SNAFU with Ed Helms

Episode: S4E15 — Jenny Slate and the Flight to Varennes
Date: January 14, 2026
Guest: Jenny Slate

Episode Overview

In this episode of SNAFU, Ed Helms invites the multi-talented comedian, writer, and actress Jenny Slate to join him in dissecting one of history’s most spectacular “faceplants”: the royal escape attempt known as the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution. With trademark humor, warmth, and wit, Ed and Jenny relive the botched getaway by King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, unpack the psychology behind historical screw-ups, and draw smart, irreverent parallels to the present.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Catch-up and Podcast Talk

• Ed and Jenny banter about their past as neighbors and recent holiday traditions.
  • Jenny jokes about being the “Kramer” of their neighborhood, always bursting in unannounced.
  • They reminisce about their Thanksgivings together and reflect on maintaining meaningful friendships.
  • Jenny introduces her new podcast, I Need You Guys, describing it as “like sitting at a dinner table with friends… just a nice, easy, funny, easy listen” (04:00–05:24).

2. Setting the Stage: The French Revolution & The Royal Family

• Brief, humorous history of pre-revolution France:

  • Ed: “Picture an episode of Succession where they all go to a rave in powdered wigs.” (06:52)
  • The revolution begins with widespread poverty and resentment toward the monarchy’s excess.
  • The royal family is confined to the Tuileries Palace under increased scrutiny as the revolutionaries try to form a constitutional monarchy.

• Myths and Misconceptions:

  • Ed brings up Marie Antoinette’s infamous quote, "Let them eat cake," and Jenny quickly corrects him:
    • Jenny: “She did not say that… If you’re gonna come at me like that, like. She did not say that. Like check, check your facts.” (08:26)
  • Ed notes the phrase actually originates from Rousseau’s Confessions, written when Marie was only 10 and living in Austria.

3. The Flight to Varennes: A Royal Snafu

• The plan:

  • The royal family, disguised as servants and the entourage of a fake Russian baron, planned to flee Paris, link up with loyalist troops, and stage a royal comeback.
  • Jenny: “Oh, my God, that situation where you’re, like, so rich you don’t know how to do anything… Just get out of here, man.” (14:46)

• Classic screwups:

  • Overpacking and misreading the situation:
    • “They still feel like they have to bring, like, crazy amounts of royal luggage,” Ed (14:46)
  • Delays caused by loyalist soldiers and the commander of the guard, Marquis de Lafayette (of Hamilton fame):
    • Jenny admits she hasn’t seen Hamilton: “I don’t go to a lot of plays.” (16:46)

• Fatal flaws:

  • Choosing a giant, conspicuous coach instead of fast carriages.
  • Belief that country folk would be supporters:
    • “He would actually get out and start chatting people up and just kind of, like, being totally transparent. Like, ‘What’s up, everybody? It’s your king.’” — Ed (21:22)
  • Jenny (channeling the peasants): “Get back in the bumblebee, Louie.” (25:32)
  • One villager recognizes the king and dashes ahead to the next town, sealing their fate.

4. Psychology and Parallels: Groupthink, Change, and Human Nature

• On why people follow “strongmen” and resist true freedom:
  • Jenny: “Of course you’re gonna be like ‘dada’ and just replace a bad dad with what seems like a good dad… I think New dad is actually gonna be, like, nice dad, you know, I don’t know.” (10:38)
• Helplessness in the face of sudden historical change:
  • Jenny shares her family’s Holocaust history and the psychological resistance to breaking routine even as things deteriorate:
    • “It’s really hard to take action in a way that is completely uncharacteristic or disconnected from everything that you’ve seen in life, even if you’ve seen it happen to other people.” (28:22)
• Analogs to modern life:
  • Ed: “When we see… these tech titans today… their behavior does start to betray, like, you don’t really know what’s going on in the world.” (22:00)
• Mob psychology:
  • Ed: “The intelligence of a mob is that of the dumbest person in the mob.” (39:31)
  • Jenny jokes that she would be the weakest link, “I’m the person that changes us from a cohort into like a freak out.” (39:49)

