Jenny Slate, a comedian and voice actress known for her work on *Big Mouth*, *Bob’s Burgers*, and *Marcel the Shell with Shoes On*, shares a candid and humorous journey through personal and professional life. She recounts a pivotal moment in middle school when her boarding school staff took her belongings and forced her to carry them back home, an experience that shaped her lifelong need for order and cleanliness. Her current life in a small Massachusetts coastal town, where internet is spotty and she works from a linen closet, underscores both her adaptability and deep love for simplicity. She reflects on how her messy childhood led to an obsessive need for tidiness as a form of emotional control, and how that evolved into a more mindful, respectful approach to living. Her voice acting career began in a hotel room with friends, leading to the creation of the beloved animated character Marcel, which she describes as a joyful, improvised project that took seven years to complete. She also talks about her life with her husband, Ben, and daughter Ida, detailing how the arrival of a baby and a dog transformed their home into a chaotic but loving space. Jenny openly discusses her fear of live performance, yet embraces it as a form of connection and vulnerability. She concludes with a heartfelt appreciation for her creative process and the joy of doing work that feels authentic, both personally and artistically—especially in the success of *Marcel the Shell*, which she calls a true embodiment of her voice and spirit.
(upbeat music) Hey guys, just kind of like a massive major workout. My thighs are pumped, my thighs are pumped, my everything's pumped up so big. I can't even, like, I don't need, I pass a mirror and I'm like, wait a minute, where did Sean go? And he's right here, so, but who am I kidding? I didn't work out, I never work out. Welcome to "Smartless." (upbeat music) I woke up this morning about the NASA thing. Did you see this, read this thing today? What happened? That the voyager, you know, it's like 15 billion miles away. Yeah. I might know what's, there's something going on with it whether or not receiving correct information but they're still receiving information. And I'm interested in that shit. Did I just lose everybody? No. Yeah, you don't, you want to try to stay away from just half stories. Okay. That's what I was going to say. I was going to say, like, I'd be interested if you gave me actually anything interesting to think about. Okay. Well, I can tell you what happened with my, I got my MRI back from my neck. This I want to know about. Okay. Okay. And what they say, it's a-- No, I got a better story. in the. Ah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so listen, so this is a true story. As you can notice, I got my hair cut yesterday, right? It's really, really short. I got a little color in there too. So, skevo, blah, blah, blah, joke, joke, skevo, Greek, fantastic. Oh, man, Chris, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what we do now, to fucking, the fuck is going on. What are we waiting for? It's a birthday party. So I'm sitting there. Wait, wait, wait. You just glossed over the rinse. You put a rinse in there, huh? What was that what's the name of the color on that rinse? It's usually something like chestnut forever or something like that? No. Well, that's my handle on my profile and my on your weight is no, it's towards chestnuts. No, it's not on chest, right? Please not on chest. We really got to get a snare drum in here. Oh, I got that. I got that swissle. Oh, boy. Here it comes. Here comes Sheki. Go, Sheki. Oh, there it is. So listen, so wait, so I'm sitting there and you know Chris Mcmillan, who does your hair, Jason. Sure. So he's sitting on the other side in his station across and I go, Chris, get me something like he's candy or something. I want, I want, I want some sugar or some sweet and he goes back and then he's like, I don't have anything. What do you want me to make your peanut butter sandwich? I was like, no, I don't want that. So I'm sitting there and skevolts cut my hair. And like 10 minutes later, he hands me a bag of chocolates. He sent somebody out to get me chocolate. It's full service over there. The nicest thing in the world. Chris did her a skevo did. Chris did. That's pretty nice. The guy who owns the salon. I know, I know Chris. I know for Tracy. I can't believe you're asking them for snacks in there. What's just going there? There wasn't a please in there. You're like, he's giving me some candy. You're you said he's giving me some candy. I know what is going on? You're a tyrant. I can't believe that that he actually sent somebody out to get me chocolates. Also, who eats peanut butter in a hair salon? His hair's going to get stuck in it gross. That sounds disgusting to me anyway. Listen, I don't want to keep our guest waiting. Why do? Okay, listen, yeah, I'm so with all this momentum, the salarious momentum. Let's go ahead and intro the guest. I'm super excited about our band and I'm going to make me do it again. I'm super excited about it. Arms length. So it's what's so weird. It's a real slide with like I have to drive 10 miles to buy one of those. And yours is just arms length. I don't