Jenny Slate on Evolving into “Jenny Slate: Seasoned Professional”

We caught up with Jenny Slate to talk about her latest comedy special Jenny Slate: Seasoned Professional now available on Amazon Prime. While Slate depends heavily on a structure and a “sense of progression” in her stand-up, she has never written down a bit.  She likes to reserve space to play to each new audience, and leans into different elements of a given story by judging how the audience is reacting to her in the moment. The title of the special points to Slate having “arrived” to a point where she trusts herself as a storyteller, and knows that if she were to over-plan the performance, it would squash exactly what makes her special.

Slate described herself as a seemingly contradictory combination of “gregarious and shy,” so for her, comedy has always been a “cool intersection” of “a celebration and a coping mechanism.”  Though she highlights highly specific experiences from her life in her stand-up, there is always a universal emotion at the core that the audience relates to (Jenny suggests to anyone who has never been embarrassed, “you should try it”).  Having continued to practice through years of crippling stage fright and self-doubt, Seasoned Professional is an emotional moment for Slate: After spending so much time convincing herself that there might not be a place for her in the industry, she watches the special with a knowing that “this is the place. This is for me.”

Watch the full conversation below.

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