Amy Poehler Explains Why She Was On The Cover Of Yo La Tengo’s “You Can Have It All” CD Single
Back in 2000, New Jersey indie institution Yo La Tengo released their stunning album And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. One of that LP’s highlights was a spare, beautiful cover of disco pioneer George McCrae’s 1974 single “You Can Have It All.” Yo La Tengo released that song as a single, and the cover art for the CD edition was a photo of a not-yet-famous, feral-looking Amy Poehler, with some sort of red gunk all around her mouth.
When she posed for that photo, Poehler was still teaching improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade and doing occasional bits as a recurring character on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. A year later, she joined the Saturday Night Live cast. Last night, Amy Poehler was on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote the upcoming Pixar film Inside Out 2. On the show, Jimmy Kimmel presented her with a copy of the “You Can Have It All” CD single and asked her what was up with that.
Amy Poehler explained that that’s not blood on her face. The photo came out of a sketch, “Spaghetti Jesus,” that UCB did for their short-lived Comedy Central show: “The premise of the sketch was that there was a face of Jesus that was found in a bowl of spaghetti, and then someone ate it, and you panned around to see who it was, and then that lady. So I guess the fine people of Yo La Tengo thought it would be a good album cover. I feel so proud that you found that!… You know, it was a different time.”
Poehler also got into a fun back-and-forth with Slash, who was sitting in with the Kimmel house band. (She went to a party in his basement once, but he wasn’t there.) And she told a fun story about blowing her chance to start a conversation with Prince. Amy Poehler: Still very charming! Watch her interview below.
You can watch that “Spaghetti Jesus” sketch here. She was really wearing that Yo La Tengo shirt on TV! In 2000!