With a distinct voice and even more distinct brand of comedy, Jenny Slate has built a solid body of work. But as evidenced in her new Prime Video stand-up special, Jenny Slate: Seasoned Professional, brought to audiences in part by A24, her truest sense of humor is only going to reach so many people.
A Notable Yet Underrecognized Career
Slate is that comedic actor who you’ve seen or heard in something whether you’ve sought out her work or not (and likely you haven’t). Perhaps you’re most familiar with her work on Kroll Show or Parks and Recreation. Maybe you recognize her voice from animated hits for kids like The Lorax, The Secret Life of Pets, or Despicable Me 3, or adult animation like Bob’s Burgers, Big Mouth, or The Great North. The comedian even had a role in the 2023 Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once and starred in the 2014 critically acclaimed Obvious Child. She also co-wrote and starred in Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. (You don’t know her from playing Pennywise in It, a fact she made clear during a bit in her latest special.)
Slate’s career took off when she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for a season, and as she’s since shared, she didn’t renew for a second season because she didn’t fit in well there. Her professional writing credits (and by professional, we mean those listed on IMDb) began in earnest in her post-SNL career, the most notable being her contributions to the Marcel the Shell world (a character which she co-created) and her two stand-up specials, Jenny Slate: Stage Fright and Jenny Slate: Seasoned Professional. Slate has been around the block, but not many people know it.
‘Jenny Slate: Seasoned Professional’ Won’t Win All Audiences
What Slate hinted at in Stage Fright and proved in Seasoned Professional, she’s not for everybody. As a stand-up comedian, she doesn’t have the mass appeal of her contemporaries. Her sense of humor is odd, and not all audiences are going to respond well to it. But what Slate does in Seasoned Professional more than she did in Stage Fright is lean into her oddball sense of humor. With bits about giving birth, pooping her pants as an adolescent, peeing her pants as an adult, and harboring intense jealousy for her therapist’s daughter, Slate forges boldly into weirdo territory, wearing her sense of humor proudly. It works for her, but it won’t work for everyone.
And though not everyone is going to like Seasoned Professional, enough people will likely to warrant a future stand-up special from Slate. What’s fortunate for the comedian is that she doesn’t need to rely on her stand-up career. These seem to be passion projects for Slate while she focuses on more lucrative projects written by other people so she can make a living – a wise strategy. If you love oddball humor, particularly female-centric oddball humor, watch Seasoned Professional. If you don’t, familiarize yourself with Slate’s career through one of her other aforementioned projects.
Jenny Slate: Seasoned Professional is streaming now on Prime Video.