Jenny Slate

This week on Office Ladies 6.0, Jenna and Angela are joined by the hilarious actress, comedian, author, and podcaster Jenny Slate! The ladies kick things off with a passionate chit-chat question about home organization and the household hills they are willing to die on. Then Jenny chats about voicing her character in her new film Forgotten Island, her iconic roles in Parks and Recreation and Obvious Child, her book Lifeform, and how rewatching The Office provided essential comfort and joy during the early days of parenthood. Along the way, Jenny shares memories of her early audition days, working with green screens, and the magical origins of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. So, pull up a chair, organize your junk drawer, and enjoy! Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question for Around the Town, Chit Chat, and Second Drink favorite moment:https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram:OfficeLadiesPod https://www.instagram.com/officeladiespod/ Follow Us on YouTube https://youtube.com/@officeladiespod?si=D0oKJwFJuK9txzFM Follow Us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@officeladiespod?_t=ZT-8y1gqTrJyOs&_r=1

• 0:03Speaker 00

  I'm Jenna Fisher.

• 0:05Speaker 01

  And I'm Angela Kinsey.

• 0:06Speaker 00

  We were on The Office together.

• 0:08Speaker 01

  And we're best friends.

• 0:09Speaker 00

  And now we're doing the ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you. Each week, we will dive deeper into the world of The Office with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes details, and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Ladies 6.0.

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Hi, everybody.

• 0:26Speaker 00

  Hi there.

• 0:28Speaker 01

  You guys, we have a super talented, hilarious woman on the podcast today.

• 0:33Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm.

• 0:33Speaker 01

  We're really excited because we're big fans. It's Jenny Slate.

• 0:37Speaker 00

  Jenny Slate.

• 0:38Speaker 01

  Ah, she's a brilliant comedian, actor, writer, New York Times bestselling author, and now a podcaster too with her show, I Need You Guys. And you might know her from her work in film and TV. I loved her as Mona Lisa in Parks and Rec.

• 0:52Speaker 00

  So much.

• 0:53Speaker 01

  So good. She also co-created Marcel the Shell with shoes, which I loved. There was all of these short films and a book series, and she got nominated for an Academy Award.

• 1:03Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:03Speaker 01

  For the movie version. Okay, so that's how I became a fan of hers. So I was trying not to geek out when I was talking to her.

• 1:11Speaker 00

  I know. I mean, I was the same. I remember discovering Jenny from watching the movie Obvious Child that she starred in with one of our The Office alumni, Jake Lacy. And in our interview, she talks about that film being a really pivotal moment in her career. But everyone, she is also an incredible voice actress. She has voiced characters in movies like The Lorax, Zootopia, Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, the Lego Batman movie, and Bob's Burgers.

• 1:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, and now she has a new animated movie in theaters right now from DreamWorks Animation called Forgotten Island.

• 1:48Speaker 00

  I am so excited about this movie. We're going to talk about it. But if that isn't enough, Jenny Slate is also an author, and we have a really great conversation with her about her new book, Life Form, and also a book called Notes to New Mothers. We end up getting in a really thoughtful conversation about motherhood. But hey, let's get to it.

• 2:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:08Speaker 00

  This is our conversation with Jenny Slate.

• 2:13Speaker 01

  Jenny, hi.

• 2:14Speaker 02

  Hello, ladies.

• 2:16Speaker 01

  Aw, lady, welcome to the podcast.

• 2:19Speaker 02

  Thank you. How many people come on this show and are like freaking out that they get to talk to you in the way that I am?

• 2:25Speaker 01

  Oh, that's very nice. I don't ever feel that because we just think we're just, you know, two kind of dorky gals that like to hang out. So thank you for saying that. We're so thrilled to meet you. We're such big fans.

• 2:36Speaker 00

  I really am a big fan of yours. This is, um, I've always hoped that at one of these many sort of like industry events that I would maybe cross paths with you, and I never have. But I really am just, I admire you so much, and so this is exciting.

• 2:52Speaker 02

  Oh, same here. Your work has brought me so much joy. And again, like I wonder, I'm like, did everybody just say the same things? Because you're just so significant to a large group of people. But truly, this is a frickin' trip, man.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  Well, we can't wait to talk to you. And we kick off our show with a chit chat suggestion from an Office Ladies fan. And we have one today from Haley H. Let's hear from her.

• 3:19Speaker 03

  Hi, Office Ladies, a longtime listener here, big fan of the podcast. I have a chit chat question for you. My husband and I just celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary. We bought our home just a couple of months before we got married. So we've been nesting here for just over a year now. And when we moved in, I had the honor and privilege of deciding where all of the items in our kitchen belonged and found their home in place. It was a wonderful task that I thoroughly enjoyed getting to do. However, has caused some points of contention between my husband and I in terms of where some items truly belong.

• 4:04Speaker 03

  An example of this has to do with the potato peeler. Now, I place items based on function. So the potato peeler for me goes in what I call the kitchen gadget or utility drawer. So this drawer houses items such as some measuring cups, my immersion blender. It has my lemon squeezer to squeeze out the lemon juice and other various items as such, kitchen utilities. Well, my husband likes to organize items based on, I guess, the material that they're made out of.

• 4:44Speaker 03

  And because a potato peeler has a blade, he likes to put it in the cutlery drawer where we house some of our knives. And every time I see it put there, I just have to take a deep breath and I move it just slightly back into the kitchen utility drawer. And so my question for you all is, what are some items in your house where it is a hill that you will die on in terms of where they are properly stored and organized in your home? Whether it's another item in your kitchen or perhaps a different place inside your house, what are some items that is a strong hill for you?

• 5:24Speaker 03

  And perhaps maybe you've been challenged by either a spouse or a child in terms of where that item truly belongs. If I get a Jenna rant out of this, that is a huge cherry on top as I love hearing those from her, but I'm just looking forward to hearing your answers here. All right, take care. Love you. Bye.

