Amy Poehler Thought Her Mouth Was Going To Break From Playing Parks And Recreation’s Chatty Leslie Knope – Looper

Leslie Knope’s incessant verbal exposition seems effortless and natural coming from Amy Poehler, but internally, it could be quite wearying for the actor. In an “Ask Me Anything” post on Reddit from 2014, Poehler revealed that Leslie’s anxious personality, underscored by her constant babbling, took quite a toll on her. Asked by a fan whether playing such a high-strung character wears her out, Poehler replied, “I love playing Leslie Knope, but she says SO many words, and she does talk so much, that sometimes I think my mouth is gonna break.”

Poehler continued by asking whether anyone on the Internet was able to tell her how many words Knope actually said during the course of “Parks and Recreation.” No one gave a precise answer, but one fan did some guesstimating based on three available episode scripts, finding that, if those were representative of the show as a whole, Knope had uttered about 112,000 words from Seasons 1 through 6.

Poehler has turned to passion projects the years since “Parks and Recreation” came to an end, hosting the crafting competition show “Making It” alongside Nick Offerman, and later its spin-off baking show “Baking It.” No doubt her oratory experience on “Parks and Recreation” has come in handy when giving off-the-cuff pep talks to contestants.