“So many weird, trippy things about it” — Andy Samberg on what happened next in his mother’s adoption story after Finding Your Roots

Andy Samberg recently disclosed some new information regarding his mother Marjorie's adoption experience on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast on the July 8, 2025, episode. Almost six years since he appeared on Finding Your Roots, where he discovered his biological grandmother's identity, Samberg also revealed that his mother, Marjorie, had found the identity of her biological father.

This discovery prompted Marjorie to find four half-siblings on her dad's side and cousins on her mom's. Interestingly, family members on both sides shared the same picture of her parents on a date in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Marjorie had previously relocated.

During his conversation with Amy Poehler, Samberg reflected on the coincidence.

"There were so many weird, trippy things about it... It was really beautiful, and she was so happy. And now we have like, 'Oh, yeah. We all look like our grandparents,'" he said.

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Andy Samberg on the 2019 episode of Finding Your Roots

In 2019, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Andy Samberg was featured on the Finding Your Roots TV show, where he found out about his biological grandparents. The show is known for finding a celebrity's lineage through DNA fingerprinting and other historical records.

During the 2019 episode, Samberg found the true identity of his maternal grandmother, Ellen, and was shocked at the similarities between her and his mother, Marjorie. For context, Ellen was a child psychologist by profession, while Marjorie was a teacher who was good with children.

"My mom is someone that always everyone describes as like a child whisperer. That she just knows how to deal with kids. She understands kids. It's the thing she was drawn to. To her, inexplicably, I don't know if that's something that you can pass down genetically, but it's certainly a crazy coincidence either way," he said.

He went on to reveal that the information made him feel super dramatic and overwhelmed. Mostly, Andy Samberg was grateful that he could share the information with his mother, especially as it was one of the few things "she ever truly wanted in her life."

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Andy Samberg on being a quarter Sicilian

Andy Samberg on the Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast (Image via YouTube/Good Hang with Amy Poehler)

During the Good Hang with Amy Poehler episode, Andy Samberg spoke about the atmosphere on the Brooklyn Nine-Nine set after he did the episode with Finding Your Roots. He said that all the camera and crew members on set were excited to learn about Samberg's heritage.

"I was shooting Brooklyn Nine-Nine at the time, and all the crew and everyone knew I was doing it. And I came back in on Monday 'cause we did it over the weekend, and all the camera guys and the crew guys were like, 'So?' And I was like, 'I'm a quarter Sicilian!' And they all went 'Ayyy!'" he said.

According to Andy Samberg, the entire sequence of events played out like a part from a movie, which he found to be wonderful. He also reaffirmed that the whole situation was crazier for his mother, who had waited for years to know the details of her heritage, and was almost on the brink of giving up.

He went on to talk about how the photograph being kept by both his grandparents was special and felt like destiny.

"I have a few theories. One is like they thought maybe someday this exact thing would happen, and they wanted her to find them," Samberg revealed.

His other theory was that the couple had enjoyed spending time with each other and had kept the photographs of each other as a reminder of good times. Another fun fact the actor spoke about was that his character from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jake Peralta, was half-Jewish and half-Italian, making the whole situation seem like a prophecy come true.

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