• 5:44Speaker 01

  That was such a detailed, thoughtful.

• 5:47Speaker 00

  Very thorough.

• 5:48Speaker 01

  Very thorough.

• 5:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:49Speaker 00

  Haley, it did make my blood boil several times. So you are correct. It brought some things up for me personally, but I'll let you guys go first.

• 6:00Speaker 01

  I mean, Jenny, you're our guest. You get to go. How do you feel about where things are placed in the kitchen?

• 6:05Speaker 00

  Or home.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  Our home, yeah. We can open this up.

• 6:09Speaker 02

  First of all, I really understand the predicament and the ongoing back and forth. And I'm the person that I love unpacking as well, and I love moving. I know some people think that's like freakish, but I really enjoy it. And I unpacked our whole kitchen when my family moved last fall. And I get insecure about feeling controlling, but I cook every day. I cook a lot. I've been asked by family members to bake less.

• 6:39Speaker 02

  And I kind of feel like, I don't know, it's like if the person who unpacked it and placed it there kind of feels like that should sort of be where it lies. But the other thing I'll say is like, I don't really understand putting a potato peeler with blades because I feel like it's just sort of a general utensil. I would just put it with the can opener is what I would say.

• 6:58Speaker 01

  Like utility, like she was saying.

• 7:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah. But I also don't really, I mean, this isn't a criticism of Haley, but I put all the baking things in one place. But that's because I really need them to be separate because I use them a lot. But you know what mine is? For me, it's the screen door, which I know is not necessarily an object or item that you might think of, but it's like, I need that to be shut. And it's not getting shut.

• 7:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:23Speaker 02

  It's crazy to me. I don't understand why you would leave it open when the whole point of it is to shut it so that you don't get bugs in the house.

• 7:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:31Speaker 02

  It kills me.

• 7:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 7:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. I love that. I mean, here's the thing, Jenna knows this. Jenny, I am not the cook in my house. My husband's a baker and a chef. So, and he bakes a ton. So he has his baking area. The kitchen really makes sense to him. It's like, you know, that scene in Good Will Hunting where there's all the equations on the chalkboard and he's like, I just see it. I just see it. Like, that's how Josh is about the kitchen. I'm like, I don't get it. I don't understand why the seasoning needs to go here. And he's like, how can you not? So I'm probably the wrong person to ask this question because I'll just be like, if you want the forks to go there, and that's important for you, the forks will go there, damn it. But for me, it's, he doesn't shut a single cabinet.

• 8:15Speaker 02

  You gotta shut those.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  No cabinets. No, I'm like, I just walk through like Vanna White. I'm just shutting things all day. I'm like, why? The dishwasher this morning, he just left it open. He left it open. I'm like, I'm gonna, someone's gonna like fall and like chip a tooth.

• 8:30Speaker 02

  It's like there's a ghost. That's how it feels to me when the cabinets are open. It's like a ghost came in and they were like, I just need you to know I'm still here. And so they left like a cabinet open. Shut it, man.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  Just shut it already. All right, Jenna, what about you?

• 8:46Speaker 00

  Okay, I know what mine is. So in our kitchen, by our back door, we have, it's called the junk drawer, but I don't like it to be called that because to me, it is our highly organized miscellaneous drawer. And so I need three things to be in this drawer. And my husband and I only agree about one of them. And this is the sort of thing, like when I open this drawer and one of my items, one of my three essentials is not in the drawer, I have to take deep breaths and like remind myself that he's a good man and he does so many wonderful things and that he loves me very much. So that I don't, you know, go off. Here's what I need in that drawer. I need Band-Aids because it's the first step.

• 9:30Speaker 00

  Like if you're outside and you skin a knee, this is, as soon as you walk in the house, this is the closest drawer to that skinned knee. So I need Band-Aids in there. We agree on this. Band-Aids live there. Here are the other two things I need in there. I need a measuring tape. My husband thinks the measuring tape goes in the garage. The garage is not attached to our house.

• 9:51Speaker 01

  It's far.

• 9:52Speaker 02

  That's too far.

• 9:54Speaker 00

  I, I like to measure things. I measure things more often than maybe you would think. I'm constantly wondering like, oh, could we put this picture here? Or could we move a chair here? And I measure. I'm a pre-measure. I don't just move stuff.

• 10:09Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 10:10Speaker 00

  So I need my measuring tape there.

• 10:11Speaker 01

  I didn't know any of this about her, Jenny. We've been friends a long time. I didn't know Band-Aids and measuring tape go in the same drawer. Okay, go.

• 10:18Speaker 00

  The other thing that I need in there is packing tape. Again, my husband is always putting the measuring tape and the packing tape out in the garage. But you know what he puts in the drawer? This is the thing where I feel like I look at him and I'm like, I don't know who you are. I don't understand you. He has like seven different screwdrivers and two-

• 10:40Speaker 01

  They don't go in the garage?

• 10:41Speaker 00

  Two needle nose pliers. Thank you.

• 10:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 10:44Speaker 00

  Thank you. Two needle nose pliers. I just cleaned out the drawer again and I said, babe, do we need both needle nose pliers in here? Like, when's the last time you were like, oh, I need some needle nose pliers and I need them quick. I need them to be really close, like in the kitchen. I mean, when did you use these last?

• 11:00Speaker 02

  And double. Why, did he have one in each hand?

• 11:02Speaker 00

  Exactly. They're the same size. One wasn't tinier than the other. And all the screwdrivers, I said similarly, like, how many of these screwdrivers are we using on a weekly basis? Zero.

• 11:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:13Speaker 00

  I think that tools can be out in the garage. But the packing tape that I use on almost every other day and the measuring tape, because I love to measure and the Band-Aids, we need those in the drawer.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  I want to throw this out there to you.

• 11:27Speaker 00

  What? I'm Haley. Haley and I get along.

