Amy Poehler reveals how she ended up on the cover art of a Yo La Tengo single
Amy Poehler has shared the story behind her appearance on the cover art of Yo La Tengo’s 2000 single, ‘You Can Have It All’.
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On Tuesday (May 22), Poehler was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a special guest to promote her upcoming film, Inside Out 2. In the Pixar sequel to the 2015 animated movie, Poehler reprises the role of main protagonist Joy.
At the start of the interview, host Kimmel mentions that a staffer passed him a CD copy of ‘You Can Have It All’, which he brings out to show Poehler and the audience.
Kimmel asks Poehler if the red substance around her lips is blood, to which she clarifies that it is, instead, pasta sauce – part of a sketch segment by her former comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade.
“That’s a sketch I did with UCB, my sketch group, called ‘Spaghetti Jesus,’” she explained.
“The premise of the sketch is that the face of Jesus is found in a bowl of spaghetti, and then someone ate it. We panned around to see who it was and then that happened. So I guess the fine people of Yo La Tengo thought it would be a good album cover.”
She adds: “You know, it was a different time.”
In the Kimmel episode, Poehler also shares a story involving Slash – who was present as guest musician in the show’s house band – along with a failed attempt at meeting Prince at Saturday Night Live when she worked there as a cast member.
“He came off stage during the soundcheck and walked past me,” she says. “He gave me a little eye contact and said ‘Hello’. And I said, ‘How’s your summer?’ That was my question to Prince… He just floated away into the elevator.”
While ‘You Can Have It All’ – a cover of the 1974 George McCrae song – remains Poehler’s only appearance on album cover art, Yo La Tengo did enter the actor’s orbit once again when in 2014 they appeared in season six of sitcom Parks and Recreation, which she starred in.
Last year, Yo La Tengo released the album ‘This Stupid World’ and the EP ‘The Bunker Sessions’. They’ll be performing at Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona next week and in August will play End of the Road Festival in Dorset and All Points East in London.
The post Amy Poehler reveals how she ended up on the cover art of a Yo La Tengo single appeared first on NME.
Daniel Peters
NME