Amy Poehler is looking back on a memorable in-flight confrontation that stemmed from being a little too explicit near a baby, and her longtime friend and collaborator Ana Gasteyer was luckily a witness.
The incident came up during a recent episode of Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, where she and Gasteyer reminisced about traveling together years ago while filming Mean Girls. At the time, Gasteyer was flying with her infant daughter, Frances, who is now 23.
“I remember being on a plane with you [and] you got into a fight with a guy,” Gasteyer said. “Baby Frances was on the plane with us. The guy got mad that you were swearing in front of the baby.”
According to Poehler, the man complained that she was being too loud while he was trying to rest and that didn’t sit well with the comedian.
“It’s a long story,” Poehler explained, adding that her Boston roots quickly came out when she responded. While she didn’t go into explicit detail about what was said, both women made it clear that the interaction escalated into a verbal standoff.
Gasteyer, for her part, said the moment was “the best thing I’ve ever seen,” recalling how fiercely Poehler defended herself in the situation. At the time, the actresses were spending long stretches together while promoting and filming projects, including Mean Girls, which brought together several Saturday Night Live alumni.
The conversation also sparked broader nostalgia about that era in their careers, including memories of early table reads and late-night hotel hangouts with Tina Fey, who wrote the film.