• 11:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, this is so funny how this question like really fired me up. I really want the things in my kitchen to stay where they are. I just want them to stay right where they are. Especially the sponge. That's the other one.

• 11:41Speaker 00

  Is your sponge moving around?

• 11:43Speaker 02

  It's moving around. It's not getting squeezed out.

• 11:46Speaker 01

  I hate it when people leave it in the sink. I'm like, no.

• 11:49Speaker 02

  It's gross.

• 11:50Speaker 01

  Don't do that. Wait, always our sound engineer, Sam, and our producer, Matt, weigh in on this too. So Sam, what do you got?

• 11:57Speaker 04

  Nothing. I'm completely malleable. Move me.

• 11:59Speaker 01

  What?

• 12:00Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 12:01Speaker 01

  Sam? Wow.

• 12:03Speaker 04

  Me casa su casa, yeah.

• 12:05Speaker 00

  Not attached to where things live.

• 12:07Speaker 01

  Okay. All right.

• 12:08Speaker 00

  Sounds healthy.

• 12:09Speaker 01

  It does. It sounds really zen. Matt Beagle.

• 12:13Speaker 05

  I grew up in a house where we put cups and glasses in a drawer. And people think that's really weird, but it's just what I'm used to. So I like cups in a drawer, but that's unpopular, I think.

• 12:25Speaker 02

  Cups in a drawer is surprising because you don't think they're going to be there. So sometimes it's just harder to find.

• 12:30Speaker 05

  It's from childhood. I don't feel super strongly about it. It's just sort of like, I'm just kind of used to it.

• 12:34Speaker 01

  I'm going to throw this out there. One more thing. I didn't really tell passion I am about this stuff, especially since I'm someone who doesn't really care about kitchen things. But when the kids were little and we were like encouraging them to like help at dinnertime, set the table. We had these lower drawers in the kitchen that we put plates and cups in that were plastic. And they could then set their place at the table. And they got really excited about that. And now they're in high school. They're driving, they're teenagers, but they still want those cups and plates in the lower drawer. Because they use them for like, they grab them for snacks, like apple slices or M&Ms or peanuts.

• 13:14Speaker 01

  And I know someday the lower drawer won't be full of the plastic cups and plates. And I'm already like sad about it. I'm sorry, I have kids that are now seniors and Jenny, all this stuff is coming up. I'm like, someday there's not going to be the drawer.

• 13:26Speaker 00

  But lady, then you're going to be a grandma and it's going to be filled with all those-

• 13:29Speaker 01

  Oh, gosh. Not for a bit.

• 13:31Speaker 00

  Don't worry.

• 13:31Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 13:32Speaker 00

  Just keep them there.

• 13:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:34Speaker 00

  All right. Well, Haley, thank you so much for sending in your question. You got a lot of strong feelings from a lot of people.

• 13:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, that was fun.

• 13:41Speaker 00

  All right. Well, listen, why don't we take a break and then we're going to come back and we're going to talk more with Jenny.

• 13:46Speaker 01

  Yay.

• 13:57Speaker 01

  All right, you guys, we are back with Jenny Slate. And Jenny, you have a new animated movie coming out. It's called Forgotten Island. It's in theaters now.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 14:07Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 14:08Speaker 02

  It is. My character is, she's a spirit. And maybe not, you can't really tell, she good or bad. We will see. And somehow I'm always in that, I get put in that zone a lot of like playing the problematic person.

• 14:22Speaker 01

  The baddie. Same, same Jenny. I get, yeah.

• 14:26Speaker 02

  It's very opposite of how I see myself. Like, maybe the first time it happened was on The Kroll Show where Nick Kroll and I were playing these kind of like silly women who are both named Liz. They're like idiots. But then they like ratcheted it up on Parks and Rec with Mona Lisa, who's described as the worst person in the world.

• 14:44Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. That is one of my favorite characters, Mona Lisa. You and Ben Schwartz together.

• 14:51Speaker 02

  That's so cool. I love it. But anyway, in Forgotten Island, the character I play, Batiba, she's very cute and sweet and lonely. And in general, the movie is really funny and quite beautiful. I'm like a big animation fan, so it's, I don't know.

• 15:06Speaker 01

  It's very magical. Like, there's these two best friends and they fall through this portal and they get stuck on this forgotten island. And it's visually just beautiful and so colorful. And the creatures they encounter are otherworldly and really cool looking.

• 15:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's a total trip, not just into like the imagination, but it's a very interesting metaphor for like what it's like to move from your teenage years into like the world at large and like adulthood. And will you hold on to your childhood relationships? And these are things that I'm constantly fascinated by. And also like, and my character, as I said, is like, she's really lonely and afraid to go outside. And I don't know why I became this way, but I've always been really concerned with like, how do you make those things, not something we laugh at, but something that can make us laugh? So we can kind of get enough relief so that we can like find better options for how to deal with it?

• 16:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Or have empathy, right? And be like, oh, I remember a time like that in my life too. Yeah.

• 16:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:09Speaker 00

  I'm really excited to see this movie with my daughter. She's starting middle school. And similar to this movie, I mean, the characters are a little older in this movie. That one of them is going off to college. But like, my daughter's entering middle school and there's a lot of new friendships that are formed and friend groups shift. And you know, who was your best friend from kindergarten? Might not actually end up being your best friend when you graduate as a senior. And so I think that's a really cool part of this movie is just how friendships move.

• 16:41Speaker 01

  And transition.

• 16:42Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 16:43Speaker 02

  Yeah. Like I watch a lot of animated stuff with my daughter and she's five. And I think it won't be too scary for her to see. But I also think like my nieces and nephews who are older, like they're high schoolers. I think they'll really enjoy it. That's like kind of a score for me, that I can take them to a movie that I'm in.

• 17:01Speaker 01

  Oh, huge.

• 17:02Speaker 02

  Quite honest.