even know what the search terms are for. I'm super excited about our sweet kind funny cutest pie guest today. I had the pleasure of sending next to her as we both voiced characters in that animated show. I did last year. Q force and she made me laugh really hard. She's the epitome of a workaholic. She doesn't stop working. I'm not sure why she's on smart list because she graduated valedictorian of her class from Milton Academy before attending Columbia as a lit major. She started films like obvious child and gifted. She's guest start on parks and wrecks and girls and everything funny. You can think of earlier this year. She started with her friend Charlie Day in the Amazon original romcom. I want you back. And she is of course the star of my favorite animated character of all time. Marcel the show was shoes on. It's a wonderfully talented and hysterical. She's really great. It's so I don't know if your guests say this a lot but like the energy mounting waiting to be revealed and then all like it depends on your personality is but if you're like oh my gosh what if I'm like a bad surprise and no one cares or and then you guys are so funny and I was laughing and I didn't trust the mute. I was like maybe like maybe I laughed so hard I'll bust through the mute as it has as the youngest of five children I'm a bad surprise. So I'm so sorry for it's a high nice to meet you. You've never met you get the Lego Batman movie together. We've never had an actual dialogue. So yeah. Double snub. What about no chatting at the craft service table. Did you guys not? They didn't have one. Sean tell Tracy what a craft service table is craft service where they feed the cast off the side like with a line. I'm just on tables. It's a snack table is a snack table for ever more easily said. Yeah. Wait. I read somewhere Jenny that you are like because I'm looking at where you are right now that I'm not in my home. That's what I'm going to say. Okay. So that's what I was going to say. Listeners. It looks like she's in a supply closet. She's running a travel agency. What's going on? Yeah. I'm in a supply closet. Okay. Look. I'm in a supply closet that looks like you got last night's dress hanging on a hook behind you, too. There's a toilet underneath me. There's a toilet. So where you want it to be? Are you on a boat? Are you in the head? Yeah. Do you are just suffering from colitis right now? Do you just want to stay ready? You know, I don't feel safe. I don't feel like myself unless there's a toilet truly screwed in with full on plumbing into just whatever space I'm in. And I need that. But even for probably under you. Yeah. So I live for most of the year in a small town in Massachusetts by the ocean. And I live on a little peninsula. And we have Wi-Fi that is like internet that my mother-in-law put in there and like, you know, the late 90s, I want to say. And no one has ever decided to improve upon it. And so when it's raining, literally, it's like raining today. It's not. There's not even really a breath of wind. But the internet becomes very bad. And so my husband owns the general store. So I came up here with my computer and my power cord trailing like a little tail. And was like, can I use it? Jenny, this is crazy. Can you, I know there's not a breath of wind. Can you? What's the five day outlook? I'm going to tell you what we're going to get into the high, the high 70s is what I heard. Now Jenny, this sounds like an ideal life you live to tell you tell us low about this peninsula. And what did you say? Most of the year, does he wear an apron? Sure is the thing. An ideal life still have the same personality that I had in L.A. So I'm waiting for the adjustment to kick in for that chillness. Maybe you need to move to chill Mark. Come on. Hang on a second. Sean. So we're about keeping your safety in mind. So you don't need to get too specific. Whereabouts are you in Massachusetts? Sure. I can see Martha's vineyard from where I live. I'm in I win Woods Hall. I'm not in Woods Hall. I'm in what they call South Coast Massachusetts. And I'm from Massachusetts. And I did not know that this area existed. And my husband and I were kind of, oh yeah. Where are you from? Where are you from Jenny? I'm from Milton Mass. No shit, huh? Matter of fact, I used to know a kid. No, he's from fucking. He's from Bill Recker. But I know I knew this other kid from Milton. Fucking good kid. You should see this dude. What's his name? His name is Sally. Obviously. But he's yeah, but he lives. He lives. He lives. He's from Bill Recker, but he lives in Milton. And he works in Peabody. That's where my cousins lived. They live. You shit me and fucking. They work for the Edison. What's that? Like the Edison, like the like our company. Yeah, there it is. Yeah, you know. How would come Jenny Slate? How did you? So did you just stumble into this general store one day? And you said, hey, handsome fell in an apron. I don't see a ding in the bell. When she opened the door. I don't see a ring on that finger. What about we get a malt? Yeah, listen, it's not. It's not how it went. I wish that that would be really nice. That's so romantic. But in fact, I met my husband in online. Well, in the in the Arctic. In the Arctic. Really?
