Legendary humor periodical The Wall Street Journal has a marvelous interview with Amy Poehler's mom and dad. First, here's a sweet quote from Amy about her highly-functional upbringing.

"I'm very lucky to have parents who never pressured me or gave me any sense that I wasn't living up to some dream that they had for me," Amy says. "It's important when you're young and trying to figure out what to do—I think they just didn't force me to, I don't know, grow up."

And here are some choice quotes from Eileen and Bill Poehler.

BILL: After she graduated, she's in our kitchen and we say, "So, what do you think you're going to do?" And she says, "I think I'm going to continue with the acting thing."

EILEEN: Not an actress. She's going to be an improv comedienne.

BILL: Improv. And Eileen and I, at that moment, we say, "Oh, that's great. Do whatever makes you happy, honey." We walk into the other room, look at each other, and say, "Oh my God! We just spent all that money and now she's going to be an actress?"

And we were worried about how hard it would be to go into comedy and make a career out of it.

But make a career she did. They go on to say that what makes them happiest is visiting the set of Parks and Rec and hearing how kind Amy is to everyone. Aaak! These Poehlers are completely enchanting, and the article makes a nice case that sometimes, once in a great while, comedy comes not from pain but from confidence and love.