Little Weirds

Little Weirds (2019) is a collection of personal essays by Jenny Slate, a comedian who plays with language and perception to present a unique view of the world. Slate combines stories, personal essays, recollections of dreams, and other short snippets of language that are combined into a whimsical and imaginative rendering of the inside of the actress and comedian's bizarre mind. Slate writes about the presidency, her failing marriage, and her own struggle with the patriarchy while remaining funny, whimsical, and weird.

Combining a number of different kinds of writings—dreams, daydreams, stories, folklore, personal essays, plays with words—Slate writes about the strangeness of the world with the same whimsy she demonstrates in her stand-up comedy. She is known for the YouTube video series Marcel the Shell and is the star of Obvious Child, a movie about a stand-up comedian who gets pregnant after a one night stand.

Some of Slate's subjects, per her own description, include “a French-kissing rabbit, a haunted house, death, a vagina singing sad old songs … a dog who appears in dreams as a spiritual guide, divorce.” The real impetus behind the story lies in Slate's final note—divorce. In the essays and tangentially through stories and musings, Slate is writing about the dissolution of her marriage and the difficulties it caused in her life. She is particularly interested in exploring these touchstones of her life to help readers find their own vulnerability and learn how to love themselves.



In her essays, Slate talks about her own struggles, which vary in severity from depression to stage fright. She explains her painful, hours-long preparation to go on stage before a stand-up comedy set, and how doing stand-up despite this fright has allowed her to truly embrace and love herself. She writes about voicing her own vulnerability as a way to allow others to be themselves; she also says, quite pointedly, that her vulnerability should remind people to be kind, not only to themselves but also to others. By being vulnerable, Slate hopes to cultivate a culture of empathy.

Slate only briefly touches on her personal life but does discuss the difficulty of going through a divorce around the 2016 election. She watches her marriage fail as Donald Trump and Hillary battle during the brutal campaign, and as Donald Trump finds himself the leader of the nation. Slate is clearly displeased by this development, saying, Trump “pig-snorted his way into the presidency.” Part of her displeasure with the president becomes clear when, in other essays, she discusses her problems with patriarchal culture, and the trouble it has caused in her life both before and during her career on the stage. Slate is clear that the dissolution of her marriage caused incredible pain: “I didn’t know how or why to give myself small pleasures.”

Ultimately, Slate makes it through her heartbreak, with the guidance of her friends and family, and the power of her own love for herself, which she works to cultivate and bring back into her life. As she reveals this personal triumph, she also writes about the lovelorn power of ghosts, and other oddities—for example, a list of items to bring inside to help you embrace your wildness.



Slate is an actress and comedian, best known for her YouTube mini-series Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which was adapted into a children's book series. Slate appeared on Saturday Night Live from 2009-2010, and often guest-starred in Bob's Burgers, Parks and Recreation, and other popular television shows. She recently starred in the film Obvious Child and is currently co-starring in the comedy series Married. Slate also starred in the films Zootopia and Secret Life of Pets. Little Weirds, her first book for adults, received praise from many readers. Slate graduated from Milton Academy and Columbia University. She was previously married to Dean Fleischer-Camp, a filmmaker with whom she collaborated on the Marcel the Shell YouTube and book series.