Arctic I met him in Arctic Norway coming. I know it's like it all just sounds like you know that we got time. Let's have stuff to make them more interesting but they're actually like basic so they say stuff like this. This is a great pitch. This is a great pitch keep going. So you guys. I know so she's in the Arctic. She's an artist. She's in the Arctic. She's there for art but what she does find is love by the end. She realized that love is art and art is love and she's standing on the end of a peninsula with a toilet underneath her. Yeah. I just say that we love this. We like to take this off the table. We're looking. We'd like to take this off the table now. Yeah, truly first time I've ever sold anything in the room. Wait, wait, wait, how did you meet in the Arctic? What were you doing in Arctic Norway? I was making a movie there and my friend wrote the movie and her now husband is best friends with my now husband. And so they and I was there and they invited him to come there and like hang out. To Norway. Was it a set up or just a visit? Well, this it was just a visit. I guess there wasn't a lot of pressure put on it. So you didn't know it was a possible set up. Did he know it was a possible set up? He must have to like pack your bags and fly all the way. For what? There's this great girl here. He must have had some sort of carrot there, right? Did he know? Well, he lived in Amsterdam. So we didn't go that far. You know, it's not like he came from Massachusetts. That would be like toy. Is he from Amsterdam? No, he's from Massachusetts, but he was living here. No, he's originally from Massachusetts. What's he from too? Oh, let's revisit this joke. We live in his childhood home. Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot. No, no, it's well, it's well, it's well, it's well. No, I should let the funny voice again. Well, of course. Yeah. You know what you know what they've been fuck you. Yeah, fuck off, baby. Oh, god. Jenny, you the reason why I asked about your where you're sitting right now, because it does look like a utility. I am in the closet. Yeah. Okay. Pause. Anybody? Yeah. Let me just tune it in the end of any one of ground ball. Just a blanket. I came out of there a year ago. Okay. There you go. Okay. So, um, but, but I read Vonville because Sean would love to walk you through some of that. Every time on the set of Will and Grace, they all did that to each other. I read somewhere once that you were like a massive OCD clean freak, because I am a little bit of that too. I am. Yeah. I've got a problem. Yeah. I'm not. You do. What's it like for what's happening for you? Like, do you have a messy childhood? Jenny or something? Sorry, Jay? Yeah, I did. I did have a messy childhood. Wait, Jenny, don't drop your voice and get real real with this. I did. I did have a messy. I think I'm going to be adjusting in my in my jeans. I did. I did. Um, I did. I had a messy childhood and, um, but very clean grandmothers like tidy houses and there was just like a big obvious like, oh, I'm way less stressed out at both of my Nana's houses than in our house where it's like crazy. It's like crazy. Yeah. I'm the same way I grew up like in a mess. So then your OCD comes from trying to create order and cleanliness as opposed to trying to avoid germs. Yeah. I don't think I have. I mean, obviously, I'm kind of like at the COVID level of afraid of germs that maybe most people are, but for me, a tidiness means like untidyness means like an unsettled mind. Yeah. And it like makes me feel crazy. And there are like little things that like, I don't understand why you would ever leave anything open. Like why you would leave a cabinet open. I can't get dishwasher a jar. That's crazy to me. Well, the toothpaste tube. Two space that are people. That's not for me. It's more I'm with you on the people who can leave a cupboard that much open. I'm like, it's just close it. I was just my friend Eli. What else are you leaving open? Right? What? Because if you leave bus things open, what else are you leaving? Holy shit. Holy shit. Right. Right. Right. Hey, wait, Sean, you're not a, first of all, Jason, the term OCD is way overused. It's not just to be clear. It's not OCD. It's the same way that everybody says that, I don't know, and we just use a lot of these terms that are just, you know, I'm a little intense today. Jenny, because my inner my my right in the middle of it, what will you blast in buys and just doing just doing a little boxing, bro. All right. Right? Were you winning or? I hope so because I was up against the bag. All right. So Eli, but Eli would, we, he would go, when we were in Atlanta, and I'd come to the kitchen in the morning, and there'd be four glasses, some cups of whatever stacked next to the sink, and they'd go, and stuff open. I'd go, at least forget, I get you're not going to put it in the dishwasher. Can you not put it at least in the sink? It is how much it's easier. Gravity would take her hand down even further into the sink and run some water in it and run some water and he literally at one point just kind of let me go. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. You got to deal on this roommate, huh? Yeah. Yeah. Scottie can't handle when there's actual like pieces of food in the sink, too. Like, like if I just put a plate down, yeah, I always, I always clean the food, make sure there's no food in the sink, but I don't really put the dishes in the dishwasher. He likes to do that. He likes to do that. That's nice. And now a word from our sponsor. And now back to the show. Jenny, I don't know if you're like this. I like things to be orderly and stuff. And at the same time, I'm not like a, I'm not a germaphob, but I just like things as certain to be kind of clean and sort and sorted. Yeah, I like that too. I like to like display my kitchen where like it is sort of a useful art installation. I want people like move the bowls around. I'm like, okay, but like, I know it's not okay to be until about that. But then when sort of the people are gone, I'll put it back. But I mostly, I'm just like, yeah, I like to, I think it's about respect. I really do. And I like how it feels to like close the circle. Like when I make dinner every night. And like while the thing is, it's just saying this to a friend, like I guess is the big thing. I love a clean station. And when whatever's on the stove, getting, you know, having its final, you know, moment on the stove, I do all the dishes I can. Yeah, I love it. It feels so good to me. I get that. You know, I'm going to share with you guys a story that