-This is such a very exciting time to be Jenny Slate.
You have a Netflix special. You have a new book.
And congratulations. You just got engaged.
-I did! -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you.
-Was it fun? Was it a good engagement story?
-It was a very good engagement story.
He proposed to me in France.
-Oh, that's wonderful.
-Isn't that so romantic?
And then -- And it was -- It was very lovely.
And then the post-engagement period
where you're like, "Oh, my goodness.
It's happening."
It's still happening. Yeah.
-Yeah, good. -Yeah.
It happened to me. That's nice.
And it continued from France into the United States.
-That's great. -Yeah.
-It got through customs. -It got through customs,
the joy. -This is really, though --
This has must have been so exciting for your hometown --
very proud of you. -Oh, yeah.
-And -- A local business took --
-A business. -Made the effort...
-Mm-hmm. -...to use their signage...
-Yes. -...to congratulate you and Ben.
-Yeah.
-Were you happy when you saw this?
-Okay. [ Laughter ]
I --
I -- Happy --
-"Milton's own Jenny Slate is engaged.
Congrats, Jenny and Ben."
-I know.
First of all, I -- thank you very much.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Yeah.
I grew up in this town
in, like, a haunted house in the middle of the woods.
Stayed inside the house.
Don't know anyone from the town. Okay?
That's nice. Secondly, Dairy Freeze is like the holy place
smack-dab between my parents' and my grandparents' house.
And we were never allowed to go there.
And I would beg, like, every time, like, "Please, please!"
Like, riding in the car, like, slamming on the window.
And my mom would be like, "You're lactose intolerant!
We can't!"
[ Laughter ]
And so, yeah.
[ Laughter ]
The fact that, first of all, this place knows that I exist
is a miracle in itself. -Yeah.
-Then the fact that I have overcome
my lactose intolerance -- Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
An achievement. -Yeah.
-And then, of course, the engagement
to the man of my dreams, you know --
-Yeah. This really
ticks a lot of boxes. -Lay me down. I'm dead.
-This whole thing, yeah. -Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, that's usually where it's like, two-for-one hot dogs.
"Do you like wieners?" or whatever.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-And they were like, "You know, no.
They're going to have to just risk
that there's two-for-one hot dogs tonight.
We have to promote Jenny."
-That's right. They have to promote my engagement.
I'll also say that this happened on a day when I was in the town.
And I'm really glad I didn't see it,
'cause I would have completely, like, floored the car
into the Dairy Freeze. -Oh, driven --
Yeah, like I would have been like, "Oh, my God!!"
[ Laughter ]
-I want to talk about your book, which is so lovely.
-Thank you.
-And I imagine you agree to write a book first.
And then you have to write the book.
And that must be so overwhelming,
that burden of pressure.
-You know what? It is.
And it is also a joy to write a book, and I love this book.
But I am a terrible procrastinator.
-Yes. I think a lot of people in our field are.
-Whoa, yeah. And also, at the time, loved to smoke weed.
-Oh, right, right, right. -Yeah.
So it was kind of like, "Yeah, I'll definitely do this.
I'll just, like, take a quick break for one sec."
-Yeah.
-Then like eight months pass, and I wake up. I'm like --
[ Gasps ]
[ Laughter ]
But, yeah, but it was lovely to write it
and also to decide, "Hey, guess what?
Got to stop smoking weed."
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-You also -- It very much strikes me
as the book you wanted to write.
-Yes. -Which it must be so lovely
to have that moment of just taking control and being,
"Oh, you know what? I have things to express
that other people would never express this way."
And it seemed like you really enjoyed yourself.
-I'm really glad that you say that.
I did enjoy myself. I think the book is funny,
but it's -- It's very sweet,
which is kind of like an interesting position
to take in today's world.
-Yeah. No, I think we all could use a little sweetness.
I did want to talk about the cover,
because you kind of look at it, and it looks sweet.
And then you zoom in, and you're like, "Oh,
I don't think I've ever seen, like, a hamburger
on a cornucopia before."
-Yes, yeah.
-There's like a beer -- Is that a beer can?
-That's a beer can. I asked for the bronto.
-Yeah, the brontosaurus. -And I'm pretty sure --
-Yeah, there you go. -I asked for the hot dog.
-Oh, there's the hot dog.
-There's a hot dog. Yeah.
And then they just put a bra and a beer there because...
-Yeah. -...that makes sense, as well.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-And when you saw that, were you just --
I'm always blown away when artists, like, physical artists,
when you ask them to do something, and it comes back --
I'm always just blown away
by their skill and what they can do.
Were you so happy when you saw the cover of this book?
-I was. I was so, so happy,
because, like, there's a version of this in my nightmare
where it's just like a bagel.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah. Just, like --
Wait, what? Just, like, a big Star of David,
and they're like, "No, this is your book."
They're like, "Your book has arrived."
It's just the Old Testament.