Amy Poehler is taking her talents to the podcast world.
The 52-year-old Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress’ Paper Kite Productions has teamed up with longtime friend Liz Cackowski and Audacy to launch a scripted podcast series, Say more with Dr. Sheila.
IN Say more, which debuts on September 21st and will release new episodes every week until November 16th, Poehler plays “world-class therapist and life coach” Dr. Sheila, who offers inquiring couples advice on all things relationship.
“Podcasts are a big part of my life, and we wanted to pay tribute to all the different kinds of podcasts that we listen to,” Poehler told PEOPLE exclusively. “If you looked at my phone now, you’d find health and wellness and therapy and comedy and interviews and how-to and true crime and all that stuff… so it came out of just a good old-fashioned spirit of ‘can we get together, be creative, improvise with friends and do something funny?’”
Audacity/Joel Barhamand
When choosing a specific podcast topic, Poehler knew she wanted something “fun and juicy.” “This particular world of therapy, especially couples therapy, is a really fun subject to improvise because you have your person in charge, your character, your therapist. In this case, it is Dr? with a question mark, Sheila, who is here to give unqualified advice. And then you have two performers coming in with a problem or a story or ways they can communicate. So the structure itself is so much fun.”
Cackowski was excited when he was asked to be the executive producer of the podcast. “Amy and I have been friends since the early 2000s. We met in SNL and we both come from a Chicago Improv background,” the 45-year-old comedy writer and actress tells PEOPLE. “I just really love working with her because I work with a good friend and we make each other laugh … so her idea to get on podcasts and do parodies together really fired me up.”
Poehler says that “the coolest thing about podcasting is that it’s a really intimate medium.” “You often feel like the person is talking to you and it feels very personal,” he said Mean girls adds the actress. “So I think it’s a really fun landscape and it expands your options and your ability to be funny.”
He is also quick to point out that while playing Dr. Sheila was “really fun”, the character is a “comic version” of the doctor. “Unfortunately, as much as I’d like to think I’m a licensed therapist, I’m deeply not,” says Poehler.
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“Audacy/Joel Barhamand.”
In the podcast, Poehler gets to improvise alongside guest stars including Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey and Ike Barinholtz. “It’s just the best because they’re such professionals,” he said Parks and recreation says the star. “I mean, Liz and I are so happy. We consider ourselves friends with the funniest people. It’s a dream to work with all our friends… because we worked with such talent, everything was super fun and easy.” Cackowski adds, “It really felt like little mini-reunions every time we got together with people.”
Poehler hopes the podcast will bring laughter and enjoyment to those who listen to it. “I feel like there’s so much real-time processing of the world and its difficult events, and there’s so much room and space and need for a good hard laugh,” the actress says. “We’re hoping it becomes part of people’s day, that they want to check in and see who showed up and what everyone’s talking about. And maybe from time to time, by sheer luck, Dr? Sheila says something that suits them.”
Say more with Dr. Sheila it’s available Thursday on the Audacy app and wherever podcasts are available.
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Source: HIS Education