The “Parks and Recreation” star said that she doesn’t enjoy working with animal actors: “I don’t like them. It’s too stressful for me.”

Amy Poehler had scary incident with chimpanzee on SNL: ‘I started screaming’

The "Parks and Recreation" star said that she doesn't enjoy working with animal actors: "I don't like them. It's too stressful for me."

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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on November 18, 2025 8:15 p.m. ET

Amy Poehler as Sharon Stone on 'SNL'. Credit:

Saturday Night Live/YouTube

- Amy Poehler said that a chimpanzee actor grabbed her backstage between *SNL* sketches in 2005.

- The comedian added, "I started screaming."

- Jason Bateman previously said that he was attacked by the same chimp during the same ep of *SNL*.

Amy Poehler is recalling a bananas experience she had backstage on *SNL*.

The *Parks and Recreation* star detailed a frightening experience she had with a chimp named Mikey while working on *Saturday Night Live* during an episode of her podcast *Good Hang*.

"One time I was doing a sketch where I think Jason Bateman was the host and there was a monkey in the sketch," she said, describing Mikey as "formidable" and noting her distaste for working with animal actors. "I don't like them. It's too stressful for me. And it was a young chimpanzee."

Poehler said that Mikey made unwanted contact with her in between sketches. "I walked past the chimpanzee and it reached out and grabbed me by the wrist and wouldn't let go in the middle of a quick change," she said. "I think it was the blonde hair or my vibe. And I started screaming. And chimpanzees are very strong."

She added, "I couldn't get it to let go of me," but said that eventually "it was all fine."

Amy Poehler in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 1, 2025.

Alberto Rodriguez/Variety via Getty

Poehler briefly appeared in the 2005 sketch "Monkeys Throwing Poop at Celebrities," which revolved around an eccentric TV host (Bateman) tricking Sean Connery (Darrell Hammond) into sitting for an interview that ends with a chimp flinging poo at him. Poehler appeared as Sharon Stone in the final moments of the sketch teasing future guests on the prank show.

Poehler was not the only performer who Mikey accosted during his brief tenure at Studio 8H. Bateman discussed a similarly troubling experience with the simian performer during his monologue when he returned to host *SNL* in 2020.

"Things were so loose that at the end of the show, at goodnights, the monkey was allowed to take a bow with us up here," the *Arrested Development* star said. "We're all hugging, we're saying goodnight, the credits are rolling, and then the monkey tried to kill me. Truly, I bent down to say, 'Good job' to the monkey. You know, bein' nice. I'm a nice fella. But not the chimp. The chimp unhinges his jaw, he flashes the teeth, and he tries to bite my entire nose off."

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Bateman tried to explain Mikey's behavior. "Apparently this is a thing with chimps, I guess," he said. "They hate that humans have faces, and they wanna remove them. I don't know. Maybe he got a good look at this nose and thought I wasn't gonna miss half of it."

The 2020 episode also showed slowed-down footage from the 2005 incident, in which Bateman leans down to Mikey for a kiss — and the ape wraps his teeth around the actor's lips.

"I survived, and after the show, I was told by the animal handlers that Mikey, the monkey, wanted to apologize, truly," Bateman recalled during his monologue. "My first thought was that this is a trap, he wants more, he's still snacky. But I decided that everyone deserves a second chance."

Jason Bateman and Mikey the Chimp on 'Saturday Night Live'.

Saturday Night Live/YouTube

Bateman said that he visited Mikey in his dressing room after the show ended. "He's looking very ashamed of himself, and honest to God, he shuffles over to me, puts his hand up on my shoulder, as if to say, 'I'm sorry,'" he said. "It was a very, very beautiful moment. It was a connection between man and nature that I will never, ever, ever forget."

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The host then joked, "The monkey was destroyed later that night. It was my choice. Lessons have to be learned. But I would like to think that if he was here with us tonight to see me host 15 years later, he would probably rip my nuts off."

Listen to Poehler's full *Good Hang* episode above.

- Saturday Night Live

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