Jenny Slate: Author, Actor, Standup, Story + Rain Cover Star

The Stories — "I dyed the bottom of it Manic Panic raspberry-red. I had a belly button pierce. I wore a lot of midriffs. I was a kind of Jewish Shakira, trying to have some influence from Erykah Badu or something, but I was not cool in that way at all.” “I really wanted to be in that movie. I just love Sofia Coppola so much. At the time I didn't have a child. I didn't know much about mothering, and because the writing was so good, I think I knew what to do.” “I want Ida to know that the world is a field of relations. It's cause and effect. Things don't come from nowhere. People don't come from nowhere. Everybody has a heart. It means that she has the ultimate safety in me and in Ben, my husband.”

The Backstory — “When I started doing improv and excelled, it was like realizing that you could run really fast or something.” “[SNL] was a necessary opportunity for me to take. I saw a lot in myself that I didn't expect to see. Though challenging, it completely pointed me in the direction of my own natural success.”

Wisdom Rains — "Every time we love a piece of art, that's our achievement. The original creation is the achievement of the artist and the people who may have helped them, or made them feel encouraged or inspired… the beauty and offerings of their world at that time.”

On Inspo — "When something is ready to be expressed outside of my personal life, there tends to be no hesitation in terms of either putting it in standup or putting it on the page.”

On playing the best friend in both It Ends With Us and Dying for Sex —  “Other than me playing them, I think it's totally two different pieces of work, two different writers… totally different. I'm often cast as people who are 'the funny person,' but in Dying for Sex, what was offered to me was such an incredible combination of character traits.”

On Dying for Sex — “It was a real moment in understanding my own self-defined legitimacy… backed up by Liz Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock writing it. They're so incredible. I thought, Michelle wants me to be here, and she sees me. She's not like seeing hope for what I will be. She's watching my work. She's connecting with me. We're glad we're here. It felt so good. I felt really enrobed in my character.”

On her latest book, Lifeform — “I'd found it really hard to write anything that felt like it could breathe and progress. I found it hard to say something interesting, and that wasn't just me having a tiny little shit fit. That's cruel to say about myself, I know, but sometimes it's just that way. Then, in the summer of 2023, my daughter was two-and-a-half, and I could suddenly just catch a wave.”

What Else — “I really want to write another kid's book, not a Marcel book, but another picture book. And I'm writing a screenplay right now. I would also like to write a theater piece for myself. There's always a lot that I'm trying to do all at once, in small doses, and then something will overtake everything else.” At The Sea, an upcoming film with Amy Adams.

Obsixed —  A collection of Jenny Slate’s current lifestyle obsessions.

Discover more + Shop the podcast:

Dying For Sex on Hulu

It Ends With Us on Netflix

Lifeform by Jenny Slate 

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate

About The House by Ron Slate + Jenny Slate