Amy Poehler is rubbish at an Aussie accent, or so she says

SHE’S got the best jokes in the biz, her Hillary Clinton impression is flawless and she can breakdance like a boss. But ask Amy Poehler for an Aussie accent and she’ll come unstuck.

HERE’S what we know about Amy Poehler — she’s got the best jokes in the biz, she can work a room full of celebs in her sleep, her Hillary Clinton impression is flawless and she can breakdance like a boss.

And yet, ask the queen of comedy for her best Aussie accent, and she’ll flat out refuse.

News.com.au sat down with the hilarious movie star for eight glorious minutes. While those eight minutes were mostly focused on her new Pixar-Disney animation Inside Out, a few cheeky requests did slip through the cracks.

Alas, humouring us with some sub par homegrown slang was not on the cards. Why? Because she can’t, allegedly. (Scroll to 6.25 to hear her excuse)

“Here’s what I know at 43. I know what I can do well, and I like doing things that I can do well,” she explained. “And an Australian accent is not one of them. It’s a very specific accent and I would never insult the good, wonderful Australian people who have taken such good care of me by attempting.”

Apparently the only thing worse than a bad Aussie accent, is a bad Boston attempt (where Poehler grew up). “Everyone thinks they can do a Boston accent and there is nothing worse than a bad Boston accent, it is like nails on a chalkboard.”

The Parks and Rec star assured us that she’d only need a day to practice our unique ocker sound and then she’d “nail it.” We plan on holding her to that one.

Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling star in Inside Out.

Among the other gems the delightful mother-of-two revealed was that fans can expect another piece of written genius from her very soon. But it won’t be anything like Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please.

“I would like to write another book, I’m interested in dabbling with writing some more fiction,” she said. “I like writing for television and film, so I would like to do more of that. But fiction would probably be the thing I would do next. Memoir is like a very weird, specific muscle that you have to work that can be exhausting.”

As for her priceless Golden Globes gags and the ones that get left behind along the way, well, she’s already forgotten all about them.

“We go through so many jokes to get the ones that we like, and we’ve worked at SNL so we’re not very precious about our stuff and cutting our stuff.

“It’s like I drag them all to trash in my mind, like a laptop, and I wouldn’t even actually want to open that file.”

Partners in crime Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have nailed their Golden Globes hosting gigs for three consecutive years.

In Inside Out, Poehler voices the ever-optimistic, upbeat character of Joy, starring alongside comic big dogs Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling.

The long-awaited kids’ film from Pixar, directed by Pete Docter, is already being praised as the studio’s best animation since Toy Story and an incredibly ambitious undertaking, set inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl, Riley.

Poehler says voicing Joy, one of Riley’s emotions, has been one of her most rewarding roles to date.

“She reminds me a lot of me and a lot of my friends at that age and it’s set at this wonderful time, that magic time, that happens right before puberty ... whether you’re a young boy or a young girl, you kind of believe you can do so many things and the whole world is ahead of you and you’re just starting to say goodbye to childhood,” she said.

“As a parent, I love the message that our children are not going to be happy all the time, and that’s OK.”

Rocking her recently dyed flame-coloured locks, Poehler hit the red carpet for the Sydney premiere of Inside Out on Monday night.

Here’s hoping the throng of diehard fans shouting “We love you, Amy!” might be enough to get her back in Australia to practice that accent very soon.

Inside Out opens in Australia on June 18, rated PG.

Riley’s emotions: Anger, voiced by Lewis Black, Disgust, voiced by Mindy Kaling, Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, Fear, voiced by Bill Hader, and Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith.

Originally published as Amy Poehler is rubbish at an Aussie accent, or so she says