“You know what’s so crazy? I’m famous,” exclaims comedian Leslie Jones, clad in a sparkling “Heart Breaker” T-shirt and armed with her ever-present towel (for those signature hot flashes) in her new comedy special, “Life Part 2.” She hilariously questions, “Why would they give fame to me? Why? I still go to 7-Eleven in my pajamas!”
This disbelief isn’t surprising, given her journey. Despite performing stand-up for over three decades—a path ignited by a ‘Funniest Person on Campus’ win at Colorado State University—Jones didn’t achieve mainstream recognition until she was 47, joining ‘Saturday Night Live’ first as a writer, then as a cast member. Now 58 and splitting her time between Los Angeles and New York City, she openly admits she simply wasn’t prepared for stardom earlier in life.
She candidly confesses, “I didn’t even know who the president was when I was in my 20s. All I wanted to know was, where’s the free tequila?”
Her apparent apathy, however, stemmed from a lifetime of trauma. Jones revealed she was sexually abused as a toddler, and her family faced immense struggles—her electronic engineer father, Willie Jones Jr., and her cable company employee mother, Sundra Diane Jones, who suffered a stroke at 38. Her younger brother, Rodney (Keith), was deeply entangled in drug dealing. At 19, a harsh but pivotal piece of advice came from then-rising comedian Jamie Foxx after a disastrous set: “Go live your life and make some material — because right now you have none,” she recounts in her memoir, “Leslie F*cking Jones.”
This led Jones to step away from comedy for six years, during which she held various jobs, including a justice of the peace, and working every position from bartender to cook at one restaurant. She also worked for two Scientology-affiliated businesses in Glendale, California (though she herself is not a Scientologist). Perhaps most impactful was her time coaching 10- to 12-year-olds in a summer league basketball program at the local Y.W.C.A. These young athletes were among many who urged her to return to stand-up, and she realized: now she finally had stories to tell.
Image: Leslie Jones, an acclaimed comedian with over 30 years in stand-up, got her start by winning a comedy competition during her college days at Colorado State University.
Image: Comedian Chris Rock, pictured here with Leslie Jones and Kenan Thompson at a Knicks game, praises her ability to deliver ‘well-crafted jokes’ with effortless sincerity. He notes, ‘She’s really genuine, so you leave her shows with the sense that you got to really know her.’
While building her comedy career, performing at venues like the Comedy Act Theater and Maverick’s, Jones supported herself by working in restaurants, including the famed Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. Around 2005, she famously cornered Chris Rock outside an L.A. comedy club, pleading for an introduction to his industry connections. According to Jones, Rock told her she simply wasn’t ready.
Chris Rock, however, fondly disputes this. In a phone interview, he asserted, “Leslie is hilarious. She was always ready. The world wasn’t ready for Leslie Jones.”
He elaborated, “Leslie writes these well-crafted jokes and makes it seem effortless when she’s performing. She’s really genuine, so you leave her shows with the sense that you got to really know her.”
A turning point came around 2010 when Jones debuted “The Slave Joke,” a provocative piece she’d penned in 1997. It became a huge hit, proving that her audacious risks were indeed paying off. Chris Rock, impressed by her talent, placed her at the top of his list of funniest Black women to recommend to industry figures, including Lorne Michaels.
Acting on Rock’s recommendation, Lorne Michaels auditioned Jones, despite her lack of sketch comedy experience, hiring her as a writer in 2014. She eventually joined the cast, but not without some negotiation; when Michaels suggested she “go down to feature pay,” Jones firmly insisted on being paid for both writing and performing roles, a demand Michaels met.
Joining “Saturday Night Live” proved initially daunting, especially as the oldest cast member at 47. Jones humorously recalls, “I didn’t understand until I got there that being 47 was ‘older people’.” She notes that even Kenan Thompson, 11 years her junior, was “the grown-up in the room.” Her main accomplishment, she believes, was demonstrating that “at my age, you’re not old.”
Kenan Thompson lovingly described her as “a force of nature and truly like a sister to me.”
Image: During her five seasons on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Leslie Jones was a beloved and frequent contributor to ‘Weekend Update,’ earning three Emmy nominations for her work.
Jones quickly became known for her bold, often confrontational, yet sometimes self-deprecating stage presence. She masterfully lampooned problematic male behavior while openly admitting her own past dating woes. These qualities perfectly fueled her political commentary, sharpened during her “Weekend Update” segments, and now a regular feature on “The Daily Show” since March 2024.
