I have no regrets. The best thing to happen to me was for Lorne Michaels to hire me and fire me.
Jenny SlateI'm competitive and I have a messy purse, but otherwise, I like people to think I'm a winner.
Jenny SlateI feel a lot of life in me and a lot of creative energy and I think it's better suited somewhere it can run free.
Jenny SlateThere's a part of me that would love to be in an action movie where I get to run around and punch people in the face and, whatever, be a murderer, I don't care!
Jenny SlateI don't make a lot of mistakes, honestly. I'm an A-student, I'm an Ivy Leaguer. I need those things.
Jenny SlateAt the beginning of my career, fresh out of college, I did everything that I could do. And now I'm a little bit more selective. I think that's sort of a natural process.
Jenny SlateI think my comedic style is at once bashful and explosive. It's a little bit perverted, and a little bit ladylike and old-fashioned, which is a great mix. Sort of tangy.
Jenny SlateTV can be fairly rigid. I've done enough Network TV to know that it's fun but if I have to go somewhere every day maybe it's not the most satisfying [job].
Jenny SlateIf you don't respect each other and let it lie, it can be embarrassing or really frustrating.
Jenny SlateThere'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.
Jenny SlateI tend to be a bit of a workaholic, but I also can't function without some sort of domesticity as well.
Jenny SlateSometimes you watch comedians and feel like they're jerking off in front of you, but they want you to see how big it is.
Jenny SlateNowadays, performers who want to create their own material put it on the Internet. I never knew whether or not it would make an impression - and frankly, I didn't care that much about how it would be received.
Jenny SlateI don't want to grow a thick skin. Some people say, "Oh, you're an actress, you have to get used to criticism." But I don't accept that. I'll never get used to criticism, and I'll always care about whether or not people like my performances - because I'm an entertainer, and I want to please.
Jenny SlateWhen I go and make smaller films, I actually never think about them being made for a smaller audience.
Jenny SlateIf you make a careless choice, you can really ruin things and it can take awhile for them to repair.
Jenny SlateI learned that I was able to focus. I've always thought of myself as somebody who is like either it's there or it isn't there. I really worked at this, and I focused, and I was able to replace self-doubt with focus. That was something new for me to say self-doubt is there, but it does not need to be in the front row. You can ask it to take a back seat and replace that front row seat with focus.
Jenny SlateI think the reason I like making movies sometimes more than doing TV is that you have one task, you only have a certain amount of time to do it, and then it is done. And I really like focusing in that way.
Jenny SlateI want to make every kind of movie that I can make. I don't really care if they're big or small.
Jenny SlateThe thing that bubbles up the most when I'm around other people is that I feel a joy of being alive. But I also am a very sensitive person and have many heavier feelings. It can be tiresome after a while to only do comedy, especially after you grow as a person. It starts to feel like you're playing an older version of yourself.
Jenny SlateInfidelity is not freedom. It's a momentary respite from stressors that are going to come back.
Jenny SlateA lot of times what's satisfying to me in comedy is when a woman successfully does self-care.
Jenny SlateDon't be snarky, but don't be saccharine. Don't pander, but don't shut people out. Go straight down the line with the performance.
Jenny SlateI've only been acting since 2009 and I learn more and more with each job. I think I prepare and I'm very focused and I have a good work ethic that I learned in school.
Jenny SlateI'd like to do a little bit of everything. I think the only thing I can't do is a British accent, so that's out. No Shakespeare for me. Unless it's like one of those modern-day remakes.
Jenny SlateI feel like when I go on stage I feel so excited at the prospect that there will be a true connection.
Jenny SlateI'd like to be in a female version of The Fugitive. Something where I don't have to be ripped up like an action star, but be a normal, healthy lady who is framed and on the run. I'd have to run from explosions and punch people in the face but not rappel down a building.
Jenny SlateWhen I would go on stage I would start to feel that the eyes that watching me weren't kind. And it took me a while to realize that those eyes were my own eyes.
Jenny SlateI think the main thing that affected my comedy was that my dad slept in a nightgown for most of my childhood. And it was just very funny every single night and made me realize that laughter is fun and nightgowns are cool.
Jenny SlateI 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.
Jenny SlateI don't try to do anything. I think the moment that I'm like, "Oh, I have to be this way or that way" is the moment that I become sad, or maybe an asshole. So I just try to be myself and put out what is most natural. But I think I am - I mean, I've seen a lot, been through a lot. But something remains sort of naรฏve within me. And I just try to nurture that.
Jenny SlateWhen I'm on stage, and when I'm comfortable or uncomfortable, I have sort of a knee-jerk reaction to try to make people laugh. It's my version of a handshake to show that I want to make a connection and to show what I'm truly like. It's kind of my statement like, "This is what I'm really like. I'd like you to love me."
Jenny SlateThere was a while when I got really bad stage fright and I basically felt...I was incredibly angry. I felt like everything had been taken away from me and it was at that point that I realized how much doing stand up reminds me of my self love and curiosity about myself and love of other people because I don't go on stage to dominate.
Jenny SlateI'm sure that if I had a partner and that partner cheated on me, that I would be devastated if we were in a committed, monogamous relationship. So of course, it's a devastating thing.
Jenny Slate