Jenny Slate talks about what makes her cry, proves that she is all of us

The endlessly adorable Jenny Slate (who you might have seen in Obvious Child, or as the terrifyingly amazing Mona Lisa in Parks and Recreation) is one of our favorite humans. She’s not afraid of publicly expressing her emotions, no matter how raw, or embarrassing, or exciting they are, and that’s just so refreshing and inspiring! Because I don’t know about you, but so often I feel like I need to stifle my feels. Like, sometimes I just want to CRY when I see a grandpa walking his puppy at the park. Or when I watch a baby watch the rain for the first time, ever. Or when I order a pizza and it’s just so impossibly delicious, just the sheer beauty of melty cheese and sharp pepperoni brings tears to my eyes.

Anyway, Jenny Slate is our Princess of Crying. She’s all about it. She gets it. This week Jenny was on Susan Orlean and Sarah Thyre’s wonderful podcast, Crybabies, and her segment was all about those truly evocative moments and movies and songs that make us feel things and pull at our heartstrings. On Crybabies, she shared what makes her cry. Which turns out to be:

1. A Tree of Life

2. How love is so beautiful it blooms and inspires us all

3. Bikini line concealers

4. Her grandparents

5. Gentle dinosaurs

6. Loneliness 

She also took Susan and Sarah’s cry quiz, and revealed these very important things about her crying habits:

1. A good cry cheers her up after awhile.

2. She’s a noisy crier as well as a silent sobber.

3. She has NOT slid down a wall while crying, even though that looks super cathartic in movies.

4. She cries into her hands, instead.

5. She uses her shirt sleeve to wipe her cry-snot and tears because that’s what is available.

6. Jenny definitely cries more at weddings than funerals.

7. The last time she cried was yesterday.

So, the next time you want to cry because the book you’re reading is just so unbearably wonderful, or your cat meowed very sorrowfully, just do it. Because we’re probably crying, too.

. . .But if you don’t feel up to getting your weep on, you can just watch Jenny voice her beloved character, Marcel the Shell:

Image via Hitflix