Long-time friends and collaborators, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are both well known for their comedic chops, both in terms of writing and acting. They met in Chicago in the 1990s, where they took comedy classes together. After moving to New York City, Fey joined the writing team of Saturday Night Live in 1997, where Poehler joined her a few years later in 2001. SNL was the first project they worked on together, though of course they were just a small part of the overall team. There, the pair famously hosted the "Weekend Update" segment together from 2004 until 2006.
Funnily enough, the ventures they're both best known for are long-running sitcoms, 30 Rock for Fey and Parks and Recreation for Poehler. In 2013, they hosted the Golden Globes together for the first time, which then became a tradition, and they appeared at several other awards shows, including the Academy Awards.
Now, 2023 brings the highly anticipated Restless Leg tour, their first live show as a duo. This marks the perfect opportunity to take a trip down memory lane and revisit the movies and shows they've worked on together over the years. Here is every project that both Fey and Poehler had a hand in making, ranked.
9 Man of the Year (2006)
From writer and director Barry Levinson, director of Rain Man, comes Man of the Year, an odd hybrid of comedy, romance, and thriller. It stars Robin Williams as Tom Dobbs, the host of a political talk show, who runs for President and ends up winning because of an electronic voting system malfunction. Then, Laura Linney's Eleanor Green desperately tries to expose the mistake, which is where the thriller element comes in. Making cameos as themselves hosting Weekend Update, Fey and Poehler are not a huge part of the movie and can't be held responsible for its failure to hit any of the right notes.
8 Martin & Orloff (2002)
Martin & Orloff was the first movie that Fey and Poehler were involved in together, though Poehler had a bigger role than Fey's unnamed cameo. Ian Roberts stars as Martin, a man who attempts to take his own life and starts seeing a therapist named Orloff, played by Matt Walsh. The comedy's out of the box nature is both its biggest strength and greatest weakness.
On the positive side, the humor is unpredictable and unique, which brings surprising laughs as the jokes never take the expected route. However, this insistence on being as shocking as possible wears thin quickly and leaves the movie with an uneven tone and not enough laughs.
7 Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
Similarly to Man of the Year, Fey and Poehler's roles in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues are brief cameos as reporters. This sequel finds Will Ferrell reprising his role as the news anchor Ron Burgundy. After getting fired, Ron reunites with his news team from the first movie and ends up back at the top of his game. Clocking in at two hours long, there's a lot that could've been cut down, and even then it still would've lacked purpose and originality. Once again, Fey and Poehler's responsibility for the final outcome is minimal, and they carried out their roles well enough.
6 Sisters (2015)
The first movie on the list where Fey and Poehler are in the lead roles is Sisters. Here, they play Kate and Maura respectively, who are sisters returning to their childhood home to clean it out before their parents sell it. They come to the logical conclusion that they should have one last house party there to commemorate their teenage years.
The impressive cast also includes Maya Rudolph, John Cena, and Dianne Wiest. Given that screenwriter Laura Pell wrote the script with Fey and Poehler specifically in mind, it follows that their performances are the best part of the end result. The plot itself is lackluster, but the chemistry and star power coming from the two leads is enough to make it a supremely enjoyable watch.
5 Saturday Night Live (1975-Present)
While Saturday Night Live has existed with countless variations on its cast members over the several decades it has been running for, one of the great periods for the show was when Fey and Poehler were both involved. Starting in 2001, they were both cast members and would often appear together to do impressions of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. Later, in 2005 they hosted the Weekend Update segment together until Fey left after the 2006 season. Due to the ever-changing cast and writing staff, SNL goes through major ups and downs in the quality of its output, but the era of Fey and Poehler hosting Weekend Update was one for the history books.
4 Baby Mama (2008)
Another comedy with Poehler and Fey at its center is Baby Mama. This time, Fey plays Kate, a woman who discovers she is infertile and hires Angie (Poehler) to be her surrogate. It's a classic chalk and cheese set-up in which Kate is laser-focused and organized whereas Angie is much more hectic. The two women have to learn to live under the same roof, and just might form an unlikely bond.
While there is nothing that hugely stands out from this story, the central performances elevate the movie from run-of-the-mill to noteworthy. Much of the time, when actors are having fun doing their job, it comes across in the final product, and that's exactly what makes Baby Mama into more than the sum of its parts.
3 Wine Country (2019)
Given their decades-long friendship, it's no surprise that when Poehler made her directorial debut with Wine Country, she cast Fey in the movie. The ensemble also includes Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, and more as a group of friends reuniting for a vacation in Napa Valley. With such an amazing group of actors it's a shame the movie isn't even better than it is, but it remains the perfect comfort watch. Once again, anything lacking here is made up for by the strength of its cast, of which Fey and Poehler are key components.
2 30 Rock (2006-2013)
To class 30 Rock as a joint endevaor is something of a stretch, however, Poehler does show up in one episode, and therefore the show qualifies for the list. The show at large centers around Liz Lemon (Fey), the head writer of a sketch show led by Tracy Morgan. During its seven-year run, it was consistently praised for the originality of its writing as well as the impressive performances by the central cast. In the second live episode that was aired, Poehler was recruited to play a teenage version of Liz Lemon as Fey could only be in one place at a time.
1 Mean Girls (2004)
Mean Girls is one of those movies that is so popular and consistently quoted that it's easy to forget how truly great it is. When you're constantly exposed to something, it's easy to take it for granted, but as soon as you return to the actual movie, it's impossible not to get swept up in its charisma. At its center is new girl at school, Cady, played by Lindsay Lohan, who accidentally gets involved in the popular group, otherwise known as "the plastics."
Fey wrote the screenplay and has a small role, with Poehler taking on the iconic role of Regina George's "cool mom." Neither are front and center, but both are integral to the success of the legendary movie.