I haven't told you before. Yeah. Which was, I think I was kind of messy when I was younger. I went to, I went to all boys boarding school. And when I was there, I was, I was in seventh grade, I was 12. And hang on, it gets mildly mildly interesting. Okay. And I, one day, my, and the guy who ran the house kept telling me, you got a clean, you got to clean, you're finally one day, it came back. And I, my shit was everywhere. And I came back and all my shit was gone from my room. And I go, where's my stuff? And he goes, come with me. And he'd taken all my stuff and put it in garbage bags and put it in the back of his car. And he, and he drove me six miles away. And I had four garbage bags full of stuff. And I was a little 12. I hadn't, you know, I was in these big bags of stuff. And he was like, put him down and he said that, hopefully now you'll learn to clean your room. And he drove away. And so I had these four huge bags and six miles. And I thought, how am I going to do it? So I started doing like two bags, 50 yards, go back at the other two bags. So they were too much too big. Are you kidding me? No, I swear to God. And at certain point, I thought, like, I'm going to fucking break. Like, what's going to happen here? And I was like, you know what I got to do? And I just opened and I started putting everything on in jackets and whatever. And I, and I managed to get most stuff on. And then just had a small bag left of stuff. Oh my gosh. I walked, not like a Michelin swear true story. And I walked back and I came and I remember crossing the first soccer field towards my house and him seeing me way sooner than he thought he was going to see me. And I was carrying the shit, but I was wearing everything. And I felt like a fucking king. And I was like, fuck you. I figured it out. You dummy. And then did you just throw it throughout all of your room? But you know what? Last lap on me. From then on, I was much better. I was much better better than myself. This was this was a boarding school. Yeah. This was 1982. Wow. Yeah. Wow. I remember when my dad got blasted drunk one night, which was very, very often. He came home. And what? And the dishes weren't done. So he's really furious about that. Did he take it over? Do you think? They took all the sturdy dishes. And we had Linoleum tile on the floor and the kitchen floor. And he put a dirty dish on every single tile. So you couldn't walk on the kitchen floor. Oh, so he was a psycho. He was a little bit of a psycho. Yeah. God, I really got to find him for a very special Christmas episode of Smart List. That's he's going to be mine. This is a recurring theme, Jenny, just so you know. By the way, I'm also sorry, sorry, Jenny. We'll get back to you in just two seconds. And Jenny, Jenny, could you bring the fucking bounty up the front? We need a fucking bounty. That's a phone, Jenny. Goddamn it. Jenny. Where the fucking transfer? That's right. Let's see what it is. It's an order for some milk or something. Somebody answered it. The machine got it. I guess it. What if you answered the phone? The person said, you get off this fucking pocket.
You should cut them computer to get off the fucking podcast with your Hollywood friends. Yeah. So wait, Jenny, I want to ask you, you've done a million voiceovers like, and you're regular on Big Mouth and Bob's Burgers, right? Yeah. And the Great North. It's on Fox. And the Great North on Fox. I mean, so why voice is like, when did you learn like you could do all of these different things with your voice? I honestly feel like I didn't know that I didn't know this could be like an actual job that you can do a lot. Yeah. I don't know if you guys feel this way, but like I think it is the most fun. It's so, it's like, it's challenging creatively, but it's really also really easy. Not that I'm showing up in my PJs, but like, do you hear these? Do you hear these? Yeah. It looks good. It's good. It's good at mom. No, it's not good. We haven't asked you in the supply. Are you in the supply room of the general store? Yeah. Yeah. Between the groceries and the book. No, are you really in the supply? Is that true? Yeah. Oh, wow. Right now, it's so it's 131 there. So you're got the lunch rush. So is Ben slapping together a bunch of pastrami sandwiches and, you know, who's number 35? Yeah. So he owns this store, but he doesn't like work here every day. He just, he and his brother, so he has like great grandmother used to come to this store. His family has lived in this town for a really long time. And during the pandemic, he and his brother bought the store and like did a little work on it. And they put a bar in here in a bookstore and so he's kind of like, he's like the store owner. And then he comes here every day to do like little things for the store, but there's a lovely woman named Marianne, who is the manager and she is letting me be in her office. Can you still do all your voiceover work given the the Wi-Fi limitations out there? I can, but sometimes it's really bad. Like I do it in the linen closet between my bedroom and my daughter's bedroom and I have a little baby. She's 17 months old and does. I thought of it. That's so amazing. First of all, I thought of the name for your autobiography if you ever want one. Here we go. Here we go. Sorry. Let's go. Closets. Because you have a lot of closets in your life. I've got to get the slide flew out. Or just my life in closets, you know? It's really clever. Yeah. Thank you. So who was who was who was the tougher transition from you from a living single and having all your stuff in an orderly way? Is it harder for you to get used to living with Ben or the 17 month old? What's been the bigger transition? Great question. Thank you. That's a really good question. Take your time. It does come down to the neat, freaks thing. I think it was harder with the baby because also like Ben, you know, understands what I say. And so when I'm like, I don't like when that's like that he doesn't just like be like, you know, like he can understand a threat when he hears one. Yeah. Right. That's right. Yeah. Isn't that amazing how you cannot negotiate with something that doesn't speak your language? Like that was a big, big lesson for me. Like I can't just say, well, you're not having, you know, dessert tonight or whatever. Like they don't care. You got for the first couple of years, you got to just deal with it. Yeah. So Jason, you how, how, what was the age that your kids finally were able to understand? I'm going golfing today. Like what was the, yeah, for a while they just, you know what I mean? Yeah. That