They were at Poehler opposites.
A tense exchange between former “Saturday Night Live” costars Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon has gone viral after the late-night show host was accused of making a toxic work environment for his employees.
The heated interaction, which was posted to X ( formerly Twitter), was initially covered in Tina Fey’s 2013 autobiography “Bossypants,” and depicted Fallon, 48, yelling at Poehler, 51, during a table read for the NBC variety show.
“Amy Poehler was recent to SNL and we were all crowded into the seventeenth-floor writers’ room, waiting for the Wednesday night read-through to begin,” wrote Fey. “Amy was in the course of some such nonsense with Seth Meyers across the table, and she or he did something vulgar as a joke. I can’t remember what it was exactly, except it was dirty and loud and ‘unladylike.’”
“Jimmy Fallon turned to her and in a faux-squeamish voice said, ‘Stop that! It’s not cute! I don’t prefer it,’” continued the passage. “Amy dropped what she was doing, went black within the eyes for a second, and wheeled around on him. ‘I don’t f–king care in case you prefer it.’”
In accordance with the “Mean Girls” author, the incident left Fallon startled as Poehler went back to joking with Meyers, 49.
“Amy made it clear that she wasn’t there to be cute,” wrote Fey. “She wasn’t there to play wives and girlfriends within the boys’ scenes. She was there to do what she desired to do and she or he didn’t f–king care in case you prefer it.”
The Post reached out to Poehler and Fallon for comment.
Fey’s “dead to rights” revelation – as dubbed by The Latest Yorker’s archive editor Erin Overbey — comes several days after Rolling Stone published an article claiming that several staffers had suicidal thoughts as a consequence of Fallon’s erratic behavior.
“Everybody walked on eggshells, especially showrunners,” recalled one former worker.”You never knew which Jimmy we were going to get and when he was going to throw a hissy fit. Look what number of showrunners went so quickly. We all know they didn’t last long.”
One worker also recalled a 2017 incident where Fallon allegedly crossed out jokes on a bit of paper he was holding, then appeared confused.
“He couldn’t remember he had just crossed it out himself,” the worker said. “I used to be like, ‘Oh, my God, he [seems] drunk. He doesn’t know what he’s doing.’”
“Mentally, I used to be in the bottom place of my life. I didn’t need to live anymore. I thought of taking my very own life on a regular basis,” one former worker said.
The Post had previously reported about Fallon’s drinking and partying getting “out of hand” in 2015, with one bartender who served him commenting, “He’s a large number.”
“No person told Jimmy, ‘No,’” a staffer told the outlet.
Several staffers also alleged to the outlet that Fallon would often belittle the crew and employees over minor slip-ups.
“It was like, if Jimmy is in a nasty mood, everyone’s day is f–ked,” revealed one staffer. “People wouldn’t joke around within the office, they usually wouldn’t stand around and consult with one another. It was very very similar to, deal with whatever it’s that you have got to do because Jimmy’s in a nasty mood, and if he sees that, he might fly off.”
Fallon later apologized to his staff members during a zoom meeting in response to the Rolling Stone expose.
“It’s embarrassing and I feel so bad,” Fallon allegedly said last week. “Sorry if I embarrassed you and your loved ones and friends … I feel so bad I can’t even inform you.”
Despite the allegations, several of Fallon’s friends, including comedic legend Jerry Seinfeld, defended the TV host.
“That is so silly. I remember this moment quite well,” said the “Seinfeld” star in a prepared statement. “I teased Jimmy a few flub, and all of us had a fun laugh about how rarely Jimmy is thrown off. It was not uncomfortable in any respect. Jimmy and I still occasionally recollect it and laugh. Idiotic twisting of events.”