Amy Poehler has emerged as a powerful arbiter of sophisticated comedy, thanks to Broad City and Russian Doll

The Hollywood Reporter

Poehler has essentially become the "Judd Apatow" for female comedy with her Paper Kite production company, which is exclusively staffed by women. Broad City, which Poehler produced, and Russian Doll, which she co-created with Leslye Headland and Natasha Lyonne, push "the boundaries of female representations in popular entertainment. The characters are complicated, raunchy and at times self-defeating, but never apologetic," according to The Hollywood Reporter's profile of Poehler. Still, in producing these shows, Poehler had to redefine her own ideas of what feminism should be. "They'd be doing a scene where they would be cleaning an apartment in their underwear. And I'd be like, 'You know you guys don't have to be in your underwear.' And they'd be like, 'We wrote this,'" Poehler laughs, referring to Broad City. "My generation was like, 'Wear baggy clothes when you improvise, be one of the guys, don't use your sexuality.' And women younger than me are like, 'Uh, my sexuality is my own, I can use it however I want. It's one of the many things about me. And I'm in control of it.' And it's like, right, right, right, right, right."