was that. They were 12. Um, but wait. So, so Jenny, so you have a 17 month old daughter. Yeah. And you guys, and now you're firmly living back on Massachusetts and, and Ben and his brother have opened the general store and you're there and you've kind of, you're, you're, you're, are you done with the West Coast or you've done with LA or you've done with New York? Are you just like, I'm going to, this is where for now in your mind, are you like, this is my life now living here? I like it here more, but we, we still have my house in LA on the east side, you know, on the east side. So we said, here's the thing on the east side, on the east side in silver. By the way, that, that's a massive choose to say, by the way, which is like, Oh, must be nice. Must be nice. Must be nice. Got a house. What does Ben think about, what does Ben think about Los Angeles? He likes it a lot. He, I mean, we had two years there before the baby was born and he was like, Whoa, I can't believe he's just taken off like an orange off the tree and you go for hikes and it's like very chill. I mean, we don't have like a, I don't know, like a super flashy lifestyle. So I think he was like, this is vacationy, like this is pretty vacationy or which it is. And, and my best friends live all around us and everything. But I will say about our house in LA, like, I, it's a beautiful, small old house. I bought it when I was single and I was like a heavy stoner and like, the refrigerator is not even in the kitchen. It's in like a tiny room off the kitchen. And at the time I was like, I was single and I was like, it's like under the Tuscan sun. Like, I'm just going to buy an old house and just live in here and have all my shirts and like, this will be very romantic for me. And then he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, you know what I mean? Like, just like, oh, my blouses. Like, it's just me and my blouses and I just don't give a hoot anymore about anything. I'm just living in my old home. And then Ben came to live with me and I was like, oh, my God, it's so messy in here. Like, with people even, it's crazy. And Ben's like, where are all these shirts? You're like, what, you never told me that you had so many blouses. We need to open a general store, yeah. Right. Totally. Just drove them to that. So anyway, so I was like, oh, I love this, this house. Then he came and I was like, oh, there's kind of a lot of stuff in here now with two people. And, but I, I felt like it was fine. And then now with the baby and also we got a dog during the pandemic, like a beautiful large border collie mix that house is like, it's just really hard. It's way too small. And the stairs are really loud and you okay, well, yeah, I'm fine, I have to check a minute, man. Sorry. I don't drop in your mouth. I'm kind of cleaning the microphone a little bit, I guess. Sorry. Yes. My favorite, favorite. Truly, I'll never have a better joke than burping. I mean, sorry about that. Sorry about that. Yes. So, but, but you, but you guys have decided we're going to, what, what, what is your child's name? Her name is Ida. IDA. So you, you guys said, let's, we're going to raise Ida in Massachusetts. Not, not out here now, like, let's, yeah, good, good, good choice. Tell me what's happened to, like, where do you want to live? And she said, I don't know. Or Idaho. Got it. Thanks. Um, what happened to your weed, your weed addiction, what, did you, did you crack that while you were pregnant? You get rid of all that or, or, or we back into, no, no, no, she doubled down when she was pregnant. What the fuck are you doing? Yeah. I went straight to my. Yeah. I like to go blind with that. I like to go blind with that on a podcast about how I've doubled up. Nine months of the baby's here. I got it. Just do all the drugs. Yeah. Um, no, I, is it legal in in Massachusetts? Like, it is out here in California. I think it is. I think it is. I actually, I had, like, a bad moment of, um, like, I don't know if it's possible, but I kind of think I overdosed myself on weed or like, when it was not with a joint or anything, like I, I used to smoke a lot of weed and I could smoke as much as possible, I guess it seemed like. But I, I took a, a CBD gummy, yeah, that my friend was like, oh, you need to activate it with a THC dropper and she was like, but you, and it was like, cause I had like a back issue. I don't think CBD is really real, but that might be controversial either way. She was like, if you want it to work, you have to use the, um, yeah, the THC dropper and she was like, but you smoke so much weed that, you know, it says between one and three droppers, you should probably take three droppers. So I was like, cool. I'll take three droppers and then you had to call your mom. I took the three droppers. Yeah. And I just, I mean, it was like, I think it was like the worst experience of my life during which I tried to watch the movie Omelian couldn't figure out what language it was in. And that's just like, what is this? Oh man. Yeah, I'm trying to work it in to stand up now, but it's still like a little scary that this happened. You know, it's like, it's not exactly funny, because I actually think I did almost die. And I threw up like outside of my bathroom, cause I like couldn't figure out how to get over the threshold. Like just crazy shit. Once in bed with all my clothes on, my boots, like some like, like little zipper up booties, like got in the bed that way, I'm like, I need to call for help, need to call for help. And then it was like, it's too late and then I looked it was 6.45 p.m. and I was like, it was so bad. And it was truly like, oh my god, I really was like watching Omelian being like, when did this movie get so fucking scary? And what language is this? What is this? I don't know, I just love this. Her hairstyle was so great and everything just looked crazy. But anyway, so then the next day my friend, you know, it was Jane Levy, do you know her? You must have known. Yeah. So she gave me this THC thing, anyway. So she called me and she was like, I got all your texts about the patriarchy. And she was like, I, Johnny, I'm so sorry, it wasn't one, not one to three droppers. It was, it was, I misspoke, it was one to three drops. And so I took like 120 times the dough, yeah, and I like ruined my mind. And then, and I was like, I guess I'm off weed. And like a couple months later, I thought I'll just take a little hit and, and try and get back in. And it was like, it went right back to where I had been that I think, so I'm just done forever. Yeah. I'm just gonna try. Oh my god.
