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Promotional art for Seasoned Professional
Cover image credit: via TMDB

Seasoned Professional

Jenny Slate

Prime Video · 2024 · 64 min

Jenny Slate delivers a theatrical, high-energy hour on motherhood and therapy.

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Jenny Slate steps onto the stage with the hyper-expressive energy of a cartoon character brought to life. In her second hour-long set, she approaches typical life updates, like marriage, motherhood, and pandemic-era domesticity, with a frantic, deeply theatrical delivery that shifts from hushed whispers to explosive shrieks in the span of a single sentence. Rather than marching chronologically through these milestones, the show functions as a love story in reverse, beginning with the birth of her daughter before rewinding to trace her relationship with her husband, her intense attachment to her therapist, and the personal growth required to welcome stability.

Filmed at the BAM Harvey Theater in Brooklyn and directed by her long-time collaborator Gillian Robespierre, the 2024 special marks a stylistic departure from Slate’s 2019 debut, Stage Fright. While that previous hour interspersed standard stand-up with documentary footage and home videos, this performance keeps the focus entirely on her physical presence on stage. This uninterrupted format highlights her gift for character work and physical comedy, whether she is mimicking a walrus guzzling mackerel or detailing a public gastrointestinal disaster on a staircase in Sweden.

Slate’s return to the stage came after a highly visible period in her career, which included her voice work for the Oscar-nominated film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and a role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. The title of the special offers a tongue-in-cheek nod to her hard-won confidence, contrasting her theatrical vulnerability with the actual dread of live performance she has spoken about throughout her career. While reviews noted that her manic, highly stylized delivery might test the patience of viewers looking for traditional observational setups, others praised the hour as a cohesive, deeply felt demonstration of her specific, theatrical voice.

The set list

5 bits

  1. Explaining the postpartum physical changes to her body, specifically her breasts transforming drastically from breastfeeding

    Self-deprecating and explicit description of going from a B-cup to 'an instant set of fucking porny gazongas' while trying to use mature terms like 'breasts' for her doctor

  2. A traumatic middle school school trip to the Hard Rock Cafe in Montreal

    Recalling a disastrous lactose-intolerant diarrhea mishap triggered by eating dairy and cheese with the popular kids

  3. A cross-country road trip with her future husband at the onset of pandemic lockdowns in 2020

    Humorously detailing excretory mishaps along the route before reaching Massachusetts and conceiving their child that night

  4. A romantic trip to Amsterdam with her then-boyfriend

    A high-stamina climactic routine confronting her trust issues and cementing their relationship

  5. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Her profound love for her therapist Pamela and imagining stalking Pamela's daughter closer

    A colorful, unhinged physical routine involving repetition and an awkward imagined bathroom encounter

How it plays

Tone
Silly, confessional, vulgar, romantic, endearing, self-deprecating, and vulnerable
On stage
Electric, romantic, naughty, goofy, manic, absurdly charismatic, childlike yet profane, guilelessly honest, and intensely expressive like a living cartoon character
Pace
Livewire momentum with wild roller-coaster vocal acrobatics alternating between whispers and boisterous yells, paired with energetic physical comedy
About
pregnancy and childbirth, motherhood and bodily changes, love and marriage, the COVID-19 pandemic, therapy and mental health, overcoming trust issues and stage fright

What the critics said

Extremely well-received; critics praised Slate's energetic, goofy, and vulnerable performance, noting the special effectively captured her live-act eccentricity and comic voice better than her debut

In the room: Delighted and cheered, though some viewers found her loud vocal antics and noise-making juvenile

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: epicnothing.org, bbfc.co.uk, rottentomatoes.com, pro.imdb.com, decider.com, nytimes.com, pastemagazine.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, npr.org, vanityfair.com.

Backstory

Filmed following Slate remarrying, giving birth to a daughter, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, and overcoming stage fright; structured as a reverse love story tracing her steps backward

Details

Released
Taped
2023, BAM Harvey, Brooklyn
Runtime
64 min
Where
Prime Video
Director
Gillian Robespierre
Honors
100% on Rotten Tomatoes (5 reviews)
Topics
Before
Stage Fright (2019)

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