I think my friends would say I'm pretty goal-focused but whimsical.
— Jenny Slate
I couldn't wait to be an adult woman, and I'm glad I felt that way as a kid because, when I grew up, I realised I live in a world where the female form is really disrespected, and society is often trying to wrestle the female form into a shape that looks more like a young boy.
You are not waiting for your life to start. It's going on right now.
My baseline function is I'm usually really happy and optimistic. I think I really genuinely like being alive, and I've got a spring in my step - that's what I've been like all my life.
I would go so far as to say I would not have the life that I have right now if it wasn't for Gabe Liedman. He is the first person I met in my adulthood that I felt was truly delighted by me and understood me and also was curious about me.
There's not one type of stand-up, just like there's not one type of woman.
'Obvious Child,' the short, had a nice life online and a great festival run, but the short and the feature still stand apart from everything else I've done. I play a woman who you might meet in life. My other work is much more heightened.
I think I was aware when I started doing stand-up, especially on my own, that, yeah, I'm getting up on stage, and I'm a woman, and I dress in a sort of typically feminine fashion.
I'm usually a fairly harsh critic. It depends. I tend to really not watch my work, because I just feel uncomfortable, and I can be highly critical.
I have things I say over and over again, for sure, but I've never wanted to make an album or really go on the road. I don't want any traction. I just want to be able to express myself and to feel love.
I like any film where the female characters are complex and have a functioning imperfection.
I was a teenager in '95, so I didn't dress like a woman then. I was really small. I remember wishing I wasn't wearing Gap Kids.
Back at high school, there was this quarterback who asks me out. He's never paid attention to me before, but now we're on this date, going to see the 'Sixth Sense.' And right before the climax, he leans in - and I'm so excited, because I think we're going to French-kiss - and then he tells me the twist. He completely ruins the movie for me.
I think of my gender as a part of my complex humanity.
I want to write a studio movie, but probably one that's for me to be in.
I tend to be a bit of a workaholic, but I also can't function without some sort of domesticity as well.
I guess some people want to be performers because they want to be famous.
Comedy can be a little brutal, but not in a satisfying way.
People want to see comedies where characters aren't sacrificed for the jokes.
That time when you're waiting for a job can be the most impactful and important time because you develop your preferences as a person. Knowing what you like will make you more confident. And then you'll stand out.
It's strange: I've done so many things up until I did 'Obvious Child,' including writing children's books and making 'Marcel the Shell.' To me, the through-line is incredibly clear: it all comes from wanting to be connected to my own inner voice and not wanting to be on somebody else's agenda if that means that I can't be myself.
The experience of the human, male or female, cannot be completely defined by one startling, surprising, or gigantic life experience.
It's exciting to play someone who is a bit tougher than I am. I liked feeling those adjustments.
I had some friends that went to this hypnotist to stop smoking, and I kind of love things that seem magical. And I liked that it was in Santa Monica, and I had to go near the ocean to get my brain washed out or whatever. So I went there. And I went on a Thursday, and I got hypnotized.
I always thought that farts were funny, and I always thought that they were mine to talk about because they came out of my body.
It's not good for me to see things while they're being edited. I can be highly critical, so I try to stay away.
I waited my whole life to be a woman, so now my clothes are fairly tight.
Women love to be asked more about their clothes than their work. We're dolls; we made a wish to become alive.
A lot of people think that I'm one of the women from 'Broad City' - and I'm just not.
There is something to grace and deportment, but you determine that for yourself. That's something you own.
I didn't hit puberty until I was, like, 17, so I love to talk about that.
I think that, unfortunately, people who are maybe threatened by feminism think that it's about setting your bra on fire and being aggressive, and I think that's really wrong and really dangerous.
There's a lot of different parts to me, so it makes total sense to me that I would do a big TV show or studio movie and then do a free comedy show the next day. They both feel equally important to me.
I think sometimes in comedy the characters are often sacrificed for the joke, and it's more important for it to be funny than for there to be love.
I feel I have to be totally cemented in my position, all: 'You can't tell me what to do with my body', but there is another part of me that is, you know, myself: vulnerable, with lots of doubts.
For some reason, I never watched Lifetime but just discovered it. I was like, 'Oh, it's all rom-coms!'
I don't have any horror stories of trying to start as a comedian and eating it constantly on stage.
Don't think twice. If it's a character that you feel compelled to play and story that you feel needs to be told, don't think twice.
I sometimes think my earnestness is confused for stupidity, but it shouldn't be.
I like to wear dresses and skirts when I go onstage because the attitude that I have is, 'I'm so excited to introduce myself to you.' And I want to be wearing what I'd be wearing to a date or a dinner party.
It was so quick for me on 'SNL.' It's not something I consider to be, like, one of the big spaces in my career.
I think, from a really early age, I just wanted to be an actress. And I ended up doing comedy because it was the thing that kind of, like, came out of my nature the most easily. But, I've always wanted to do as many different kinds of performances - whatever I could.
It looks like I'm just gonna keep getting really, really happy and sad and embarrassed and excited and disappointed for the rest of my life, so let's just do that.
Using creative expression as a means to a professional end makes me curl up a bit.
I got great sex education, and I always knew that if I wanted to be sexually active, I had to have safe sex.
I like dressing like I'm going on a date when I'm on stage.
That was something that I learned: It's actually okay if the way that I do my best is when I'm treated well.
I really like to cook and have dinner parties and I like to clean, it really clears my head and it makes me feel good to keep my home as a comfortable place.
I just want to be able to be creative.