With three Emmy nominations from her five seasons on “Saturday Night Live” (2014-2019), Jones’ career has soared. She’s released three comedy specials, starred in films like “Coming 2 America” and the “Ghostbusters” reboot, held recurring TV roles, and hosted various award and game shows. Her best-selling 2023 memoir delves into her arduous journey to stardom, detailing encounters with racism, rejection, and profound personal loss. Through sheer determination, she has become a truly household name.
Reflecting on her aspirations, she once said, “My dream was to be like tourists come up to me and go, ‘Leslie, picture, please!’ If you want to be a really good artist, you’re supposed to play to the masses.”
Embracing the Undeniable
Jones’s journey to finding her unique voice was shaped by significant loss, including her parents passing away within six months of each other from heart-related illnesses. However, it was the devastating death of her younger brother in November 2009 that prompted deep introspection. She realized her stand-up lacked a true foundation, focusing solely on immediate laughs.
She confessed to holding back what she considered her “smart jokes,” fearing they were “too smart” for audiences. She’d written them for her idols, like Whoopi Goldberg or Marsha Warfield, or saved them for “when I got really funny” herself.
This internal struggle plunged Jones into an existential crisis.
She remembers thinking, “The worst thing to me is not even death; it’s losing someone, you know.” It was her late father’s enduring wish for her to thrive, and his simple yet profound advice—to “become undeniable”—that resonated deeply. This spurred her to unearth those “smart jokes,” questioning, “Hey, am I smart enough to do this?”
Image: Leslie Jones shared her aspiration: ‘My dream was to be like tourists come up to me and go, ‘Leslie, picture, please!’ If you want to be a really good artist, you’re supposed to play to the masses.’
Among these rediscovered pieces was “The Slave Joke,” originally conceived in 1997 during a moment of frustration, angrily eating cold fried rice after a terrible day. The routine features Jones—a six-foot-tall former college basketball player—humorously envisioning herself as a highly desirable enslaved woman in the Antebellum South.
She explained, “I was pissed off when I wrote it because I was like, the choices I have in men is disgusting.” She’s grateful she waited to perform it, stating, “when it was time for me to pull it out, I was ready to do it. I was doing everything I could to hurt myself or get myself in trouble, or get where somebody wanted to fight me — in that mode of ‘somebody pinch me. Is my brother dead for real?’”
Initially, Jones faced backlash. “People came after me. They told me I was praising slavery,” she recounted, which deeply unsettled her. Her response: “You’re not really listening.”
She recognized the controversy as a strength, noting, “I was doing comedy that’s making people talk in their living rooms.” This knack for subverting power dynamics, twisting historical subjugation to empower her comedic persona, is a hallmark of her style. With a cackle, she added, “Ultimately, it’s about getting a guy.”
Laughter as a Bridge to Understanding
In “Life Part 2,” Jones fearlessly tackles sensitive subjects, including her imagined ideal funeral and a sharp critique of straight men’s hygiene, both physical and mental (she’s a strong advocate for therapy). She even includes a MeToo joke that pushes the boundaries of conventional comedy.
Following the 2016 all-female “Ghostbusters” reboot, Jones was subjected to intense online racist and sexist abuse. Despite the distress, she maintains, “I still can’t hate nobody, because when people come at me, I just feel sorry for them. To me, the fact that racism still exists is just maddening, because at this point, racism is being uneducated.”
Image: Leslie Jones, with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Kate McKinnon, in a scene from the ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot.
Image: Leslie Jones performing during her third stand-up special, “Life Part 2,” streaming on Peacock.
Jones’s perspective is deeply rooted in personal experience. Growing up as an Army brat at Fort Bragg, she witnessed firsthand how parents instilled racism in their children. She recalls innocent play between white and Black kids, only for her mother to later discover white parents using racist slurs against her. This led to a harsh but necessary conversation about racism that profoundly impacted Jones.
While her father, raised in the Jim Crow South, suffered racist violence and developed a justifiable hatred for white people, Jones chose a different path. She believes that if racism can be taught, it can be unlearned, and she sees comedy as her vehicle for this change. Her motto: If they’re laughing, they’re listening.
Just recently in Manhattan, outside the Village Underground—a spot where Jones loves to hone new material—a young woman approached her for a selfie. Soon, a diverse crowd, from Gen Z to Baby Boomers, recognized the comedian, each eager for their own photo. It was the realization of her lifelong dream.
Jones proudly noted, “I have a lot of MAGA people that are my fans because I speak their language.” Her audience spans all ages, from 18 to 74, as she strives for universal appeal. “When I’m writing my jokes, I write them like a human woman, because if it makes me laugh, it’s gonna make everybody laugh. I want to make everybody laugh,” she declared.