• 17:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:04Speaker 00

  Have you shown your daughter any of the other animated films that you have voiced a character for?

• 17:08Speaker 02

  I have. She appears to find Zootopia to be too scary, which I understand.

• 17:14Speaker 00

  At five, I get that.

• 17:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, she's, she's like scared of like conflict, which don't we all, you know? And she's a little bit afraid of the secret life of pets because the dogs don't get along at first. And she thinks that's too tough. But like weirdly, she's into Inside Out. Like when it's someone in an emotional struggle, she's like, I can understand, I'll plug in. But when it's someone just being like, I don't want you to be here.

• 17:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, right, right.

• 17:36Speaker 02

  Her feelings too much, which I, I'm kind of like, that's great. But she has seen The Lorax. I was the mom in The Lorax, also starring your co-star, Ed Helms.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 17:46Speaker 02

  Ed Helms, who is one of my dear friends and comes for Thanksgiving every year.

• 17:50Speaker 01

  So lovely. I love that. My kids actually were, well, listen, they're teenagers now and they're very excited that I'm meeting you because they think you're cool. Right? And I don't, I'm not cool, but you're cool. But they did say, you know, they obviously know a lot of your credits because they're older now. But they were like, one movie that was on repeat, because we had the DVD of it and we had the minivan with like the fold down little movie that you'd put the DVD in on road trips. They watched Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked.

• 18:23Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh.

• 18:24Speaker 01

  Over and over. And so they were like, oh, my gosh, will you tell her? We loved her in Alvin and the Chipmunks Chipwrecked. And so I promised him I would tell you that.

• 18:34Speaker 02

  Well, then I said, thank you. That was, I think, my first movie I was ever in.

• 18:39Speaker 01

  And again, you're like the baddie.

• 18:41Speaker 02

  I know. It's actually weird. Maybe it's because I forgot, honestly. That movie's wild. Like, I don't exactly remember the plot, but I kind of feel like I'm spoofing Tom Hanks in Cast Away.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  Yes, you are.

• 18:55Speaker 02

  My memory of making that movie is like, I'd never made a movie before. From what I, yeah, I think it was my first. And I had like been fired from SNL. I was like, how am I going to get a job? And then they were like, there's this movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks. I'm like, cool, great. And then I'd never also worked with like a green screen or any special effects. And like, the chipmunks aren't there. Spoilers for that. They're not real. And it already was like a sensitive time in my life because I was like, ah, you know, like, am I ever going to act again? Like, what happened? And then I just like, making the movie was genuinely very fun. And it was a lot of me in like a studio in Vancouver, talking to like a tennis ball on the stick. I hope that doesn't show in the performance.

• 19:37Speaker 01

  No, not at all. You totally sell it.

• 19:40Speaker 02

  And then we had like a few weeks in Hawaii and my parents came to visit just to make sure that I was like, okay.

• 19:48Speaker 00

  Well, you got a, you got a free trip out of Hawaii.

• 19:50Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 19:51Speaker 00

  Which is always fun when a movie or a project takes you somewhere cool.

• 19:54Speaker 01

  I know.

• 19:55Speaker 02

  Yeah. God, that's such a plus. It's all a dream. Like, I don't know what your experience of being in the entertainment industry is, but like, for me, it just has not worn off. It just hasn't worn off that I'm like, this is so.

• 20:09Speaker 01

  Cool. Yeah.

• 20:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:12Speaker 00

  You've done so many things, Jenny. I mean, you are an actress, but you're also a comedian, but you've also written books, but you also are now a podcaster. I'm very curious. Take me back to the beginning. Like, where did you grow up? And at what point did you realize, I want to be an entertainer?

• 20:30Speaker 02

  Well, I'm from Milton, Massachusetts, which is six miles south of Boston, and that's where my family is from. And I have two sisters. My parents are both artists. My mom is a potter and my dad is a poet. And we would like rent movies from the library. You know, like one of my dad's friends got us a VCR. And we rented movies from the library. And I really can't remember a time that I didn't want to be an actor. I really, really wanted to. And a lot of that was based off of watching like Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, but like also Sesame Street movies, like Follow That Bird. If anyone remembers that movie, it was so good. And like Shirley Temple, which I'm not sure those films have aged well, and I'm not sure I could recommend them.

• 21:15Speaker 02

  Maybe not the most sensitive appropriate films anymore, but at the time it was like mostly, I just liked that she was a little girl and she had tap shoes and she like had a big lollipop. And I just, yeah, I always wanted to be a performer, but my parents, they were like, you can do that in school. Like you can be in the plays and stuff. And I did speech team. I was on our speech and debate team, but they were just like, you're not gonna do that until you go to college. It was kind of understood. And I didn't really realize like that there were tracks, you know, like this person is a comedian or this person does dramatic acting. I kind of like thought you could just do everything because there also were actors that did that, like Carol Burnett.

• 21:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:55Speaker 02

  Like I just like, I really loved her so much. And for me, like her playing Miss Hannigan in Annie was like really scary.

• 22:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:02Speaker 02

  And really dramatic. And yeah, it never occurred to me that you might have to separate it out. And one of my life's dreams was to be on Saturday Night Live. I watched like all the tapes of Gilda Radner and I was obsessed with Gilda Radner. And I went to Columbia. I graduated and started doing stand up with my best friend, Gabe Ledman. And that's like, kind of how my career started. Like I got a manager who helped me get commercials.

• 22:26Speaker 01

  What was one of your earliest commercials? Cause that was my route. I did tons of commercials. And so.

• 22:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:31Speaker 01

  I love seeing people in old commercials.

• 22:33Speaker 02

  First of all, I didn't book a lot.

• 22:38Speaker 02

  Did you ever book those that were called like industrial?

• 22:40Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I did one.

• 22:42Speaker 02

  A lot of that.

• 22:43Speaker 01

  Yeah. I did one for like, I think it was for Ford and I had to talk about like the, I don't know, it was something in the engine. And it was like, I was so bad. It was really bad.

