Iliza Shlesinger is back with an important message: love yourself, ladies! Returning for her fourth Netflix special, the comedian mixes her hilarious comedy and feminist beliefs in Elder Millennial.
“I was turning 35, and I felt that I’d gotten to a position in life where I could give some wisdom by this point. You know, when you’re younger, of course you know everything. But I definitely feel that I’ve put in the time observing and living that I could humbly offer my experiences,” Shlesinger told Us Weekly exclusively. “I think we have a tendency to discount people’s experiences, if we don’t agree with them, and I’m here to say after 12 years of stand up under my belt and having gone through my 20s, my examples are concrete and very real.”
While her stand-up features a majority of stories about her life as a woman, she feels that it can relate to everyone.
“It’s so easy to say, ‘Don’t worry about what anyone thinks. Live your life.’ It’s almost impossible, because we all care. And I think even doing my special, it’s normal to care. I guess what I want people — men too, because I believe true feminism is including everyone — to take away is what you’re feeling isn’t wrong,” she explained. “The bad things you feel about your body and your thoughts and your experience are not unique to you. Other people are feeling this way and laughing about it is the best way.”
To promote the series, the comedian’s promo photos feature her dressed as popular stars of the past — Avril Lavigne and Paris Hilton included.
“When I did the Avril Lavigne outfit, I already owned all of that s—t, which is so embarrassing,” she told Us. “I, at 35, ordered those Dickies pants weeks ago before we even did the shoot and cut them so I could wear them around my house. I was living, I was so happy to be in that outfit. Because that’s all I ever want to be, like a suburban punk rock teenager.”
As for the title Elder Millennial, Shlesinger says it came from the fact that she’s still in the millennial group, but now has some experience living.
“I always believed in serving some knowledge wrapped in comedy, wrapped in sugar so it’s digestible. You don’t want to hit people over the head with feminism, a message. If you have any sort of agenda, you have to invite people in and you have to let them know that you have more in common with them than you do differences. Otherwise, they’re not gonna respect the differences,” she said. “Everybody always talks about practicing what you preach, but it is an ongoing battle. I’m telling women to love their bodies and I say it right off the bat. I have a good body so women might look at that and think, ‘Oh, well, when you already have one, you don’t have to deal with it.’ But whatever you are, whatever you have, there’s a reason that society has made you feel bad about it and it is an ongoing battle.”
Iliza Shlesinger: Elder Millennial debuts on Netflix Tuesday, July 24.