saved you. She saved you. Yeah, the way she saved me. Wow, that's so crazy. And we will be right back. Jenny's speaking of like getting freaked out and stuff, you know, your Netflix special called stage fright. Oh, yes. So fucking great. I loved it so much. You talk I love the way it was shot by the way. It's so cool. But anyway, you talk about like fear and how you hate it and you love it and you motivate you and how people say, just be yourself and you were like, that's the worst advice, because there's a million people in my head. So how do you, how do you talk about like the love and the hate of performing live? Like what is it you? What freaks you out about it? I like it so much, but it it's it must be like what like a adrenaline junkies are like, I guess, I mean, I don't know, or but not the guy that does the free solo. I actually think that I sound like an old woman, but that really makes me angry that he does that. There's another one. There's another one that makes him look like, um, there's one that he talks about the other guy, the alpinance, the Canadian kid. Wait, what? Yeah, isn't it called the alpinance? Yeah, and that one's really sad. The alpinance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Man, oh man, what a doctor. Yeah, yeah, most of them don't end with like don't don't have amazing endings. You know, they're not like a lot of times back in the parking lot at the end. No, you mean, you mean the guy who climbs the the ice waterfall at night by himself with no robes does it, as well? All the guy with the bears, the guy who did all those cute movies of the bears. That one I still need to see. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Also, I got busted on not seeing the Revenant the other night by dinner with my parents and my husband because I said that a snuggie was like that guy in the Revenant who wears the bear suit. Yeah, like truly everything. Everyone is like, what are you talking about? You're talking about Leonardo DiCaprio, like the, you know, Oscar winner, the the actor, the guy, you that he's not the guy he's Leonardo DiCaprio. And he doesn't wear a bear suit. Like, I guess he gets attacked. I didn't get the tag fiber. It's stunning. You should just see that one. See, or just just watch the YouTube special on how they shot that scene. Yeah, it's that that seems like out of a safe distance. Oh, my God. There's also a video, a YouTube video about the guys getting prepared to shoot the YouTube video for the, which is amazing. It's mainly just in the parking lot putting on putting on Patagonia's and shit, but it's good. No, I, I need, I need to be pretty far afield. I think of the central experience. I don't, I don't really want it. Wait, go back to the fear thing. Oh, well, I, yeah, I think the fear is that people don't like that they won't like me and that they won't think like, yeah, that I'll be wearing a Patagonia jacket. I don't know. They're great jackets. They're great jacket, especially here. Well, they're expensive, but if you're a size large, they're great. They're great. Sorry, I just had to put that out there. They're telling just what you need to tell. Yeah. So what, so that fear of when you're up there on stage and they're not going to like you, yeah, you play that out in your head. Is it like that? Oh, my God, I have no place to go. I can't, I can't hide because you still do it. Yeah, I mean, I, it feels like a social thing. I like it that I'm going to have to be up here and they're all going to see me like right just like choking and and floundering and being out of control and all the things that if I succeed at, they'll see me as a master of like, you know, the moment and like chaos and power or whatever, not that I see it that, but I think that would be the other side of it, not that I think I'm like the master of chaos. I would imagine that you'd have to find a place of like the, the perfect combination between sort of an adversarial relationship with the audience, right? So that you, you feel sort of puffed up and and strong like a worthy adversary and you can defend yourself, but then also kind of be a teammate with the audience too. You want to try to find that connection with them. I bet that's a really that's a real challenging place for standups. I don't think I'd ever have the spine to do it, but it's like a date terrifying. I think of it like a date like you're like, the person could actually, you don't have the balls to do it. Or it's fine. How's skeletal structure whatsoever? I don't think you have any of the of the undercarriage to do it. Sorry, sorry, I don't have that undercarriage either. And I know we do. And it's just how often are you still getting up there and doing standup? Well, in LA, I was so I usually go up at Largo and I was trying to go like twice a week while I was there because I want to make a new special. And that's harder obviously like when I want to put the baby to bed and you know, and I like it when Ben sees my sets because especially after having the baby, it's like, oh, I guess I'm just this person who like complains about like almost everything all the time. I really want him to see me as someone who other people think is like literally in the cheapest way like popular like I would like him to, you know, like everything's fine. But I'm just like that's such a good friend. I think it's such a good look. You know, up there on stage if they're liking you, it's like, oh, right, I forgot that that there's this powerful person and it is nice. But it's also really scary. And but I have to do it. Do you make him the butt of any jokes? Either intentionally or unintentionally like when you're sharing your stuff about about home and the kid and and and adjusting to that that the new life in your house like did you you back into sort of throwing him under the bus at all. I used to do that on talk shows with my wife and then she she's straighten me out. Did you ask permission or would you just like I didn't and then I got my snout smacked and then I started asking for permission and then she started saying