• 22:56Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, I feel like commercials are genuinely very hard and you have to be like so normal often about something that's not very exciting. You know, like it's one thing if you're like, you're you as you endorsing a toothbrush that you actually use, which I have done. And I'm like, I love this toothbrush. I really like it for my teeth as Jenny. But like, I remember doing a Cascade commercial. That's the one I really remember. And that, for reasons that I'll never understand, they gave me super long extensions. And also I didn't have a dishwasher, you know, like, like, like a tiny apartment in Brooklyn. I didn't have a dishwasher. And like, the one I had used was like my parents dishwasher, like that was very old.

• 23:37Speaker 02

  And I didn't like, I'd never used like a pod before. I just, I remember the whole day being like, I am so busted. Like, I don't know how to do this.

• 23:46Speaker 01

  That's amazing.

• 23:47Speaker 02

  Yeah. But it was a good way to make money while I was doing stand up. And my first audition for anything I believe that I got was the show Bored to Death, which starred Jason Schwartzman and Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis. And that was like my first job.

• 24:02Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 24:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:04Speaker 00

  So at that time, like Jason Schwartzman and Ted Danson were Ted Danson and Jason Schwartzman, but Zach Galifianakis was still kind of coming up, right?

• 24:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, I believe it was the year before the Hangover one came out.

• 24:19Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:21Speaker 00

  So I'm just curious, I've worked with a few of those guys and they're so talented and you walk on the set, like, what was that like? Do you remember?

• 24:30Speaker 02

  I would definitely remember because first of all, my best friend is married to Zach. And I didn't tell them that I was auditioning for the show because I just felt embarrassed. First of all, I don't really like asking for favors, I guess. I just, and I don't know, like, what if I was bad? And then, I'm not sure they could have helped me get on the show, but I just like, I was like, uh, oh, I got this part. Now I actually have to tell them weirdly that I'm like showing up at Zach's job. And it was like, it was supposed to be only like, I was gonna play this cashier and it was a smaller part. And then they made it bigger because it actually was so fun and went very well, which is like kind of every actor's dream.

• 25:09Speaker 02

  But I just remember like, you know, I was a huge Jason fan and I'm from Boston, like Ted Danson cheers.

• 25:17Speaker 01

  I mean, yeah.

• 25:18Speaker 02

  It's just crazy. And I just remember being like, just don't say anything. Just don't do anything. Don't say anything. Just do your lines and like, just don't be weird, you know? And that plan, which is like a terrible plan. I don't even know what that says about what I thought of myself. But what ended up happening was like, I was so, so, so, so nervous. But the second I started talking to Jason, who's very kind and friendly, the nervousness changed to total excitement that like, I was actually there. You know, I kind of expected someone to be like, get out. Like the fan on the field, you know, just like get her out of here. Like, why is this person here?

• 26:00Speaker 02

  And I would just remember like having the real dreamy feeling like, wow, I've actually crossed through the curtain into the dreamscape. And I'm one of the actors on the show. And like, nobody knows that I don't know any of the lingo. Like someone was like, so this is your mark? Like, I didn't know that people in a scene on TV don't just walk around wherever they want. I've never been on camera, other than like a Cascade commercial in a studio where I, they just put me in front of the dishwasher and I just opened it. You know, like I genuinely had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know what my mark was and I didn't know what coverage was.

• 26:36Speaker 02

  I didn't know, like, okay, like this is your side of the conversation. The camera's on you. You have to do your, like, you can't interrupt necessarily if they're not looking for crosstalk. Like I did not know what I was doing and everybody was really, really nice to me. And it was a real high. Like it just felt crazy. I kind of couldn't believe it. And honestly, when I think back on it now, I, I still feel like it's just a great stroke of luck, you know?

• 27:02Speaker 01

  I mean, so much of it feels that way, right? I mean, it's like just being in the right place at the right time, but also.

• 27:07Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:07Speaker 01

  You had done the work, like, it's not by chance, but it is. Do you know what I mean? It's kind of hard to describe. Cause like all the things line up, you have to show up, you have to do a good job. But I always think about that, especially coming up in improv and performing with just so many amazingly talented people who never got that lineup of all the things lining up. And they're so talented, you know?

• 27:29Speaker 02

  There's just no sure bets at all. Like I could have done all of that and it just maybe didn't go my way. And I feel very aware of that still. I didn't have like a five year plan coming out of college, but maybe I should have looking back.

• 27:46Speaker 01

  I know. I didn't have a backup plan. I think sometimes that's maybe a good thing. Do you know what I mean?

• 27:51Speaker 00

  I do. Yeah. I think not having a safety net can be good when you're pursuing an artistic life. Was there a risk that you took early in your career that particularly paid off?

• 28:03Speaker 02

  Ooh, yeah, I think so. I mean, everything is risk. Like everything like still is risk, you know? There's a, but I think it's kind of embarrassing to look back on the ways that I was like, I'll just put on this wig and get out there. And like, just so unselfconscious. But I think the risk that had like the most effect was probably doing the movie Obvious Child, which was like one of the first films I was in, maybe it was like the third. And it was a real indie, like a real indie indie. Like we are filming in the producer's house. I'm wearing the director's clothes. We are just very, very little money.

• 28:40Speaker 02

  And I mean, now it's even a, I think like the conversation is incredibly different because reproductive justice and abortion rights are so restricted. But at the time it was like. I still was like, oh, this is a movie about a comedian who gets an abortion and it's not joking about abortion. It's taking women's health seriously, but it's still really funny. And I just felt like, whoa, like, who knows what this will be like? And who knows what these, who these people are that I'm working with? And it just was so small. I genuinely did it because I wanted to do dramatic work. And it came to me, I had done the short film of it, which I don't feel like was a big risk. That was just kind of like, it's fun and it's normal and it's small. But I didn't really know what I was doing. I didn't know how to do a dramatic scene.

