Amy Poehler speaks at Michael Schur's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony

Variety

Transcript

00:00My name is Amy Poehler. It is an honor to be here as the great Mike Scherer receives his well-earned star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

00:08And to be honest, today's to-do really feels like a scene from Parks and Rec, one of the many great shows that Mike created,

00:19a show that continues to improve people's mental health over 15 years after it first aired.

00:26And I do feel like if Mike and the writers here were working on this scene, the way it would go is a jet-lagged Leslie Knope, played by me,

00:37would come up here full of funnel cake from her early morning stroll on the Santa Monica Pier.

00:45She would come up to the podium and she would want to go over the rules and regulations of what it takes to get a star.

00:50So just very quickly, I would like to remind everyone that the Walk of Fame committee has made its selection

00:55and then the Hollywood Chamber Board of Directors votes to approve the star.

00:59And then for a final approval, the names are submitted to the City of Los Angeles' Board of Public Works Department.

01:06And all decisions are final and entirely within the Chamber's discretion and subject to change at any time without notice.

01:12Then Mike would probably write in the scene that Leslie introduces Mr. David Lee Roth here to sing California Girls,

01:24only to find out that the man she brought up is not the ex-Van Halen frontman,

01:30but a dude who juggles devil sticks and has warrants out for his arrest.

01:34Getting to play Leslie Knope extended my life by many years,

01:40and it is because I was lucky enough to be part of the Mike Schur system.

01:45When you're in Mike's system, you are the luckiest duck in the world.

01:50You get to do the best work of your career, you get to make lifelong friends,

01:54and you're reminded every day that life is a dream, nothing really matters,

02:00and getting to make comedy is winning the lottery.

02:02A West Hartford boy, Harvard Lampoon president, producer of SNL's Weekend Update,

02:08we all thought Mike was making a terrible mistake when he left Saturday Night Live

02:13to go write for the American version of The Office.

02:16Boy, were we wrong.

02:18As we heard, Mike went on to write for, create, and co-produce all of your favorite shows,

02:24The Office, The Comeback, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, Rutherford Falls,

02:28Hacks, A Man on the Inside, and Dig, our upcoming project,

02:32which we should be writing right now instead of doing this.

02:36We're pretty screwed. We're behind.

02:40But Mike is an excellent writer and creator, but most importantly, he's an excellent leader,

02:45and I think many of the people here can speak to that.

02:48Working with Mike kind of ruins it forever because it's the best working experience,

02:54and I think for many of us, a lot of the stuff that we learned when we work together,

02:58we try to take into our other jobs.

03:01Mike delights in the success of others.

03:04He encourages creativity.

03:06He avoids chaos.

03:07He's firm but flexible.

03:09He works the hardest of anyone.

03:11He thinks deeply about what is the right choice.

03:14He respects and understands actors.

03:16He respects and understands writers.

03:18He fights for our unions.

03:19He raises money during COVID.

03:23He's a loving father to William and Ivy

03:24and a loving husband to his deeply talented wife and fellow writer, J.J. Philbin.

03:30I love you, Mike.

03:32I love your system.

03:33I'm so glad to be part of it.

03:35Congratulations.

03:36I know this isn't a big deal, but it's a big deal.

03:40It's awesome that your name is on a star forever and ever until the aliens land

03:45and the world is over.

03:46But here's to another 30 years, and like I've always said since the day that I met you,

03:53may your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame become as popular as the star of rodeo champion Hoot Gibson.

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