailors laboring on a ship would layer sounds however they could, over the course of days, weeks, or months. TikTok has popularized some seriously weird trends, but none have felt quite as communal as the world of ShantyTok.
And it doesn’t stop there, the world of ShantyTok is deep. Some users have introduced new shanties to the repertoire, so don’t be too surprised when Drake finally drops that shanty single.
At first, ShantyTok might strike you — like everything on TikTok — as cringey as hell. But after a certain level of exposure, the songs become ridiculously infectious. Speaking personally, I’ve spent far too much time today talking like an old sea captain and saying shit like “yarr” out loud. In real life. So what is it about sea shanties that seem to be resonating so strongly with people?
It’s really quite simple actually. According to the New York Times, who wrote a deep dive on the trend (which should tell you just how popular it’s becoming), sea shanties were originally sung by overworked sailors to create a sense of community and shared purpose on merchant marine vessels between the 1700s and 1800s. The shantyman would lead sailors in song as they worked as a way to distract them from the hardships (and boredom) of the seas.
“If it wasn’t for TikTok, I would be so bored and claustrophobic… But it can give you a sense of having a group. You can collaborate with other people and make friends easily,” Evans told the New York Times. We feel that.
Sounds a lot like quarantine, right? Aren’t we all like a captive crew, days blurring together as we toil away, looking for any way to pass the time? Sea shanties are providing millions of TikTok users with a sense of community they haven’t felt in some time, keeping us from slipping away into Willem Dafoe-in-The Lighthouse-levels of insanity.
Among many notable moments in Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, Amanda Gorman’s recitation of her original poem “The Hill We Climb” stood out as a punctuation mark on the day.
It’s perhaps fitting that Gorman herself stands out in several ways. The 22-year-old former National Youth Poet Laureate is the youngest poet to compose and deliver an inaugural poem. Like Joe Biden, she struggled with a speech impediment as a child, which makes reciting her poetry in an event broadcast around the globe all the more impressive. But what’s most striking in this moment is what she represents—the bright and hopeful future of America.
For four years, we’ve had an administration focused on reversing progress and taking the country backwards to a mythical era in which the country was better. The slogan “Make America Great Again” has always implied a yearning to return to some kind of ideal past—one which, in reality, didn’t exist (unless you’re actually into white supremacy). The U.S. was built on high ideals but has always grappled with the advancement of some at the expense of others, with the legacy of racism and sexism ever-present in our politics, and with injustice being inseparable from our imbalance of political power.
Today, though, we marked a distinct shift in that balance of power. We swore in our first female vice president, in addition to our first non-white vice president. And in adding the voice of a young, Black, female poet to artfully contextualize the occasion, we see an emphasis in leaning into that shift. In Amanda Gorman, we see an America looking to the future as we honestly assess our past.
Biden’s team contacted Gorman last month to ask her to share a poem about unity, and that’s exactly what she delivered. But the unity she envisions in her poem doesn’t look like ignoring or forgetting the painful experiences of the past.
“In my poem, I’m not going to in any way gloss over what we’ve seen over the past few weeks and, dare I say, the past few years,” Gorman told The New York Times prior to the inauguration. “But what I really aspire to do in the poem is to be able to use my words to envision a way in which our country can still come together and can still heal. It’s doing that in a way that is not erasing or neglecting the harsh truths I think America needs to reconcile with.”
In her sunny yellow coat on a sunny day at the Capitol—where violent rioters assaulted the very foundation of democracy just two weeks ago—Amanda Gorman offers words of hope and healing rooted in reality, all of which the nation desperately yearns for in this moment.
