Amy Poehler Announces She Is Leaving Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live cast member Amy Poehler is expected to take maternity leave from the cult late night show in November for the birth of her first child.

But in an interview with Men's Vogue she also dropped a bombshell - she will be leaving the show and not returning after her leave.

The announcement, coming on the heels of her appearance with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Poehler as Hilary Clinton, is sure to leave a vacuum in the ensemble cast.

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"It's going to be really hard to say goodbye to yesterday," she told the magazine. "Saturday Night Live was dangerous, late-night, last-minute and star-studded, but like any good drug, you need to know when to put it down."

Poehler is leaving to pursue her other growing television and movie projects, starting with the animated comedy "The Mighty B". Picked up for 20 episodes, Poehler stars as the voice of Bessie Higgenbottom, the world's most ambitious and lovably unhinged 10-year-old "Honeybee" scout.

She also has a currently untitled television project in development with Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, and has just completed the direct to video movie "Spring Breakdown", due next month and starring Poehler and fellow SNL alumni Rachel Dratch, about three women who vacation together at a popular travel destination for college co-eds on spring break.

Poehler is also voicing the character of Gretel in the animated comedy "Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil", due in 2010 and starring Hayden Panettiere as Red Riding Hood, Patrick Warburton as the wolf, Bill Hader as Hansel, Brad Garrett as the Giant, Joan Cusack as the Witch and Glenn Close as Granny.

"Hoodwinked 2" tells the story of Red Riding Hood, who is training with the group of Sister Hoods, when her and the Wolf get called over to investigate the sudden, and mysterious disappearance of Hansel and Gretel.

It has also been announced that Poehler will star with Isla Fisher in the comedy "Groupies", a comedy set in the world of rock 'n' roll groupies. Filming has not yet started and no release date has been announced.

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