Amy Poehler has reflected on her time at Saturday Night Live, admitting that with hindsight, some of the sketches aired on the show were offensive and “inappropriate”.

The actor and comedian was an SNL cast member between 2001 and 2008, and addressed some of the past material aired on the show while speaking to former co-star Will Forte on her Good Hang podcast.

Forte kicked off the conversation by saying that when he looks back, it becomes clear it was “all about getting a laugh”, no matter what. The Parks and Recreation star agreed, adding: “The part about getting older and being in comedy is you have to figure out: Everything has an expiration date.”

Poehler went on to discuss the “In Memoriam” segment that Tom Hanks hosted during the show’s 50th anniversary special back in February, which highlighted some problematic moments that Hanks said “aged horribly”.

Poehler was seen in the montage in a 2004 sketch that saw Ben Affleck berate a character played by Fred Armisen. The character appears to be disabled, and as Affleck shouts at him, she walks in and remarks: “ Oh my god, Ben Affleck just yelled at that mentally challenged guy!”

Addressing the “In Memoriam” segment, Poehler continued: “[It] which was like, ‘Here’s all the ways we got things wrong. And they showed way inappropriate casting for people. We all played people that we should not have played.

“I misappropriated. I appropriated. I didn’t know. I did know,” she continued. “It’s very real, and the best thing you can do is make repairs, learn from your mistakes, do better – it’s all you can do.”

Her comments follow the fallout from a controversial SNL sketch that saw Sarah Sherman play a version of Aimee Lou Wood’s White Lotus character, Chelsea. It revolved around a scenario that included James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump, Chloe Fineman’s Melania Trump, Mikey Day’s Donald Trump Jr. and Jon Hamm’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Hamm’s RFK was dressed as Walton Goggins’ Rick from The White Lotus – Chelsea’s boyfriend in the show – and said: “I’ve been having these insane ideas, like what if we took all the fluoride out of the drinking water? What would that do to people’s teeth?”

The camera cut to Sherman’s Chelsea, who was sporting exaggerated false teeth. She replied: “Fluoride? What’s that?”, prompting Wood to describe the sketch as “mean and unfunny”.

The actor later confirmed that she had received a rare apology from the show, and told fans Sherman personally sent her a bouquet of flowers.

Bowen Yang said her response was “completely valid” and also echoed Poehler’s comments about SNL’s more controversial jokes.

He went on to say that the experience prompted him to reflect that “parody can go too far sometimes”, adding: “We, as comedians, can take account for that instead of banging our foot and saying that we should be able to say whatever we want. That’s just culture, it’s not PC or woke culture, it’s just culture.”