Watch her nail it:
Watch Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, recite her poem “The Hill We Climb” at President… https://t.co/48tiEuJQ0C
— The New York Times (@The New York Times)1611170321.0
Here are the words of “The Hill We Climb”:
“When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade We’ve braved the belly of the beast We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace And the norms and notions of what just is Isn’t always just-ice And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it Somehow we do it Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished We the successors of a country and a time Where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one And yes we are far from polished far from pristine but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect We are striving to forge a union with purpose To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another We seek harm to none and harmony for all Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: That even as we grieved, we grew That even as we hurt, we hoped That even as we tired, we tried That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious Not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree And no one shall make them afraid If we’re to live up to our own time Then victory won’t lie in the blade But in all the bridges we’ve made That is the promise to glade The hill we climb If only we dare It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy And this effort very nearly succeeded But while democracy can be periodically delayed it can never be permanently defeated In this truth in this faith we trust For while we have our eyes on the future history has its eyes on us This is the era of just redemption We feared at its inception We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but within it we found the power to author a new chapter To offer hope and laughter to ourselves So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe? Now we assert How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us? We will not march back to what was but move to what shall be A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation Our blunders become their burdens But one thing is certain: If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west, we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states, we will rise from the sunbaked south We will rebuild, reconcile and recover and every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful When day comes we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid The new dawn blooms as we free it For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it If only we’re brave enough to be it”
Thank you for your beautiful, meaningful words, Ms. Gorman, and for offering us a glimpse of a truly greater America we all have a role in creating.
Much of the music world was thrilled about the inauguration today. That’s especially true of Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and Garth Brooks, who all had the opportunity to perform during the ceremony. Lil Nas X was happy about the day as well, but for a different reason, as he revealed in a hilarious sketch video he shared.
The 33-second cinematic marvel begins with Nas standing in a crowd of inauguration onlookers, and by “standing in a crowd,” I mean swapping out the background of the video he shot at home. The text on the screen reads, “Me stealing stimmys for the homies while everyone is distracted at the inauguration.” As Biden’s speech goes on in the background, Nas proceeds to work his way through the White House as his own song “Holiday” plays. He eventually finds the “stemulus room,” goes past lasers and other security measures, and starts piling cash into a backpack. Mitch McConnell tries to stop Nas but backs down after Nas points a (drawing of a) gun at him.
Meanwhile, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he also took the opportunity to re-share a hilarious old tweet of his, which reads: “when i was young i went to a civil rights march and martin luther king pointed to me and smiled. he said make music and never stop, well look at me now.”
when i was young i went to a civil rights march and martin luther king pointed to me and smiled. he said make music and never stop, well look at me now.
Leslie Knope‘s love for Joe Biden is damn near legendary. The Parks and Recreation character famously brought to life by Amy Poehler harbored a frequently-cited crush for the then-vice president during the show’s seven season run on NBC. In an amazing casting coup for the sitcom, Biden actually appeared on the show in the 2012 episode “Leslie vs. April,” and Leslie’s interaction with her deepest obsession launched a thousand GIFs as she struggled to compose herself before eventually being removed by the Secret Service while screaming “He is precious cargo!”
And it’s that classic scene that came roaring back to life on social media during Biden’s inauguration as Parks and Rec fans made “Leslie Knope” trend by claiming that she knew this day would come.
I don’t know what to say other than…. Leslie Knope absolutely knew Joe would be in the White House. Leslie Knope’s joy is global pic.twitter.com/7wCcJidvnC
Of course, it didn’t take long for the “Leslie Knope knew” reactions to evolve into enjoying the thought of how Biden’s inauguration would feel for Leslie. Heck, after the past four years, who wouldn’t enjoy a day where Leslie Knope is trending instead of things like insurrection or #RIGGED?
My one wish is for Amy Poehler to reprise her role as Leslie Knope to react to today’s inauguration. pic.twitter.com/GX58Ls6Od6
After looking at these reactions, it really drives home how synonymous Poehler is with Leslie Knope who almost missed out on the iconic role. Back in December, Parks and Rec creator Mike Schur revealed how NBC wanted to debut the show after the 2009 Super Bowl, but there was a major problem. Poehler was pregnant with her first child and was due to give birth right as the show needed to start filming its pilot. Schur said they could’ve recast, but he told Literally! With Robe Lowe that he made the “insane” decision of asking NBC to shorten the first season order and wait three months. “We just kept feeling that debuting after the Super Bowl is a short-term fix,” Schur said. “Getting Amy Poehler on the show is the long-term solution.”
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Noam Galai / Getty 
Full song in Bio. 
(@LilyTheLostGirl)