• 29:23Speaker 02

  I didn't go to like, acting school. And I, yeah, I think like, the biggest risk for me was like, I've always thought I could do this. What if I get there and I find out that I was completely wrong? You know, like, that, that seems, that it could happen. And instead, it, you know, the people that I made that film with, they became my best friends. They've directed and produced all of my comedy specials and I've worked with them many times over. And Liz, who produced that film, and she also produced Marcel the Shell of Shoes on the movie. And it just paid off in so many social and professional ways, for sure.

• 30:00Speaker 01

  Well, that is the movie that put you on my radar.

• 30:03Speaker 02

  Oh, really?

• 30:04Speaker 01

  Yes, yes. I absolutely loved that movie. And you definitely delivered. You won a Critics' Choice Award for it.

• 30:13Speaker 02

  That's true.

• 30:14Speaker 01

  Best actress in a comedy, yeah.

• 30:16Speaker 02

  Jenna, I do remember you getting in touch with me about it, I think. Maybe it was on Instagram or like, maybe we had an exchange. But I actually do remember being like, I think that she likes our movie.

• 30:26Speaker 00

  I might have slid into your DMs. You know, Jake Lacy from The Office is in that movie. And he had told me about it. And I was like, I gotta see this movie. It sounds so interesting. And it is, and it's all the things you said. It's a really grounded, cool conversation, but then also really, really funny. And you gave the character just, oh, God, she was just so real. I love that movie.

• 30:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:54Speaker 02

  I'm glad.

• 30:55Speaker 01

  You just saw such humanity, you know, in your performance. You were so honest and it was really beautiful. And when we knew you were gonna come on the podcast, both Jenna and Matt were like, Andrew, have to see Obvious Child. And I was like, okay, that's the one I, I hadn't seen. And it is really wonderful.

• 31:13Speaker 05

  It's the best movie ever. It's so, it really is just one of my favorites.

• 31:17Speaker 04

  I just want to pile on, I love that movie. You're great at it.

• 31:21Speaker 02

  My gosh, thank you.

• 31:23Speaker 01

  I do want to take us back, though, to 2010, because how I first got to know you was Marcel the Shell with Shoes on. And I watched all of them. I mean, my friends and I would like, like, send them, like, there was a line, oh, it's something, do you want to know how I put my skis on top of my car? And you're like, with a hair? I don't know, you guys, I'm doing horrible, I'm like, doing you to you. This is so embarrassing.

• 31:47Speaker 02

  No, no, no.

• 31:48Speaker 01

  There were so many, like, I loved, like, do you want to guess? Like, all the, like, ways, I don't know, I just thought that was brilliant. And then I thought it was so cool that it became a movie and it got nominated for an Academy Award. That's just like, that, like, as someone that was a fan of it from the very beginning, I was like, amazing.

• 32:05Speaker 02

  That, thank you. That's also a good example of a thing that you do. It actually didn't feel like a risk, because it was something that my ex-husband and I just did for, like, fun, you know? And there was like, a small comedy show that asked him to make a video. So like, he was like, maybe I'll do that for that. But we were not, I mean, this was really like, we didn't, I didn't even know what like, Vimeo was then. And I think it was pre-Instagram, maybe.

• 32:31Speaker 01

  It was, yeah.

• 32:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. So it was like, you know, the idea of like, a content creator, like, that kind of, that just wasn't, nobody would know what that was. That wasn't a term. And, or at least not one that was like, so in the zeitgeist or had the function that it has now. And like, we just did it for fun. And I think there are so many questions in it, because we were like, trying to find out who this character is. And then we realized that it's just such a funny game to describe his life, because he's so small. And the way that he has to live his life is like, he's made to be inventive. He has to in order to survive. And it's just like, a pure thing that we did. And it is astounding that it just sort of kept developing. And it also took a long time. Like, the movie took us seven years to make.

• 33:16Speaker 02

  And I think it came out probably a decade, even more than a decade, after we made the first short.

• 33:21Speaker 00

  Well, the wait definitely paid off. It's so great. Well, ladies, how about if we take a break? But then we'll come back and we'll chat more.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, I mean, my gosh, there's just so much. Jenny, what you've created is just really astounding. It's really amazing. Because you're, you're like a multi-hyphenate, right? I always tell Jenna, I want to be a multi-hyphenate on Wikipedia. But you're a multi-hyphenate. And you have this book that you just wrote called Life Form. Do you want to share with us about that?

• 34:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, sure. Life Form is my second book. It's a book of small pieces that describe the five-year period in my life between like, when I was single, right, like, at the edge of my final single moments, right before I met my now-husband Ben, and all the way through, like, pregnancy and having a baby and being with a baby, and then like, ongoing. I think I started to write little pieces while I was pregnant. And I don't know if this is a common feeling, but maybe a common fear that like, will this be all I am and do? Like, is this gonna be the thing that people ask me about the most? Like, being pregnant or being a mother? And I think because of that, I wanted to see the, just a greater arc of what my experience

• 34:47Speaker 02

  was, so that I could prove to myself, like, of course, everything is connected. And of course, we have things that stand out, or the moments that are the most impactful. But it is all connected and you stay you while you also change. And I think that's like, in a sort of playful way, what the book represents. But that said, then I was like, I should have done more pregnancy writing, you know? Like, I still want to reflect on it. And one of the things I'm really excited about right now is my friends Rebecca Stein and Julie Bunton, who are these incredible novelists, put together an anthology called Notes to New Mothers, which is just a beautiful book of all different contributors, all of these different people who are experiencing motherhood. And I've recently contributed to that.

• 35:31Speaker 01

  Oh, nice.

• 35:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's out now. But it is something that, like, if you have any listeners that are new mothers or about to be mothers or have a mother that they want to get to know, it's like an encyclopedia of experiences and so many different voices and so many different forms.

