About this episode

Leslie Jones discusses her journey on Saturday Night Live, the challenges she faced, and her experiences with social media toxicity.

Kamau sits down with Leslie Jones for a raw, funny, and fiercely honest journey through becoming one of Saturday Night Live’s most unforgettable forces, and why she ultimately had to walk away. She explains the emotional grind of SNL, and the insane internet reaction to the announcement of an all-female Ghostbusters. Jones traces how Chris Rock helped propel her toward Saturday Night Live, including the controversy over SNL’s lack of Black women and her long‑gestating “slave joke,” written from a bad date in 1999 and eventually used in her audition for SNL and on Weekend Update.  She describes arriving at SNL as a writer, the brutal table reads, and the psychological grind of the show’s 200‑hour weeks, breaking down the Monday-Saturday schedule in detail. Jones explains how profound family losses—her parents dying within a year and her brother a decade later—pushed her into fearless living and fueled her pursuit of comedy. She shares behind‑the‑scenes SNL stories; from Black Trump and Weekend Update chemistry to how sketches live or die, and why “the good ones always want to leave.” Later, Jones recounts the racist abuse…

People in this episode

Host: W. Kamau Bell

Guest: Leslie Jones

Topics covered

• comedy
• SNL
• personal growth
• social media
• race
• mental health

Keywords

• Leslie Jones
• Saturday Night Live
• comedy
• Chris Rock
• Ghostbusters
• social media
• race
• mental health

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters, Brown Bag Lady, Planned Parenthood

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