When 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 Slate

Categorized in : People Laughing Trying

I 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 naïve within me. And I just try to nurture that.

Jenny Slate

trying mean thinking

Don'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 Slate

lines performances people

Being on "SNL" was a goal that I had when I was younger. When I got fired, I just felt really mad and I felt really grossed out by the system and grossed out by myself and it just sort of knocked me on my ass.

Jenny Slate

ass mad goal

There are so many different stories. You can choose to tell them, or not, but they certainly have the right to exist

Jenny Slate

different stories

I don’t think men have time to be funny because they have to make all of our rules about what we can do with our vaginas.

Jenny Slate

can-do men thinking

The 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 Slate

sensitive-person joy people

I've never thought of myself as the person that would happen to. There are a few blogs that I read, but I stay off of the Internet for the most part. I really like to just stay in the normal world, the real world.

Jenny Slate

internet real world

I just want to work hard. I love that feeling.

Jenny Slate

hard-work want feelings

I always just wanted to be a movie actress, like Lily Tomlin or Ruth Gordon. I just imagined myself being in a movie, wearing stylish women's clothing the way I saw Amy Irving wearing it.

Jenny Slate

amy ruth lilies

I 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 Slate

laughter dad fun

Sometimes 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 Slate

comedian want watches

I tend to be a bit of a workaholic, but I also can't function without some sort of domesticity as well.

Jenny Slate

workaholic function wells

There 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 Slate

taken self people

Although I do stand-up - doing actual stage work is terrifying for me.

Jenny Slate

stage

I'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 Slate

jobs school thinking

I'm competitive and I have a messy purse, but otherwise, I like people to think I'm a winner.

Jenny Slate

purses people thinking

I 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 Slate

skins criticism people

Infidelity is not freedom. It's a momentary respite from stressors that are going to come back.

Jenny Slate

infidelity

I 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 Slate

comedic style thinking

I'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

cheated devastated committed