• 35:47Speaker 00

  Do you know what that's bringing up in me? I'm getting a little emotional as you talk about this. It's how, as a child, I think maybe you don't see your mom as a whole person. You really just see your mom as your mom. But your mom is a whole person. And then, for me, as a mom, everything you just said, like, I'm still a whole person with other thoughts and ideas and aspirations. And so I love the idea of this book of essays that sort of put into context that idea. Am I making sense? It's like-

• 36:23Speaker 02

  Completely, yeah. Completely. Mothers are, you can kind of be made flat, or like, you're just defined in one way. But actually, I mean, at least in my experience, like, the experience is deeply personal, even though if you become a parent, you're part of a really, really vast collective, of course. But the personal parts of it are the ones that can make you sometimes feel really isolated. They're sometimes really hard to describe. And they're also the things that are really, really unique, that you might seek to preserve, you know, your own perceptions as a parent and as like, a human being. And I think the reason why my own book, Life Form, and this new collection that I added pieces to, which is Notes to New Mothers, like, for me, I just like, I feel like it's

• 37:08Speaker 02

  so important to have as many different styles and as many different examples as possible. Not just so that, like, more of us can connect, but that, like, you can get out of your own rut of personal definition. You know, like, I always want to be offered different ways to define myself and to not get stuck in an old definition that maybe I put on myself because I'm hard on myself or I'm critical or I, you know, whatever. But yeah, I guess, I just didn't realize that- My view of my own mom would change so much once I became a parent.

• 37:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly.

• 37:47Speaker 02

  Jesus Christ, she worked so hard.

• 37:50Speaker 00

  I called my mom the other day and I said to her, I was like, Mom, did you used to go at the beginning of the school year and weed out all the clothes that were stained and didn't fit me anymore? And then put my back to school shopping clothes like in my drawer for me? Because I didn't do it. And I thought of it because I had just done it for my own kids. And I was like, oh, my God, I did not see her do this. I had no awareness, but like, I also didn't have a dresser filled with 18 years of clothes. So someone did it. I know my dad didn't do it, but I just wanted to say I'm really deeply moved by your book.

• 38:30Speaker 01

  So I'm glad.

• 38:31Speaker 00

  I am really excited about these books and I think.

• 38:34Speaker 01

  Well, we'll definitely share them with our listeners and put little swipe ups on where people can get them. And you know, a mother's journey never ends. I was just home with my mom who's 88 and we were doing some laundry. And I said, Mom, do you remember that one time? Cause my mom's pretty even kill. And I was like, you remember that one time you were so frustrated? And you just started throwing everyone's laundry down the hallway? We both just started laughing and we don't even remember what it was, but I'm sure none of us were doing our laundry and it was all piling up. And so she just had it, but you just see them as just such, just real people, you know? And I think as she's getting older, all those moments of us just like laughing our butts

• 39:18Speaker 01

  off about some moment, you know? It's just like pile the treasures and keep them close, you know?

• 39:24Speaker 02

  Oh, my God. My mom is somebody who like, I don't think, she's not like a big comedy fan. Like she doesn't like need that.

• 39:32Speaker 02

  It's just like not her deal. Like I'm not offended by it at all. It's just, that's not what she goes towards. She's just, you know, she doesn't even really watch TV at all, actually. Or like she'll watch like Masterpiece Theater. But to get my mom to laugh, it's just rare. It's just so rare. And I've tried directly to like make her laugh and maybe that won't do it. But my sisters and I were talking about, like, I ended up at a very expensive dollhouse store with my daughter recently and it like blew my mind and I felt like very upset about it that it was just so expensive. And I just was like, this is not how much this stuff costs. Like it doesn't, it just, it doesn't. I'm looking on Etsy, it doesn't cost this much. And I felt very upset about it. I was telling my sisters, like, man, it was just like crazy.

• 40:13Speaker 02

  And I, all I said was, I remember one time when we went with Nana and Papa to the dollhouse store on the Cape and I really wanted this miniature glazed Thanksgiving turkey. And my mom, she did a spit take, like spit out, like she was like drinking sangria. I mean, maybe that's why it happened, but like to make her laugh, it was so gratifying. And now generally I just, I'm like, I just want to do nice things for my mom. I didn't understand how much pressure she was under at all. I definitely didn't understand.

• 40:45Speaker 01

  Yeah. We were going to ask you like some questions if like you watched The Office, if there was a character you identified with.

• 40:52Speaker 02

  I just have something that I really need you to know. And I've said this to Ed Helms, but you know, like I watched The Office when it was on TV. I always loved it. It always was perfect to me. There was one point where I auditioned for it and I didn't get it.

• 41:06Speaker 01

  What role?

• 41:07Speaker 02

  It was like, do you remember Dwight? He has an intern, but I don't remember, I don't remember what the name of the part. I just remember being like, oh, my God, this is a huge deal. And then not getting it and being like, ah. But I, yeah, always loved it, always. I'm always the person like watching it like on a plane, you know? Like, like, I'm just like, I, I know all the episodes and I'm still watching it. But it had a complete renaissance, a complete new meaning, like complete new power for me and my husband, because when I had my daughter, which was December of 2020. So I was pregnant for the whole start of the pandemic. Like I gave birth in a mask. My.

• 41:48Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 41:49Speaker 02

  My family was there, like I, you know, we were really, really by ourselves. But every day at like 4:45, we would be like, and the walking part of the day is over. We're done, we're getting in bed. And we would like order takeout and we would watch The Office. And it was like many new parents, just like, I was so tired. I was so anxious. I was really happy to be doing what I was doing, but like, it was a lot. And to be able to laugh that hard and, and like, we craved the show. Like we were just looking at the clock, being like, ah, it's like, it was 4:30, can we get in bed? And we watched season after season. We would watch so many episodes tonight.

