Jenny Slate felt ‘so bad’ for audience members early in her stand-up career

Jenny Slate has reflected on the challenges of being a stand-up comedian.

The 43-year-old began her career as a stand-up comedian before going on to act in films such as Gifted, It Ends With Us and Obvious Child.

Speaking to fellow comedy star Jacqueline Novak for Interview Magazine, Jenny remembered how difficult it can be to attract an audience to a comedy show.

“Coming from standup, remember when we’d have a mailing list like, ‘Come on out to the show,'” the star recalled. “You’d be at (comedy club) Rififi wondering how many seats there are.”

She continued, “You’d have this 97 to 200-person mailing list, doing a new show every week. Then you get there and it’s six people.”

Jenny then admitted that she would feel sorry for the few people who did turn up to the show, saying, “You feel so bad for them and have to do your stand-up.”

She added, “If you cancel, it’s even worse.”

The Everything Everywhere All at Once actress then confessed that if she had a show later in the day, she wouldn’t be able to relax.

“If it’s a show day, the day is ruined for me,” she told Jacqueline. “I’m so anxious. I feel like I’m about to take a test I’m too stupid for and I’m going to get kicked out of the institution.”

The comedian added, “The only other choice is not doing stand-up.”

Jenny most recently starred in the miniseries Dying for Sex alongside Michelle Williams.