For comedy fans of a certain age and taste, first encountering Late Night With Conan O’Brien was something close to a religious experience. The show was filled with surreal and often nonsensical characters that, decades later, still feel like nothing else on television: the Masturbating Bear, the FedEx Pope, Preparation H Raymond, Vomiting Kermit, the revered Triumph the Insult Comic Dog—it’s a long list.
One of the most iconic '90s sketches featured Stacy, the Conan-obsessed younger sister of Late Night sidekick Andy Richter. She was played by soon-to-be comedy giant Amy Poehler, a co-founder of the improv and sketch group Upright Citizens Brigade and the future star of both Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation. And every one of her many appearances, starting with the first in 1997, became a hall-of-famer, as Poehler transformed into the very embodiment of hormonal, early-teen awkwardness, oscillating between shy glances at her crush and unrestrained aggression toward her teasing older sibling.
In a recent installment of his Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, the host praised Poehler’s performance, particularly one appearance that showcases how "fearless" she was—and remains—as a physical comedian.
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"The running joke was you have a crush on me, and I’m always trying to politely explain that I’m [too old for you]," O’Brien says in the clip. "Then you think Andy’s getting in the way, and you attack Andy. You would give these great speeches. … If the joke called for you, as Andy’s little sister, to go charging down the aisle and leap and hit him so that he falls over, [you would]."
The podcast includes a segment from one classic sketch, cutting straight to the climax, with Stacy fed up with Richter’s ridicule. "Alright, you know what?" she says from the audience. "It’s judgment day, bitch!" She then races to the stage and tackles a seated Richter, who pleads at the last second: "Stacy, don’t do this!" She then hops onto O’Brien’s back, pleading, "I love you" as he flails around. Reflecting on that scene, O’Brien calls the reaction "one of the biggest laughs I’ve heard in-studio."
Poehler admits that it was a "good jump" and praises early Late Night writer Brian Stack for his work on the sketch. O’Brien adds, "We would give you a script that was like, 'Eh, that’s a solid B,' and you would take it to an A++++++. It was insanity, and I never took that for granted. Now I look back on it, and I’m like, 'I got to have Amy Poehler do bits on my show?'"
Her physical-comedy genius brings O’Brien to another point: that, historically, women haven’t always been empowered to make those kinds of choices. "I hope it’s not still the case," he says, "but, long ago, there used to be a sense that women don’t… [that] 'you’ve gotta be ladylike.' I remember my mom being a little bit that way. If I’m being completely inappropriate, it’s funny. If one of my sisters was doing it, it was, 'Now, hold on.' It was a thing. She came from a very traditional Irish Catholic background where 'you’ve gotta be a lady.'"
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Poehler says that, growing up, her dad "instilled a lot of confidence and almost a hustle that didn’t feel very gendered at the time." She continues, "Both of my parents were very funny, and there was a lot of encouragement to speak my mind, to kind of be a little bit of a challenger."
In a 2021Washington Post retrospective rounding up some of O’Brien’s best TV moments, Stack picked this sketch—the first he ever wrote at Late Night—as his favorite memory.
"Amy took my very simple idea about a 13-year old girl with pigtails and braces having an unrequited crush on Conan and knocked it totally out of the park with her hilarious performance, running the gamut from adorable bashfulness to volcanic, homicidal rage," he said. "I’d known Amy back in our Chicago improv days, and I’ve always been in awe of her incredible talent, but seeing her, Conan, and Andy [Richter] have so much fun in that sketch is an especially wonderful memory for me and I’ll never forget it."
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A family makes heart shapes with their hands at sunset
Ketel Marte was brought to tears during an MLB game after facing a shameful fan taunt.
Baseball manager's poignant support for a player brought to tears after shameful fan taunt
Whether they’re expecting perfection from their favorite players or, worse, behaving callously toward opposing teams, sports fans often forget that athletes are human beings. But athletic competition has the ability to unify and uplift, even amid such painful and unpleasant encounters. Take, for example, a major-league baseball game held June 24, 2025 between the home team Chicago White Sox and visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
A shameful low point occurred when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was at bat in the seventh inning. Per ESPN, a fan reportedly yelled out a comment regarding Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic. Team personnel, including manager Torey Lovullo, then requested the 22-year-old fan be ejected. (Though he was remorseful and admitted his actions were inappropriate, according to an ESPN source, he was nonetheless banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.) "We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan," the MLB said in a statement. Marte reportedly declined to comment.
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While the fan’s behavior is inexcusable, it did spark a powerful and inspiring moment. After hearing the comment, Marte was visibly upset, prompting Lovullo to walk on the field, put his arm around him, and offer some words of encouragement. "[I said,] 'I love you, and I’m with you, and we’re all together, and you’re not alone,'" Lovullo said in a post-game interview, as documented by The Rich Eisen Show. "'No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you’re heard, that guy is an idiot.’"
According to Arizona Republic, Lovullo heard the fan’s comment but didn’t want to repeat it. “I looked right at [Marte] when I heard,” he said. “I looked right at him, and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure."
Elsewhere in the post-game interview, the manager called the moment "terrible" and reflected on why he stood up for Marte. "Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes," he said. "I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them…I’ve known Ketel for nine years. He’s had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life. I know those. At the end of the day, we’re human beings, and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him."
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The following day, the Chicago White Sox X account sent out a message in support of Marte, writing, "We’re with you" and "Baseball is family." On The Rich Eisen Show, the show's host addressed the need to eradicate this kind of toxic athlete-fan interaction: "I was hearing [people saying], 'There’s no place for this in major league baseball.' There isn’t. There’s no place for this in our society. I understand that people are saying the MLB has got to do something about this. Fans have a right to heckle players—this is something that has happened forever…But there is a line."
In another recent, depressing sports moment with a beautiful coda, let’s look to Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first quarter, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon—a devastating injury that could potentially sideline him for most of the 2025-2026 season. Following the game, in a lovely display of sportsmanship, Thunder point-guard and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the Pacers locker room to check on his competitor. In a press conference, he said, "You just hate to see it, in sports in general. But in this moment, my heart dropped for him. I can't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate."
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