• 42:31Speaker 02

  We would watch it until like, you like, one of us just put the baby in her little snoo thing and like, and we like, we were like, just, it soothed us to sleep. But then if we fell asleep, we would go back and we would watch the episode that we fell asleep on. It was the most comforting, rejuvenating thing. And like, it truly gave our family so much joy. And I really like thinking that my daughter, when she was like first in this world, heard me and my husband laugh so much. And it is because of the show. And I know that's so cheesy, but it's really true, really true. And it just means so much to me, your work and the show. And I love it so much and thank you.

• 43:11Speaker 01

  Jenny, my gosh, that's so wonderful.

• 43:15Speaker 02

  Really real.

• 43:16Speaker 00

  Do you have a favorite episode or character that you particularly gravitated toward?

• 43:22Speaker 02

  Oh, my God. I mean, I have like a niche secret favorite. You know, Mark Prash, like, like him in the warehouse, like when he's just like.

• 43:34Speaker 02

  Like that character just like really kills me. But I, I mean, I don't know if people say this, it's really, really, really, really, really hard to pick a fave. But I mean, I'm like a big Michael fan, even though he often makes me feel really upset and uncomfortable. I also love like the episode where he and Toby, like Toby sort of tricks him into doing like kid therapy. You know, where it's like, like, he's like, I forget that, that what Michael's stepdad's name, but like Michael's like, my mom, like she spent a lot of time.

• 44:08Speaker 01

  Jeff, Jeff. Yeah, it's Jeff.

• 44:10Speaker 02

  Oh, who's Jeff? And they're like playing a board game and it's like Jeff's, I mean, he's okay. Like, it's just so funny. I mean, I don't know, I can't, they're all, they're, the CPR episode where Kelly starts dancing. That is such a funny joke. The episode where Andy says, beer, beer, me a water.

• 44:33Speaker 00

  Well, you do have an Office connection through Mike Schur, because you, you know, were on Parks and Rec. Can we talk about Parks and Rec for a hot second before we let you go? I love Mona Lisa, money, money, money.

• 44:47Speaker 01

  Money, please. Mona Lisa, and just, I mean, I know so many people have talked to you about that. Don't be suspicious, don't be, but I, you know, like there's some things that come on. You're just like, I'm going to watch that. And I've watched it a gazillion times, but I'm going to watch it again, because it makes me laugh every time. If I am scrolling anywhere and that comes up, I'm like, like it makes me so happy every time.

• 45:09Speaker 02

  Oh, I'm really glad. That part was written for me by my friend, Joe Mandy. He was like, I wrote a weird part, will you come and do it? Like, like I never, certainly didn't expect that to be a thing at all. And I really enjoyed it. And like, I am sure they have like 20 million hours of just garbage, like, like stuff that hit the cutting room floor because Ben and I would not shut up. Like, we just couldn't stop. Also, I didn't even get to like the Angela and Pam of my favorites, especially like Angela's trysts, like her uptight trysts with Dwight, like those moments are just, especially just because physically you're so tiny and he's so tall.

• 45:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:50Speaker 02

  You know? Also, there are so many funny Pam moments, but like the episode where you go across the coals, which is more of a dramatic one, like that makes me cry so much. And like, when you tell Jim that like you used to be best friends and you're not anymore, and then it ends in the kiss, that is one of the best episodes of TV. Just to say, I love it so much. God damn.

• 46:16Speaker 00

  We were very lucky.

• 46:18Speaker 01

  We were.

• 46:18Speaker 00

  Lucky.

• 46:19Speaker 02

  And like Michael has a lot of pairings, you know, that like offset him. You know, like there's Michael and Dwight and there's, you know, like, and Michael and Holly and like the Michael and Pam of just Pam, like just really having to take it in and often having to do things that are just so inane. It's so satisfying. Like that just takes an insane amount of nuance and talent. And anyway, I could like truly tell, talk to you guys about this forever.

• 46:46Speaker 01

  Well, thank you so much for saying all of that. I really related to something you said at the top, which is like, I never saw myself as the bitch. I always am like, hey, guys, what's going on? Hi, y'all. And so when I got cast as that, it was so surprising. My mom says I either play the bitch or the weirdo. She's like very eager for me to play someone like, I guess, I don't know, whatever. But you know, Jenny, you can come back anytime, anything you want to talk about, come back, because this is so fun.

• 47:14Speaker 02

  Thank you so much for having me. It's like really, really a highlight of my experience here on earth that I got to do this.

• 47:24Speaker 01

  Well, thanks so much, Jenny.

• 47:26Speaker 00

  Jenny, thank you so much.

• 47:28Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh, I really, really appreciate everything. Thank you for having me.

• 47:33Speaker 01

  Yes. Hugs, hugs, hugs, and we'll share all the things.

• 47:37Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 47:37Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 47:38Speaker 02

  Cool. Bye.

• 47:43Speaker 00

  Well, that was just so fun.

• 47:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:45Speaker 00

  Everyone, please be sure to check out Jenny's new movie, Forgotten Island, in theaters now. It really is a lovely story about friendship. I loved also, by the way, how she said her character might be considered a baddie, but I love how she approached the role with such heart and thoughtfulness.

• 48:04Speaker 01

  And you know what, you guys, we'll be sure and share about it in our Insta stories. And I'll also share where you can get Jenny's new book, Life Form, and the book of essays about motherhood that she talked about, Notes to New Mothers.

• 48:14Speaker 00

  I'm going to remember that book this coming Mother's Day.

• 48:17Speaker 01

  That is a great idea, lady.

• 48:19Speaker 00

  All right, everyone, thanks for joining us and we'll see you next week.

• 48:22Speaker 01

  See you then.

• 48:26Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

• 48:29Speaker 01

  Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.

• 48:34Speaker 00

  Our senior producer is Matt Beagle and our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

• 48:38Speaker 01

  Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

• 48:41Speaker 00

  Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

• 48:44Speaker 01

  Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.