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Jenny Slate Takes the E!Q in 42—and When She Goes Through the Motions, It's Adorable

Gifted star illustrates her answers to our random questions with some helpful hand gestures

By Natalie Finn Apr 04, 2017 1:00 PMTags
Watch: Jenny Slate Takes the E!Q in 42

Jenny Slate is an actress and a writer, so it makes sense that she cares about getting her point across effectively.

When E! News' Marc Malkin sat down with her to talk about her new movie, Gifted, she used hand gestures.

Seriously, it was hard to press on, so cute were her various gesticulations.

But we still gleaned some key facts from Slate, whose inimitable voice—which you know from Bob's BurgersZootopia, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and much more—provided a perfect foil for our E!Q in 42.

After a string of comedic roles in GirlsParks and RecreationHouse of Lies and so on, next up she takes a dramatic turn in Gifted, about a 7-year-old prodigy, played by Mckenna Grace, whose uncle (Chris Evans) is fighting to give her a normal life. Slate plays the girl's teacher and inevitable love interest for Evans.

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Asked if she could be gifted in one thing, Slate said she'd want to be "one of those people who can play a lot of instruments," starting with the piano.

"You've got to start with the piano," then the drums. "It's great to sort of bang on stuff, right? But really I'd like to be a harpist. That would be beautiful," she added, as she mimed playing the harp. "That's how you do it, right?"

Well, we were convinced. And we would have been happy with an entirely mimed E!Q, but if you have a chance to listen to Jenny's voice, you don't want to miss it.

 

Speaking fondly of Slate, Evans recently told People, "She's the best. I've never ever ever met someone in my life who has a mastery of the English language the way she does. She'll give you one sentence and there's no fat to it. You're like, 'You just chose such an unbelievable collection of words that beautifully articulate what you say.'"

Suffice it to say, we completely agree.

Gifted is in theaters this Friday, April 7.