Who: Leslie Jones

Cast Member Since: 2014

It took Leslie Jones five seasons on Saturday Night Live to convince me Lorne Michaels did not make a knee jerk decision in 2014 when he promoted her from writer to cast member. (And no, I’m not one of her many internet trolls.)

Leslie’s promotion took place after her infamous 5/3/14 guest spot on Weekend Update, which was no doubt one of the funniest moments of the 2013-2014 season. But Jones’ accelerated rise created two narratives: you either enjoyed her increasing number of loud and energetic Weekend Update segments and could overlook the poor sketch work, or you felt the Update segments were redundant which made the uncomfortable sketches proof Lorne hired someone not cut out for the long term.

Looking back at her early seasons, the up and down start should not have been a surprise. Prior to SNL, Jones was a mildly successful stand-up comedian splitting her time between New York City and Los Angeles. She appeared in a handful of minor film roles along the way, but as evidenced in her 2010 Showtime stand up special Problem Child, Jones was clearly best on her feet and in front of a crowd.

Enter the criticism Lorne Michaels faced in late 2013 over his very non-diverse SNL cast – something Jones had actually been calling out on her own for years. Fortunately, this ugly situation resulted in casting calls which helped lead to the big break Jones, now 46-years-old, had been chasing for decades. Although Jones didn’t make the cast initially, she was brought on as a writer, and her age immediately made her part of an interesting category of late-bloomer comedians.

Like most stand up comedians turned SNL cast members, Jones found a natural home with Weekend Update guest segments. Through Update, Jones now had a nationally televised platform to show off 4-6 minutes of newish material every few weeks. I say “newish” because her formula became fairly apparent during the 2015-2016 season: flirt with co-anchor Colin Jost, react loudly to a current event, flirt with Jost again. For a while, this seemed to work. She even nabbed a few Emmy nominations. But unlike David Spade or Kevin Nealon, other former stand ups who made a more seamless transition into the sketch format, Jones struggled. It was around this time that some, myself included, wondered how long her time at SNL could really last. After all, unless you are an anchor, it’s hard to survive SNL on just Weekend Update alone.

To her credit, Jones owns her mistakes. When NBC was posting regular online videos of the cast recalling memorable moments during SNL‘s 40th season, Leslie used it as a chance to acknowledge past embarrassments. Over time, primarily between 2016-2017, she began to improve. A series of well done pre-taped segments with co-cast member Kyle Mooney gave her an opportunity to get acclimated in front of the camera in a non-stand up setting without the live audience, and sketches like “Black Jeopardy” and “Escorts” proved she was starting to get her timing down. That said, segments such as “Get Woke with Tamika” demonstrated there was still work to do.

So what made the 2018-2019 season different? Her Update bits remain predictable (but funny) —she’s not totally beyond delivering a clunker— but her confidence is finally clear. Lorne told the New Yorker in 2016, “When someone’s funny, they’re funny. She was fully formed as a standup. I knew she’d have to learn the sketch thing, the technique part, but with some people you go, ‘Let’s just get them in the building.'” In 2019, Jones still needs some improvement, but watching her only move in the right direction proves Lorne still knows what he’s doing. Enjoy my two favorite Jones moments of the past season:

Sketch: “The Raunchiest Miss Rita”

Episode: Rachel Brosnahan/Greta Van Fleet (1/19/19)

NOTE: In a sketch essentially custom made for her strengths, Jones is able to lean into her stand up roots for this terrific parody of Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Sketch: “Weezer”

Episode: Matt Damon/Miley Cyrus & Mark Ronson (12/15/18)

NOTE: Jones plays, with perfection, the instigator at casual dinner between new neighbors

SNL REPORT CARD FOR LESLIE JONES: 2 Coneys

SCALE:

4 Coneys = Excellent / 3 Coneys = