Who says you need a project to appear on late night? On Thursday, Amy Poehler swung by “Late Night with Seth Meyers” without any projects to promote, but to instead talk about the books she’s been reading this year and to make Meyers laugh so hard he was incapable of sound.
The memorable moment happened roughly seven-and-a-half minutes into the pair’s interview. While talking about Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own,” Meyers excused himself to sneeze.
“Oh my god, a sneeze! Everybody stand up!” Poehler cheerfully said.
As the audience cheered and jumped to their feet, Meyers buried his head in his hands, unable to contain his laughter. During the roughly 30 seconds he was laughing, only a couple of his chuckles could be heard. His response caused Poehler to burst into laughter too.
Poehler initially explained she came onto her former “Saturday Night Live” buddy’s show to change her image. “I’ve been on a lot, and I’ve been hilarious and stuff. I’m tired of that,” Poehler told Meyers. “I want to be considered an intellectual, like a smart guest.”
After that pronouncement, Poehler revealed that she’s made it a goal to read 50 books in 2024 and talked about some of the ones she’s read so far. First up was George Saunders’ “Tenth of December.”
“He’s a genius,” Poehler said. “The great Tina Fey recommended it to me. We were on tour, and she said, ‘It’s a lot of short stories, so you should be able to finish it.’”
“I’ve read this book,” Meyers said to Poehler’s clear surprise. “He’s been a guest on this show. If the purpose of this is to burn me, you’re off to a bad start.”
Poehler’s other highlighted books included “All Fours” by Miranda July, “Vladimir” by Julia May Jonas, “Excavations” by Kate Myers, “Somehow: Thoughts on Love” by Anne Lamott, “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky and “Little Penguins” written by Cynthia Rylant with illustrations by Christian Robinson. “I’m going to have to read a few children’s books to get to 50,” Poehler confessed. Watch the full (and silly) interview above.