no and then I started looking for different material. Yeah, Jenny, I want to talk about I want to leave you with Marcel the Shell because it's so good. I watched the movie last night. It's so good. Here's what I need to say. I've been a fan of Marcel the Shell is she's so good forever. I know it's been like over 10 years or something like that, right? Yeah. And I used to watch this videos all the time. And what I love about it is if you haven't seen it, all you need to know about it is in the title. It's literally Marcel of Shell and he has shoes on and you literally play a show named Marcel and he how the voice like how the voice why the voice are you sick of the voice tell us all things about Marcel because how did you think of him and are you kind of like done or more more more because I can't get enough of them. Oh, thanks. Thanks. Thanks for saying that sidebar really quick. I loved when Marcel played taps from his horn, which was a piece of all of spiral macaroni and he sleeps in his bread room, which is a bedroom made of out of bread, which is fantastic and when he played taps, he plays taps that is that's like my favorite part of the that like sort of it's a sad part. It's a sort of like a ula g part and it's so funny. But it's a total macaroni and it's like a show far but in my culture we call that a show far. Yeah, for sure. A lot of secret duties and put in there. I'm not sick of the voice. I love doing it. It's like it feels like a you know like I don't know like a soothing thing. I do it by myself a lot. I like it. It came up one weekend when I was like in a hotel room with sharing hotel room with like five friends and everyone was like broke because we were all sharing a hotel room and like everything you could sleep on was being used like the cut and the two beds and like someone on the floor whatever and they were just like all men and I felt like tiny and that it was like so messy and cramped in there and I started to talk to like sort of rib people in that voice and then and then my partner at the time had like promised that he was going to make a video for a little show in Williamsburg and he hadn't done anything yet and he was like could I interview that voice and like maybe there'll be a character and I'll you know make something with it. So he interviewed me in that voice and then he made Marcel's body and we just like made that video. It's so cool. So is he still a part of all the stuff going forward? Yeah Dean Fischer camp. He's he's the director and we co-wrote it together with our friend Nick Paley and yeah yeah he's he did everything. I love I went there's a million one-liners but you know what Marcel uses for skis are men's toenails. Yeah, toenails, toenail clippings not not the actual toenail full toenails. Yeah, yeah just clippings. Did I see a trailer for it that's coming up? Yes. Yeah, it's coming out June 24 through 824. What? And you found it like over a year ago, right? It took seven years to make. Wow, Jesus. Yeah, we finished it. I want to say in the winter it takes seven years. Well, because it's stop motion and we weren't you know we were like fully funded by synergy. It's like a it's not a studio. It's like basically like getting arts grants basically and which also gave us total freedom. Yeah, which is really great and it took a long time that the film was improvised off of a long treatment so we would like record like improvise and then Dean and Nick would go back and call through all the audio and start to make a script off of that and then like write things that we should say and go back into more improvising and that that process itself took about a couple years. And then you would do the stop motion. Yeah, then I think I think the the order was we locked like the audio play like everything that Marcel and his grandmother is the only other character besides Dean. Great grandmother played by Isabella Rosalini who is incredible. And she has a beautiful voice. Yeah, and so we did and she let us go to her farm to improvise like when they're seen. Where's the farm? It's in New York. Yeah. So do you?
Yeah, it's in this city. It's so weird because I'm 56 straight. So, yeah. So strange. It's just a farm. What do they, they just raise improvisers? What's that mean? Yeah, it's called Yes and Far. Oh my god, it's amazing. Yeah, I just love that. I love that about her. Anyway, yeah, so we, we recorded it all and then they filmed the live action because like Marcel is, you know, like he's in a physical house and obviously Dean is the real person that you sometimes see like his hand or him walking away. They filmed all the live action, the, the whole movie's worth and then they filmed the stop-motion animation on, yeah. It's so good. I love it. I loved it so much. It's, please go see it if you haven't seen it. June 24th. June 24th. Yeah, is that right? Well, two of them, because they're twins. Oh, what are both of them? What are both their names? Well, quick. Tannis and Shanley. Good. And what about your brother? Chuck. Wow. Wait, why do we just be? Jenny, it's such a pleasure. Thank you for being here. I want everybody to go to Jenny. Jenny. Jenny. You're hilarious. And it's the light. Yeah, you really are. Gentlemen, sorry. You're really, really fun. Next time you're out in Silver Lake, come by the smartless studios. Oh, that'll be nice. They don't, they don't exist. Oh, they don't. You don't have to. We're building a whole compound out there to rival. Is it about the Rosalini's? Yes, and wrench. Yes, and ranch. Top of the rock. You can't miss it. She's just up there, hoeing. Anyway, honey, thank you. We love you. I'm so proud of you and I'm excited for the movie. How it does really well. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jenny. Please say hi to Ben and Ida. Tell her I miss her. Bye, Jenny. