Amy Poehler Surprises Will Arnett on ‘SmartLess’ Podcast, Dives Into Co-Parenting Their Kids After Divorce

Will Arnett, Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman’s “SmartLess” podcast celebrated its 250th episode Monday with a surprise guest appearance – from Arnett’s ex-wife, Amy Poehler.

Poehler, who recently launched her own “Good Hang” podcast, worked with Hayes to keep her appearance on “SmartLess” a secret from both Arnett and Bateman. “It was really easy to hide it. Nobody was asking,” she said. Apparently, only her and Arnett’s youngest son, Abel, figured it out beforehand. “Our youngest saw my schedule on the kitchen table and said, ‘You’re doing ‘SmartLess’? Does Dad know?'” she revealed. “I said, ‘No! Don’t say anything!'”

Throughout the episode, Arnett and Poehler, who married in 2003 before splitting up in 2012 and finalizing their divorce in 2016, discussed what it has been like to co-parent their two sons, Abel and Archie, after separating. “Parenting is a constant, ever-changing thing, right? Somebody said this to me once that I always loved, which was [that] parenting is like a series of short stories,” Poehler said. 

“A short story starts and you think, ‘I don’t know how this story is going to go. I don’t know the characters. I don’t even know what’s going to happen.’ And then you’re in the middle of the short story and you think, ‘Man I never want this to end,'” the “Saturday Night Live” alum continued. “Then the short story is over and you think, ‘Oh no, there’s no way the next one could be better.’ It’s just like a series of your kid changing so much and the world changing so much and you have to stay kind of flexible, pliable and learn from your mistakes.”

You can listen to the full “SmartLess” episode below.

In response to Poehler, Arnett heaped praise on his former spouse for her parenting skills. “I have to try really hard. Amy, you’re really good at this and you help me do this in in concert with you,” Arnett said. “To actually sit and listen to what your kid is trying to say to you, you know what I mean? Encourage them to, as much as they can, speak and to really hear [them]. I don’t come by [that] naturally because that’s not how I was raised.”

After Poehler left, Arnett took the opportunity to speak more about how much he values still having her as a kind of partner even after their divorce. “I’m very proud of, certainly as parents, what we’ve been able to do,” he explained. “I’m really, really lucky to have her as a partner in this way, for us to parent in this way. There aren’t many people I speak to more than I speak to her, which is weird, because… you know what I mean? But it’s great. I feel really lucky.”

Earlier in the episode, Poehler joked about why she waited so long to appear on “SmartLess.” “Well, I wanted to wait until you had done 250 episodes to see if this thing was real,” the comedian, actress, writer and podcast host remarked. “I usually give something five years until I try it.”

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