Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | News | September 2, 2025
Judge Judy Sheindlin was on Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang, this morning. Yeah, I was a little baffled by it, too. But Poehler and Judge Judy are legit friends. They met on Kelly Ripa’s talk show, hit it off, and then Poehler asked if she could introduce Judge Judy’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys. After that, they started hanging out. Who knew? I did appreciate, though, that as friendly as they are, at the end of the hour Judy was like, “Yeah. I’m done here. I gotta go.”
They had a nice conversation about Judge Judy’s career, her being a role model for other women, especially back when women’s job choices were basically limited to nurse or teacher, and about her friendship with Samuel L. Jackson. Sam Jackson and Judge Judy? Apparently! He doesn’t like bullsh*t, which makes Judy his kind of friend. “We get each other,” Judy told Poehler. “He has a wonderful wife, LaTanya.”
They also talked about A.I. and South Park. Someone used A.I. to create a Baby Judge Judy character, and instead of being furious, Judy wants to make it her own. “What I would like to do, on my next adventure, that I would like you to play with me at doing,” Judy said to Poehler. “I want to steal Baby Judge Judy back from A.I. And I want to take Baby Judge Judy — I haven’t shut him down yet — and I want to get more people involved with this character.
“And then I want to take this character,” she continued, “and create a South Park-y show, so I can Judge Judy kvetch through this character. Baby Judge Judy would be a whole lot of fun. But you need the right writer,” she said. And that writer, she insisted, should be Amy Poehler.
Poehler didn’t immediately pick up on the pitch, which is insane, because it would obviously be a huge hit, but instead used it to admire how Judy is always chasing her next adventure. That led Amy to talk about how great Judy looks, which reminded Judy of advice she once gave to businesswomen at a Forbes conference: “Wear sleeveless as long as you can. That’s my best advice. But you have to know when to stop wearing sleeveless … and I don’t care how much you weight train. Life catches up with you. I can’t wear sleeveless anymore. That’s why animation is so perfect! Because you still have a voice you’re creating through a fun character.”
Judy is clearly pushing that show idea, and from the context, it’s not the first time she’s pitched it to Poehler either. I don’t know what Amy Poehler is waiting for. That’s straight-up television gold. I once investigated Judge Judy’s ratings, wondering how she was worth $47 million a year. Turns out 9 million viewers watched her every day. Nine million! South Park hit its biggest ratings in seven years last month, and that was only 6 million global viewers. Baby Judge Judy would be like printing money.What are you waiting for, Poehler?
