She doesn't have the sharp caustic wit of Lauraine Newman

And she'll never ammount to what Gilda Radner was

I'll bet you even money....

Since when is Amy Poehler a "feminist" comedian? Would that make Jon Stewart a "Jewish" comedian? Is Chris Rock only funny to black people? Do you have to be British to get Monty Python? The fact is that none of the great comedians have a hyphen before their name. They are simply COMEDIANS. PERIOD. They all know that nothing is sacred when it comes to humor. The best comedy takes no prisoners. Amy Poehler and the other great FEMALE comedians poke fun at everything including feminists.

Lily Tomlin was a "feminist comedian."

But Amy Pehler is high strung mimic, and a one note gimic.

Most of the writers on SNL are men. Is it possible that one or more of them wrote some of those "feminist" jokes?

I guess I'm just not a Poehler fan. She was definitely one of the hardest working SNL cast members of recent years. But I think Tina Fey was a better "Weekend Update" anchor and Maya Rudolph (before she stopped trying) and especially Kristen Wiig were better all-around performers.

If I wanted to watch somebody oversell lines and laugh through every joke, I'd just watch Jimmy Fallon when he takes over Late Night.

I always preferred Tina Fey.

@Redshooz: I think you missed the point. Poehler didn't say she was a "feminist comedian", she said she was a feminist. A comedian who happens to be a feminist. Just like you can be a singer and a feminist without implying that all your songs are about feminism. You may sing about things other than your social beliefs.

As for your Poehler PS: the answer is: yes, it is possible. Just as it is possible that some of the jokes used by the male comedians in SNL were written by female authors. That's why it's called collaborative work.

I like Fey for her loveable insecurities and Poehler for her bitchy take charge attitude. Poehler was dead on about wanting it to be ok for women to be full of life rather than hollow-eyed anorexic bimbos doing the Emo shuffle and smoking clove cigarettes while pondering where to cut themselves next.

Two entirely different kind of personalities, but both very appealing, as they show women to be strong, competent and equal to men intellectually and still incredibly appealing sexually.

Viva la difference!

Just out of curiosity, why is she only compared to Tina Fey? She's funnier than most of the comedians on the SNL, both male and female, but she, Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig are my favorites, along with Andy Sandberg and Maya Rudolph.

I'll miss her on the show, too, but good for her for having a career beyond SNL.

Please read the line under the headline: (It's called a drop head.) "The hilarious FEMINIST comedian." Once again your criticism is second generation. And, as far as facts go, you know nothing about me or my reading habits. I am a widely published music and literary critic/journalist. But, to be honest, I think we are BOTH much too involved with our computers. LOL! I KNOW I need to get a life. How about you?

I've been watching Amy Poehler since the Upright Citizen's Brigade show. She doesn't bother to get her characters perfectly accurate, but she always gets them funny! She's one of those rare actors who always steals the scene, even in a bit part. She is one of the most brilliant comedians in television history.

...especially the wretched Tina Fey years when the show was not only unfunny but insultingly unfunny.

But I must admit the last couple of seasons have shown great improvements. Though Poehler's impersonation of Hillary Clinton wasn't so great, her timing has been impeccable most of the time and she's done some very funny sketches.

And that goes double for Andy Samberg.

"I Have Been a Savage Critic of the Modern Incarnation of SNL..."

Dude, every one says "SNL was way better ...." 4 years ago. No matter what year they are in.

Oh really? Ok, let me break it down for you.

Saturday Night Live has had two major and one minor hey-days. The first major is obvious, the original cast, '75 - '80. The minor hey-day was '81 - '84, the years when Robin Duke, Christine Ebersol, Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscipo and Tim Kazurinsky were strutting their stuff, as well as the "ringer" year of '84/'85 when Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, etc., etc. were doing their thing.

Then came the return of Lorne, and the disastrous year '85/'86. But there were signs of better things to come. Jon Lovitz joined the cast that year, and enlivened every sketch he was in.

Then came the second great, glorious hey-days of '86 - '93. Seven years of almost unbelievably brilliant comedy, week-in and week-out. Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks, Julia Sweeney, Mike Meyers, Jon Lovitz, Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, Nora Dunn, Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Dennis Miller, David Spade and Tim Meadows. Wow, just WOW.

You want to know how to tell when SNL is getting good again? When the old guys come back. When people like Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Paul Simon and Eliot Gould come back to host the show. Now I haven't been a regular viewer of SNL for about, oh, eight years, but I'd be willing to bet that almost none of those folks have hosted the show in that time.

Traister quoted some of Poehler's so-called "zingers" from Weekend Update as proof of how good she is, and in point of fact I think Amy Poehler is good - up to a point. But then lets compare those zingers to these:

"The world's oldest profession is celebrating its anniversary this year, and the US Postal Service has printed a commemorative stamp. The cost is five cents, but if you want to lick it, it's a quarter."

"This addition of Weekend Upate is brought to you by PussyWhip, the first dessert topping for cats."

"Why does Puerot Rico need to be made a steak?"

"When asked how she and the president [Ford] practice birth control, the First Lady responded that every night before bed she gives the president a stick of chewing gum."

"Look, don't worry about it. No one could see you, and even if they could they just thought you were resting your head."

"I'm Al Franken, and this [holds up box of Frankenberries cereal] is my name, and this [pointing to cleft in Frankenberries's forehead] is my tush."

As you can see, there's no comparison. And I'm not even remembering the great stuff Dennis Miller often did with Weekend Update in the 80s and early 90s.

No, SNL has a looooooong way to go before it reaches those heights again. But please argue with me, because I have a VERY good memory of the various sketches and historic moments from the show's past.