Amy Poehler Launches a Hilarious New Web Series About Science

Who would have thought that Amy Poehler’s latest offering to the comedy world would include instructions on making a potato battery? “Experimenting with Megan Amram,” a new web series launched by Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls network, is a hilarious series that spotlights awesome ladies in science while parodying a low-brow talk show aimed at women who care only about sipping pink cocktails and talking makeup.

Amram, the show’s host, is a former Parks and Recreation writer and the author of Science…For Her, a satirical science textbook written in the voice of women’s magazines that acts as the show's spiritual predecessor. Amram is sort of the Stephen Colbert of feminine stereotypes (she cites the late-night satire master as an inspiration for her comedy), poking fun at the world through the lens of the ditziest Harvard grad around. “I love science, but I also love looking good!” Amram gushes in the first few seconds of the video, before laying out the instructions for making a biological potato clock (you know, a potato clock that desperately needs to have a baby immediately). 

Amram interviews real scientists about their work in between experimenting, asking a combination of serious questions—“what is fluid mechanics?”—and not-so-serious questions—“do you have Beyoncé in England?” The first episode discusses the science of the latest World Cup soccer ball, drying your nail polish out a car window, and being a woman working in STEM. 

The second episode comes out August 10 and will feature neuroscience researcher Sara Wasserman. 

[h/t: Popular Science]