Amy Poehler vs. Amy Sedaris
Battle of the Acid Amys

In the mid-'90s, there was a trendlet in which the North American TV audience was given to believe that some very beautiful women -- former models, in some cases -- were wacky, Lucille Ball-esque comediennes. Perhaps due to the fact that Friends employed three gifted comic actresses who happened also to be stone foxes, some network executives assumed that all it took to make a gorgeous woman funny was a Thursday-night time slot. Yet the sitcoms built around the likes of Brooke Shields, Téa Leoni, and Geena Davis failed in large part because we, the audience, could tell they didn't mean it. Sure, they would occasionally muss their Glamour-worthy lacquer with a pratfall or mudpie to the face or [gasp!] bad hairdo, but it was all so calculated; the point was less whatever comedic situation had caused the beauties to be prone or muddy or poorly coiffed, and more that we be impressed that they were good sports, game to demean themselves -- in quite conventional ways -- for our amusement.

Neither Amy Sedaris nor Amy Poehler is symmetrical or stauesque enough to pose much of a professional threat to Shields or Davis. Also unlike Davis and Shields, Poehler and Sedaris are both very, very funny -- fearlessly so, one could say. In fact, one could say that the comic trademark of both Amys is their total lack of vanity in their pursuit of a laugh.

Before we knew what Amy Sedaris looked like, we read a story her brother David had written about her for Esquire. In it, he described their father's obsession with Amy's appearance, and her plan to play a joke on her father by coming home to visit wearing a padded fat suit, so that he would be horrified at how much weight she'd gained since he saw her last; the suit had exactly the effect she had expected. Even though the story is told from David's point of view, the effect is to portray Amy as a woman who has no problem making herself ugly for the sake of a joke.

The first time we saw Amy Sedaris was when she was playing Jerri Blank on Comedy Central's tragically short-lived Strangers With Candy. Jerri was a middle-aged former crack whore who had decided to return to high school. She had a weird, straggly haircut, snaggle teeth, a nose that looked like it had been broken at least once, and a lot of eye makeup. We had no idea that prosthetics made Jerri look like she'd lived every day twice until we saw the lovely, youthful Sedaris au naturel on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. You could barely tell she had been the person to portray the haggy Jerri -- that is, until she wrapped a piece of Scotch tape around her nose and transformed herself into the belligerent, pig-faced, foul-mouthed Tallulah. Which was hilarious.

Amy Poehler has also made herself ugly on Conan in the name of comedy. Before Andy Richter left the show, Poehler had a recurring role as Stacy, Andy's headgear-wearing kid sister, who had a raging crush on Conan. At the same time, she was a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe; perhaps you saw them on NBC's Late Friday, in a skit in which Poehler played "Drunk Lady" under a gigantic curly wig. Or perhaps you saw her in Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo, in which she played a woman with a raging case of Tourette's Syndrome. Since then, Poehler has joined the cast of Saturday Night Live; while she has played some characters that showcase her as an attractive woman -- characters like Greta Van Susteren and even Barbie -- her most memorable recurring characters are less appealing. First, there's Amber, a one-legged hypoglycemic given to fits of flatulence. Then there's her white-trash wife in the America Undercover skits; she matches Chris Kattan -- who plays her husband -- pratfall for pratfall, lumpily fills out her stretch pants, and is willing to french-kiss a man with a mullet on camera. If that's not comic commitment, I don't know what is.

Both Poehler and Sedaris bring a reckless, manic energy to their funniest roles, relishing any attempt to make themselves as unattractive as possible if it will make them even funnier. Hell, Sedaris is even funny second-hand: we learned this last week, when Sarah Jessica Parker (with whom Sedaris will be guest-starring on Sex and the City this season) appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman; practically the only laughs Parker got were for her impression of Sedaris's chirpy attempts to drive a wedge between Parker and her husband, Matthew Broderick. For her part, Poehler has been a subversive figure on the staid SNL; in a recent Weekend Update segment in which Poehler appeared as herself, she casually shrugged off her intention to buy a Chinese baby if she is unable to conceive. It's almost as though Sedaris and Poehler have spent their professional lives trying to find as many ways as possible to make themselves repellent to the audience; the effect, however, has been quite the opposite.

Advantage: Damn, we really like them both! Okay, Poehler, for Wet Hot American Summer.