Does Amy Poehler Deserve Blame for Not Grilling Aziz Ansari?

When Amy Poehler invited old pal Aziz Ansari to reminisce about their Parks and Rec days on her Good Hang podcast, she likely didn’t imagine she’d get caught in the middle of a comedy firestorm. Check out the comments section on the episode’s YouTube page for angry feedback like:

• “Just want to remind everyone that Aziz took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Saudi royal family to ignore the 750,000 slaves currently in Saudi Arabia.”
• “Really disappointed to see Ansari here in light of his taking money from the organizers of the Riyadh comedy festival. Such a shame.”
• “I dont respect anyone that takes Saudi state money. It was a state funded festival designed to whitewash and gaslight the world to thinking theyre not all bad, to create better tourism, to pretend theyre actually not doing all that horrible shit theyre doing. … So I already had lost a decent amount of respect for his serial assault, and his way of handling it afterwards, but this is the final straw.”

Yikes. 

It’s possible they filmed this conversation before Jimmy Kimmel held Ansari’s feet to the fire for his participation at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, but Poehler had to know about her old co-star’s involvement. Despite that knowledge, Poehler chose to sidestep Riyadh, as well as any questions about Ansari’s #MeToo moment back in 2018. (Some fans are mad about that, too.) 

Regular listeners of Good Hang shouldn’t be surprised. Poehler’s show, explicitly a feel-good enterprise, isn’t turning into 60 Minutes anytime soon. She was explicit about her podcast’s direction and tone during the introduction of the first episode: “I just wanna make it clear,” she said. “I’m not an expert. I’m not a therapist. I’m not here to change your life. I don’t care if you get any better. I don’t have advice for you. I just want us to have fun and lighten up a little.”

That “let’s keep it light” approach has been key to the extraordinary success of Good Hang, currently at #2 on Apple’s comedy podcast charts behind only Joe Rogan. Poehler made a conscious choice not to be Marc Maron, Neal Brennan or Jon Stewart, interviewers who’d tackle uncomfortable subjects with their comedy guests. 

Poehler also didn’t press Zarna Garg last month about her announced participation at Riyadh, nor did she go after Natasha Lyonne when she was in the middle of an A.I. controversy. Good Hang isn’t the place for tough questions, for better or worse. 

Unsubscribe from Poehler’s podcast or leave a nasty comment, but don’t expect it to be anything other than what she promised at the beginning. “Whatever it is, this is a show here to have fun and make you laugh,” she said. “And I’m not here to judge. Okay?”