The Spartan Speaker Series hosted actress, comedian and author Jenny Slate on a webinar on Wednesday to discuss her career, Women's History Month and the intersection between comedy and mental health.
Slate has appeared in “Marcel the Shell with Shoes on,” “Parks and Recreations,” “Saturday Night Live” and is the author of “Little Weirds.”
She discussed her beginnings into acting and comedy from her time as a student at Columbia University.
“Being at Columbia was about finding a community of creative people that I really connected with and understanding that I didn’t have to compromise and I could still be a person,” Slate said. “Reading books, into literature, would all feed into making me a better performer.”
She said her biggest supporters in life are her parents, grandparents and comedian friends.
“As an actor, I didn’t have a single connection in the entertainment world,” Slate said. “My parents supported me by constantly keeping an open conversation with me […] my grandparents supported me […] I was lucky when I started to be around a community of comedians who were so thrilled to see what other people were doing because we all fed off of it.”
Slate said she believes the most crucial role in the development of her acting career was playing Donna Stern in “Obvious Child.”
Donna Stern is a persona transitioning into adulthood who becomes pregnant after a one-night stand and doesn’t want to have a kid, according to Charactour.
“I think I experienced what you might call a feminist awakening and I understood that misogyny can be silent and internalized,” Slate said. “By living in patriarchy, it’s a joyful process to identify it and route it out.”
In addition to being an actress, Slate said being a producer is a luxury and something she has worked hard for.
“I like being a producer because you can lay kind, but clear boundaries about what can be included and what cannot be included,” she said.
Slate said it’s essential for her to be supportive of comedians and performers because she believes she earns other people's compassion by being kind.
She said she suffers when she feels as if she’s untouchable, unviewable and unlovable.
“I think that with any hardships that I’ve experienced, there has always been this weird secret wellspring of energy,” Slate said.
Sarah Strader-Garcia has been a counselor of Counseling and Psychological Services at San Jose State for nine years. She advocates for people to take care of their mental health.
“Mental health means having a good relationship with yourself, knowing yourself really well, because you’re with yourself for the rest of your life,” said Strader-Garcia. “Emotions are supposed to flow through us so being able to allow our feelings to come and go is natural.”
She said comedy and laughing can help relieve mental stress.
“Laughter is great medicine. When you’re laughing, you’re tightening your muscles, your heart rate increases, and so you’re having this experience, but then afterwards, it's a relief,” said Strader-Garcia.
She said she believes the qualities of a relationship, whether family, friend or associate are important.
Slate emphasized the importance of having people around you who love you, which helps during negative moments in life.
She said she needs people around her who are going to dip a hand down into a shaft so she can pull herself up.
Slate said putting emotion into art is a way to recover from a sad mental state.
“When you put those feelings into art, you can give the art as a gift to other people. You also package it as something beautiful and nontoxic,” Slate said. “When I do that for myself, I can repurpose my painful feelings as something useful and capable of change.”
She said people should accept change because everything changes all the time, even the good things.
“Your life is your life, you’re living it right now,” said Slate. “If you’re happy today you’ll worry less about whether or not you’re happy tomorrow.
