Amy Poehler has revisited an incident involving a chimpanzee for one of her Saturday Night Live (SNL) skits in 2005. She said that the incident happened backstage and that it was “very stressful” for her at the time.
Amy Poehler revisits her experience of working with a chimpanzee on SNL
While interviewing Ariana Grande for the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast, the latter recalled a backstage incident involving a chimpanzee named Mikey from one of her old SNL sketches.
“I was doing a sketch where I think Jason Bateman was the host,” she said, recounting the incident. “And there was a monkey in the sketch. Like, I would say maybe a chimpanzee. Very formidable. It was too stressful for me. It was like a young chimpanzee.”
The Parks and Recreation star went on to describe the moment that occurred between takes. “I walked past the chimpanzee, and it reached out and grabbed me by the wrist and wouldn’t let go in the middle of a quick change,” she shared. “I think it was the blonde hair or my vibe,” she said, jokingly.
The Inside Out actress added. “I started screaming. And chimpanzees are very strong. I couldn’t get it to let go of me,” saying that “it was all fine” later.
The skit in question aired in 2005 and was titled “Monkeys Throwing Poop at Celebrities.” Bateman, who led the skit, recalled the incident during his monologue in a 2020 episode of SNL. He mentioned that the show today would use a “puppet or fuzzy suit” for safety reasons, but in 2005, they used a “real, male, adult chimpanzee.”
The Ozark star shared how Mikey tried to “kill” him when he bent down to applaud the animal. “The chimp unhinges his jaw, he flashes the teeth, and he tries to bite my entire nose off. This is a true story,” Bateman said. He later cued the producers to play the clip he had described, showcasing how the moment unfolded.
Despite the close call, the Arrested Development actor shared that Mikey apologized to him after the show with a surprisingly sweet gesture. “He’s looking very ashamed of himself, and honest to God, he shuffles over to me, puts his hand up on my shoulder, as if to say, ‘I’m sorry,’” Bateman recalled. “It was a very, very beautiful moment.”
Originally reported by Harsha Panduranga on Comingsoon.
