Tina Fey and Amy Poehler met 15 years ago when they were put in the same group while taking a comedy class at Chicago's famed Improv on Olympic.

"The group was called 'Inside Vladimir,' the name of a gay porn movie," Poehler says. "And we met, shook hands and said, "I'll see you in 15 years in Hollywood."

"We also agreed that we wouldn't make any money for 10 years while all the people we graduated with would start families and own homes,"

Fey adds. "Now, five years later, we can stuff it in their faces."

"Yeah," Poehler says, "we're on the 'Stuff Our (Stuff) In Your Faces Tour.' And it's not been selling well."

Actually, Poehler and Fey are touring to sell their big-screen comedy "Baby Mama." And the preceding exchange is fairly typical of how the two women … fast friends who have collaborated before on "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live" and "Mean Girls" … play off each other in conversation. Their timing is impeccable and their regard for each other shines through.

"There's a deep affection between the two of them," says "SNL" producer Lorne Michaels. "Right now, they're both at the top of their games."

"Baby Mama" has Fey playing a smart career woman who hires Poehler's white-trash slob to be a surrogate mother. It's basically an all-girl "Odd Couple" that touches on motherhood, infertility and placenta eating … all topics that Fey, 36, and Poehler, 36, elaborate on here.

LA.COM: There are a lot of babies in this movie …

Poehler: They had two baby wranglers. I got my wrangling license taken away because they showed up and I was wrangling too many babies.

Fey: I wrangle Little Rascals style. I just glue their heads to whatever's nearby.

Poehler: The tiny babies were very professional, I must say. They had really teeny tiny baby trailers. Their demands weren't excessive, either. I need something to eat. I need something to drink.

Fey: Milk and a nap. That's about it.

Poehler: Now their toddler agents, they were annoying.

Fey: Those 3-year-old agents were ball busters. Probably because they all had 2-year-old assistants gunning for their jobs.

Poehler: And then the 8-year-old studio heads would show up and everyone would freak out.

Fey: They did give great notes, though. "This scene needs more cookies." "That character should be called Dr. Pee Pee." We took all those suggestions to heart, obviously.

LA.COM: The movie does offer some useful information like, "It seems crazy not to eat the placenta."

Fey: Don't knock it. There are placenta recipes.

LA.COM: I know. I googled it and there's placenta lasagna …

Poehler: You really have to pick which of those recipes you want to use before you give birth because you're not going to have time right after birth to make four or five of them.

Fey: Can you substitute in those recipes? Maybe use Splenda?

LA.COM: I liked the title of the baby book Tina's reading in the movie: "101 Things That Can Go Wrong With Your Pregnancy."

Fey: Those books … oh my gosh. They make you paranoid.

Poehler: Our mothers' generation was lucky. There's such a thing as information overload.

Fey: I was talking to someone today who had an ultrasound. "We can see the baby. But we can't see the baby's mouth." So for three weeks she thought that maybe her baby wasn't going to have a mouth."

Poehler: That's such a scary thing to hear!

Fey: My advice: Don't look in there yet. Let it cook. You don't want to open the oven 20 times while you're baking a cake.

LA.COM: Pregnancy and childbirth are sensitive topics. There are forums on the Web about why doesn't Tina's character adopt?

Poehler: I'm not sure it's the best forum. When people post there, usually it's not: That sounds great! I can't wait for this movie!

Fey: It's a loaded issue, but it's a real human issue. If you've been through this to some degree, hopefully you find it cathartic. You might find the humor in it. But yeah, if you were brutally attacked at a wedding, don't go see a movie set at a wedding.

Poehler: If your parents died in a spaceship crash, don't go see "Star Wars."

LA.COM: Much is made of the smell of a baby's head …

Poehler: Mmmmmmm …

Fey: There's nothing better than powdery baby head. It'd be nice to have that as a perfume.

Poehler: That's the big thing at clubs right now. Baby head smell. You just carry a little in your pocket and huff it right before the peak of the song.

LA.COM: Tina, your character has a problem with divulging too much information on the first date. What's the proper level of disclosure?

Fey: I don't even think you should tell someone your first name.

Poehler: You should hold up an opera mask and then, at the end of the date, reveal yourself.

Fey: Make them guess the whole time whether you're a man or a woman.

Poehler: I don't like to feel forced to reveal my gender.

Fey: Mystery is good for a relationship. My husband … to this day … believes I have a special condition that prevents me from ever having to go to the bathroom.

Poehler: My husband thinks I'm a millionaire and doesn't know about my horrible gambling problem.

Fey: I call it your awesome gambling problem.

Poehler: Thank you.

LA.COM: There's an Esquire item that reads: "Tina Fey's glasses: restrictive trademark or crucial symbol." Please hold forth.

Fey: That actually sounds like a really bad thesis someone would come up with in a women's studies class.

Poehler: "Why does she need to wear the glasses? Is it because the male gaze is so powerful that she needs something to protect her from it?"

Fey: You don't hear the phrase "the male gaze" too often these days. It's an oldie but a goodie.

Poehler: And that's g-a-z-e.

LA.COM: Director Michael McCullers says when you were bouncing around ideas for the movie, "Cagney & Lacey" kept coming up.

Fey: And it's never going to go away until we make it.

Poehler: It's pure gold. Think about it: Two lady cops. One has a doting husband at home who'd like to see her more, the other a secret alcoholic. They still manage to solve crimes. I mean: Boom. A comedy award and $100 million at the box office.

Fey: God dang it, I love that show.

Poehler: We should make it clear that it's about … James Cagney and Lacey Chabert. It's a weird friendship that needed a time machine to survive. And it grew stronger.

Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672