5. The Aftermath and Broader Lessons

• The humiliating return to Paris:

  • The royal family's return is marked by dead silence, as ordered by Robespierre:
    • Jenny: “There’s nothing worse, I think, than the silent treatment. It is such an insane power grab… so humiliating.” (31:30)

• No turning back:

  • The king’s own manifesto, left behind in the palace, seals his doom at trial.
  • Jenny, in sardonic hindsight: “Look, you gotta keep your paperwork straight. You gotta really think about when you’re gonna show your papers.” (34:18)
  • Ed: The attempt “just blew [the constitutional monarchy compromise] out of the water. And all of a sudden now the revolutionaries are furious at the monarchy… and he was, of course, sentenced to death.” (35:16)
  • Discussion of the guillotine, revolutionaries’ symbolism, and how cycles of violence escalate.

• On fairy tales and stories as moral benchmarks:

  • Jenny: “They’re really useful because you don’t get so scared… But if you do turn in a new direction, you shouldn’t go in a big yellow bumblebee carriage… Even if you do that, don’t get out of the fucking carriage, man. Stay inside, right?” (45:55)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jenny Slate (03:03): “I really love friendly groups. I love cooking. I love it when people are like trying to help each other actualize their dreams. And I like it when people like, are dedicated to each other. And a lot of times cults are like non violent except I don’t like having to be naked in a group of people and I don’t like having to do like oral sex to like the head of the cult…”
• Ed Helms (06:52): “Picture an episode of Succession where they all go to a rave in powdered wigs.”
• Jenny Slate (14:46): “Oh, my God, that situation where you’re, like, so rich you don’t know how to do anything… Just get out of here, man.”
• Ed Helms (21:22): “What’s up, everybody? It’s your king.”
• Jenny Slate (27:20): "That’s kind of like a lesson for all of us… you just have to do a bunch of really new stuff. Like, just drop it and go. Yeah, just don’t do any of your old stuff.”
• Ed Helms (39:31): “The intelligence of a mob is that of the dumbest person in the mob.”
• Jenny Slate (45:55): "If you do turn in a new direction, you shouldn’t go in a big yellow bumblebee carriage… Even if you do that, don’t get out of the fucking carriage, man. Stay inside, right?”

Important Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |:-------------:|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:16 | Ed welcomes Jenny and discusses their neighborly antics and podcasting. | | 05:33 | The hosts “jump in” to the Flight to Varennes and set up the story. | | 06:52 | Ed’s “Succession in powdered wigs” analogy and crash course in the revolution. | | 08:17 | Debunking “Let them eat cake.” | | 11:40 | Jenny theorizes on why people replace kings with other strongmen (“bad dad–good dad” analogy). | | 12:24 | Details of the royal family’s failed escape plan. | | 14:46 | Packing, privilege, and “just get out of here, man.” | | 19:20 | The “Swedish lover” Axel von Fersen and the bumblebee carriage. | | 21:22 | King Louis’s disastrous attempt to “connect” with the people. | | 25:32 | “Get back in the bumblebee, Louie.” | | 27:20 | Lessons about psychological inertia and real life historical trauma. | | 31:30 | The eerie, silent return to Paris. | | 34:18 | The king's leaving-paperwork blunder / “keep your paperwork straight.” | | 35:16 | The monarchy is finally abolished, King faces trial and execution. | | 39:31 | Mob intelligence and Jenny’s self-deprecating “weakest link” moment. | | 45:55 | The fairy tale lesson: “Don’t get out of the fucking carriage.” |

Final Reflections

The Flight to Varennes comes alive through Ed and Jenny’s blend of history, comedy, and self-aware philosophy. The episode is both a cautionary tale about hubris and the inertia of privilege, and a riff on how human folly repeats itself through time. Through laughter and candor, they unpack not just the facts of history, but the deeper truths about denial, societal change, and why sometimes, the best advice really is: “Don’t get out of the fucking carriage.”