Two months ago, Amy Poehler had a baby on a Saturday instead of going in to work at Saturday Night Live. We all thought that was the end of our love affair with Amy on the Saturday night sketch show, as she’d said she was going to quit after the baby was born. But we all got a happy surprise last week when the show was opened by Amy as Hillary Clinton. Even better, this week, we got a double dose of deja vu when Maya Rudolph joined Amy for an encore of Bronx Beat and in what was a final Weekend Update with Seth and Amy.

At the end of Weekend Update, which featured an interview with Fred Armisen as New York Governor David Paterson, Amy began a heartfelt, and very near tearful, announcement that it was her last show and express her gratitude for the “dream come true” that being on Saturday Night Live has been for her. Never a show to linger on the sentimental, however, a blind and somewhat confused “Governor Paterson” wandered into the shot just as it looked like Amy might start crying. It threw Poehler into a fit of laughter and made the rest of the thank you and goodbye bearable, both for us and for Amy.

Seth Meyer got to hug Amy goodbye at the end of Weekend Update, and I was jealous because I just wanted to hug her goodbye, too. For the first couple years Poehler was on the show, she wasn’t my favorite, but that had changed dramatically after she started co-anchoring Weekend Update with Tina Fey after Jimmy Fallon left. I loved Amy and Tina together, and Amy’s sketches started growing on me, too. I could watch Amy as Kaitlin or impersonating Sharon Osbourne all night.

Amy will be back sometime in 2009 with a new sitcom on NBC. At first it was reported to be a spin-off of The Office, but that has since been denied. Whatever it is, I hope it works out as well for her as 30 Rock has for Tina Fey. I wouldn’t miss it.

Note by Celebitchy: Here are the videos, which again are only available to US visitors. There’s a video with commentary of Amy’s departure that is available outside the US on YouTube.