And finally today, we're going to hear about a tiny shell with a big personality.

JENNY SLATE: (As Marcel the shell) My name is Marcel, and I'm partially a shell, as you can see on my body. But I also have shoes and a face.

MARTIN: I should probably say reintroduce because Marcel the shell with shoes on first made his appearance on YouTube in 2010, the brainchild of writer and comedian Jenny Slate and filmmaker Dean Fleischer-Camp. Marcel became one of YouTube's first viral hits. He spawned children's books and other videos, and now the one-inch shell with signature googly eyes, pink shoes and all has made it to the big screen in the feature-length "Marcel The Shell With Shoes On," where he tells us more about how he lives in a world that is not built for a tiny shell. And at the same time, he helps us think about all the big feelings we all have in the world. Jenny Slate, who developed the character of Marcel and gives him his voice, is here with us now to tell us more about him and about the film. Jenny, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.

SLATE: Hi, Michel. Thank you for having me. I'm a big fan of the show. I listen every day.

MARTIN: Well, thank you so much for that. And obviously, you have a lot of big fans here. I'm sure you're sick of hearing about this, but I think people would like to hear about how you developed the character. And if I have this right, I hear that it was kind of a goof, like, project with you and your partner at the time, who's also the filmmaker. Is that about right?

SLATE: Sure. Yeah, I think that's right on to say that it was kind of a goof. I mean, Marcel comes from a combination of feeling a bunch of feelings that have accumulated. I'm a person that operates a lot in my emotions and in my imagination, and also, my, you know, collaborative partner and co-creator Dean Fleischer-Camp, who directed this film, was just straight-up pressed for time to make a short film that he had promised to a friend of his who had a comedy show in Brooklyn. And I was talking in this little voice. We were, at the time, at a wedding, and all - everyone was like, kind of trying to save money on a hotel room. So there were about seven friends staying in one hotel room, and it was very cramped. And I just sort of started to - I don't know, it reached the end of my patience.

And what that meant for me, you know, rather than storming out and saying, you guys are all so messy. I can't believe what this room is like - I just started saying things like, everybody in here really, really needs to focus on cleaning up, OK? And, like, talking in this little voice - and Dean asked me if he could interview me in that voice, if maybe a character would emerge. And that's how we began, you know, hearing Marcel's voice. He made the body of Marcel. He did all the character design using found objects, the shell and the googly eyes from the craft store and a sort of a fake brand x Polly Pocket that he got at the toy store on Court Street in Brooklyn.

MARTIN: I remember reading where you said someplace that you started using that voice because you were starting to feel so tiny.

MARTIN: But Marcel is a container for a lot of big feelings and thought.

MARTIN: And I just wondered how that happened that you could use this tiny little figure as a container for so many big thoughts.

SLATE: Well, I think we're all small containers for giant experiences. And for me, it's often very useful to take the elements of my emotional life or my psyche and place them in something else that I believe is inherently good. And that way, I can see the things that feel dissonant, and I can see that they're not, you know, malignant in any way, but that, in fact, they're part of a greater experience. I just think it's useful for me as an artist to often set those things up in ways that make me feel safe and still try my hardest to tell the truth about what it feels like to feel immense sorrow, what it feels like to feel let down, to feel separated. And I think it's good to have an unexpected model, because then you can look right back at yourself and say, oh, my goodness, I am also an unexpected model for a way to succeed at trying to be alive in this great clamor.

MARTIN: There are some real themes of loss that you can't help but notice if you know anything about loss. And Marcel's life is upended because a couple broke up and...

MARTIN: Sorry. I can't help - I can't try to figure out how to dance around the fact that your collaborator here is your former husband. You were together at the time that you started the first project, and then your relationship ended. It seems very cordial and quite friendly and obviously creatively fruitful, but still, did that - I don't know what influence that had or how that felt.

MARTIN: Maybe it was therapeutic. I don't know.

SLATE: I think, you know, some loss is total and ultimate. Like your whole house burns down and there's nothing left. Other loss is you lose pieces. You lose a road that you were going down. You lose being a part of a story that was developing. And I think Dean and I were really interested in trying to figure out how to be honest about a group of feelings and repurpose them into something that had movement and that turned into opportunity. And I think it takes a lot of faith and a lot of intention in order to see loss as having the potential for opportunity for life. One thing that never changed for me is that I know that Dean is one of the most talented directors out there and that I completely trust our creative bond. And, you know, you don't want to throw everything away sometimes when some things don't function anymore. You kind of have to look through what's left and see what you can use. And I think that's what we tried to do, and I'm glad we did.

MARTIN: Well, before we let you go, the film arrives at such a chaotic and difficult time in the life of this country, in the world, but also this country. I mean, it's post-pandemic as we are speaking now. I mean, the Supreme Court has just ended Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion around the country. And I just sort of - forgive me. I mean, I'm - we're not putting all this on this film or on you, but I just wonder, do you feel that Marcel has something to say about this moment? Not even Marcel - you as an artist.

SLATE: I think our film stands as a moment of respite or an opportunity for contemplation or just taking a break or a piece. Or if you just want an example of something beautiful that still exists, I'd like to offer it that way. You know, I know now as a creative person that, you know, it's heartbreaking and terrifying what the Supreme Court has decided. A lot of artists say, you know, you have to create the world that you want to live in. And so I guess that, you know, will be what I'm focused on more than ever. But, you know, one of the first movies I was in was the film "Obvious Child." And that film shows a person getting a legal abortion in a Planned Parenthood. At the time, that seemed to us like we were showing something that was like, wow, you know, we're really showing this. And it's completely different as of today. And I think it's something that you can't look away from. And I just really, really hope - I just - I'm just heartbroken over it.

MARTIN: That is the actress and comedian Jenny Slate. Her film "Marcel The Shell With Shoes On" is in theaters now. Jenny Slate, thank you so much for talking with us.

SLATE: Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.

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