AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Jenny Slate has taken on a number of beloved roles in everything from "Parks And Recreation" to "Obvious Child" to "Marcel The Shell." Now, she has earned her first Emmy nomination for her role in "Dying For Sex." Last year, she joined Rachel Martin on NPR's Wild Card podcast. And at the end of every episode, Rachel invites the guest to take a trip on the show's memory time machine. Here's Rachel to explain.
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RACHEL MARTIN: So in this memory time machine, you choose one moment from your past that you would like to go back to. It is not a moment you want to change anything about. We're not changing things. It's just a moment you'd like to linger in a little longer.
JENNY SLATE: I'll tell you the first thing in my head is my grandmother's really ugly couch in Quincy, Massachusetts. And she had these side tables - you know, one that nestles under the other? And she would have those paper towels, like, that are so soft and thick, you know? Like, not the environmentally good ones that we use now...
MARTIN: The other ones.
SLATE: ...That are like, these are paper, never forget - but, like, the ones that are like, this is basically a washcloth. My grandmother Rochelle, being at her house in Quincy, Massachusetts. And she would make us a sandwich of - and again, this doesn't age well, it was the '80s - Wonder Bread and margarine. You do not need teeth to eat it.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
SLATE: And she would put each - the side tables in front of us, and we would watch Nickelodeon. And I didn't - we didn't have cable at our house. And it was just so sad, honestly. I miss my grandmother so much. But - sorry. But just deeply peaceful, and, like, the first feeling of unconditional love is from my grandmother Rochelle.
She was so weird and strange and really, really traumatized by the Holocaust. And she never let any of that spike us, you know? Like, we were aware that she was deep inside of something. My sisters and I think it was like, oh, Nana is - she goes into something. She's not really like other adults. She's trustworthy. She'll drive the car. She can really give really great baths, you know, really good food. But she's living in two different places, and she surfaces to be with us.
MARTIN: Yeah.
SLATE: And I just remember sitting there with her in all her complexity and having this soft sandwich that we would never be allowed to have at home, no crusts, you know, watching Nickelodeon people get, like, the gloop (ph) on them, like...
MARTIN: The slime.
SLATE: ...The slime and just being like, I - I mean, I wouldn't have said this as a kid, but, like, I f***ing love this. Like, I want this forever. I cannot believe that I don't have that anymore. And...
MARTIN: Yeah.
SLATE: ...I just love it. I just love it. It feels so good to think about it.
MARTIN: It feels good to have been able to visit that with you.
SLATE: Yeah.
MARTIN: That's such a lovely memory. That's a...
SLATE: Yeah.
MARTIN: ...Beautiful memory.
CHANG: And to hear more trips on the memory time machine, you can listen to Wild Card with Rachel Martin wherever you get your podcasts.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANDERSON .PAAK SONG, "FIRE IN THE SKY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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