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. You just. Okay, I'll go. I go now, right? Yeah, you go. You go. You go. I go now. Goodbye. Thank you. Bye. Bye. That's Jenny Slate, y'all. Yeah, I love Jenny. Slate is great. Slate is a killer. She's a real killer. I know. Everybody knows, everybody knows her voices, right? But they don't know that she probably does all them because they're also different. I did a small movie with her. She was on camera, not just the voice, the face, the whole acting, the whole thing. She's very, very good. I believe it's called the longest week. It wasn't a large film, but she was in it and she was great. I really had a good time with her. She's real fun. She's super fun. Cute, funny, just adorable. Yeah. Oh my God, a great, great energy, great vibe. She should teach. She should teach improv and voice over stuff because she's pretty good. Well, Will, sir, are you going to go back work out and finish that now? Or no, I was just finishing up and I really rattled. I'm now so hungry, obviously. Well, go get, go get something to eat. And then I got to go. I got to go meet Jason. We got a meeting. Yeah, we got a lunch meeting. Hey, what are you going to eat prior to your to your one o'clock lunch? I am fucking. What's it going to be though? Is it going to be a protein share? Are you going to ruin all the work you've done this morning? Punch in that dumb white bag. There it is. My, my energy is is really plummeted in the last 10 minutes. That's sugar. Yeah, no, I sure. Yeah. All right, well, why don't we let you go? Yeah, I think you're coming today. No, wait, wait, wait, and we're just lambshut. Yeah, you're just lambshut. Let's have your laugh. You're feeling I want you to eat. Just go grab something that looks like it's got a lot of carbohydrates in it and just take a big bite. Bye. Bye. Bye. SmartLess is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, Rob Armjav, and Bennett Barberco. Smart loss.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Jenny Slate shares a personal story of being forced to clean her room in middle school after her boarding school staff removed all her belongings and moved them six miles away.
She recounts a humorous incident where her husband, Ben, sends her chocolates after she requests snacks, highlighting the warmth and unexpected kindness in their relationship.
Jenny lives in a small coastal town in Massachusetts, where internet connectivity is poor and she relies on a makeshift setup in the linen closet for voiceover work.
She reflects on her childhood messiness and the development of her need for order, which she now sees as a way of finding emotional stability and control.
Jenny’s voice work, especially in animated shows like *Marcel the Shell with Shoes On*, stems from a personal creative journey that began with a hotel-room improvisation and evolved into a full stop-motion film.
She shares a unique connection to her husband, Ben, through shared humor and a transition from LA to Massachusetts, where their life with a baby and dog has brought both chaos and growth.
Jenny describes her ongoing love-hate relationship with live performance, where fear of rejection is real, but the experience remains thrilling and deeply human.
Her career in voice acting and comedy has been shaped by improvisation, emotional honesty, and a deep commitment to authenticity over perfection.
Summary:
Jenny Slate, a comedian and voice actress known for her work on *Big Mouth*, *Bob’s Burgers*, and *Marcel the Shell with Shoes On*, shares a candid and humorous journey through personal and professional life. She recounts a pivotal moment in middle school when her boarding school staff took her belongings and forced her to carry them back home, an experience that shaped her lifelong need for order and cleanliness. Her current life in a small Massachusetts coastal town, where internet is spotty and she works from a linen closet, underscores both her adaptability and deep love for simplicity.
She reflects on how her messy childhood led to an obsessive need for tidiness as a form of emotional control, and how that evolved into a more mindful, respectful approach to living. Her voice acting career began in a hotel room with friends, leading to the creation of the beloved animated character Marcel, which she describes as a joyful, improvised project that took seven years to complete. She also talks about her life with her husband, Ben, and daughter Ida, detailing how the arrival of a baby and a dog transformed their home into a chaotic but loving space.
Jenny openly discusses her fear of live performance, yet embraces it as a form of connection and vulnerability. She concludes with a heartfelt appreciation for her creative process and the joy of doing work that feels authentic, both personally and artistically—especially in the success of *Marcel the Shell*, which she calls a true embodiment of her voice and spirit.
FAQs
Jenny Slate created Marcel the Shell after improvising in a hotel room with friends. She was inspired by the awkward, playful voice she used to talk in, and her partner later made a character out of it. The character was developed over seven years through stop-motion animation and improvisation.
Jenny Slate currently lives in a small town on the South Coast of Massachusetts, near the ocean, specifically in a peninsula where she shares a home with her husband Ben and their 17-month-old daughter, Ida.
Jenny met her husband in Arctic Norway while he was making a film, and they were connected through mutual friends. The meeting was a spontaneous visit, not a planned setup, which led to a meaningful relationship.
Jenny has a long history in voice acting, regularly contributing to shows like *Big Mouth*, *Bob’s Burgers*, and *The Great North*. She credits her voice work with being both creatively challenging and deeply enjoyable.
Jenny grew up in a messy household, which led her to develop a strong need for order and cleanliness. This is tied to her need for control and mental clarity, not just germophobia.
Jenny accidentally took a much higher dose of a CBD gummy than recommended, which led to confusion, disorientation, and panic. She realized she was no longer able to function under the influence and has since stopped using cannabis.
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