Jones of ‘SNL’: ‘I just like to bring the funny’
NEW YORK — Leslie Jones appreciates a good surprise.
On a recent Tuesday evening at NBC’s headquarters in midtown Manhattan, in New York City, Jones was in an eighthfloor dressing room, still recuperating from a comedic “Game of Thrones” recap she had just recorded for “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” In the midst of discussing that HBO fantasy series with Meyers, she was startled by an unannounced walkon from the “Game of Thrones” co-star Conleth Hill, who plays the enigmatic spymaster Varys, and it delighted Jones to no end.
“They did really good,” she said afterward. “I had no clue whatsoever.”
Jones, 50, a “Saturday Night Live” writer and cast member since 2014, got another pleasant revelation in July when she was nominated for her first Emmy Award as a supporting actress in a comedy series. The distinction — following a 2016-17 “SNL” season that was widely watched for its topical satire and the impressions of performers like Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon — was particularly astonishing for Jones, who does not play any recurring political characters.
Nor does she aspire to: “I just like to bring the funny,” she said.
Jones spoke further about this past season at “SNL,” her evolution as a performer and how she turned the difficult experience of an online hack into grist for her comedy. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Q: You spend a lot of time live-tweeting “Game of Thrones” each week. Why are you so devoted to that show?
A: I love shows like that, period. It’s got dragons and castles, so many ins and outs, and you don’t know how they’re going to connect them all together. Everybody knows, when it’s on, they don’t mess with me. Because it takes me two and a half hours to watch it. I have to pause it. I have to cry. I have to scream. I have to yell at characters. It’s a process.
Q: When you learned you were an Emmy nominee, did you think, “It’s about time”?
A: You think so? Thank you. I was very surprised when they called me with that. Because you’d think it goes to people like Kate and Alec. Me? No. Supporting actors, what? I supported somebody? I don’t support nobody.
Q: Did last year’s feel like an especially hectic season of “Saturday Night Live”?
A: I knew something exciting was happening because of the election, and we were going to try to cover it as best we could. Everybody’s like, “Oh, isn’t it exciting?” But to us it just felt normal.
Q: Even when President Donald Trump, as a candidate and as president-elect, was criticizing the show on his
Twitter account?
A: We loved that. Of course we loved it. You just want to see him turn red and orange, all the colors.
Q: Did you have a personal favorite episode?
A: Dave Chappelle’s show (the Saturday following the 2016 presidential election) was great. It was really weird how he happened to be there that night. That sketch that he and Chris Rock did — black people watching white people watch the election — is just the most hilarious thing that I have been through. This year I saw another side of white people. They lose their minds completely when it comes to elections.
Q: You felt you saw this coming?
A: I have been through bad presidents before. And it don’t affect us either way. I’m still going to put $10 in my tank. It’s still going to be the same.
Q: What inspired the sketch in which you lobbied for the chance to play Trump?
A: Everybody else was imitating Trump, so I was just like, I want to see if I can do it. And I knew it would be funny. Honestly, the whole concept was that Lorne (Michaels, the show’s creator) wasn’t going to let me do it. So we wrote the sketch like he was going to say no, and he loved it.
Q: Do you feel left out from the show’s political satire, knowing that you’ll never be asked to play, say, Vice President Mike Pence or Tiffany
Trump?
A: To be honest, I’m not a political type. Politics can get so heavy. When I first got here, I didn’t know as much about the world as I do now. I was like, oh, wow, I am an awful American. I don’t know nothing about the government. I didn’t even know what (former Secretary of State) Hillary (Clinton) did for the longest time. I just thought she was (President) Bill Clinton’s wife. She obviously has a great job!
Q: What was it like to make your on-camera debut, in 2014, with a “Weekend Update” routine in which you joked that you’d never have been single “back in the slave days”?
A: They knew they wanted to put me on the “Weekend Update” desk. They had two certain jokes that they wanted me to do. I had a texting joke. And I had a slave joke. And they thought they could put them both together and make one “Update” routine. I was like, “No, these are separate subjects — it has to be one or the other. Which one do you really want me to do?” And they were like, “We really want the slave joke.” I was so surprised and delighted that that’s the one they wanted.
Q: Were you surprised they wanted to put you on air? Historically, “SNL” does not have a great reputation for inclusiveness.
A: Right. But they’re not stupid. I was bringing a lot to the table — a lot of energy into the room and to the people on the show. It would be stupid not to put me in front of the camera. And Lorne is not stupid.
Q: In your stand-up act, you’re even bigger and more energetic than you are on “SNL.” Were you always like that as a performer?
A: When you’re young, you don’t understand the energy that you have. But if you learn how to use it the right way, it’s one of the best weapons you have. Maybe six or seven years ago, I started doing that really high-intensity, Sam Kinison-type yell. I’ve always had that “Aaaaah! Aaaaah! Aaaaah!” in me. But I didn’t know how to do it at the right volume. I had to learn that difference between shouting and actually communicating.
Q: So people who haven’t had their big break by age 30 shouldn’t give up?
A: I believe that you hit it when you’re supposed to hit it, and I hit it as a nice, seasoned comedian. I know what I do, and I’m going to give you what you want. I understand the young kids are what’s happening. But they’re not giving you what you need. They’re just giving you pretty.
Q: So how do you collaborate with younger, less experienced people on “SNL”?
A: They’re young as hell. They’re little whippersnappers. But you want to hear from them, because they might give you something you need. I find, not often. (laughs)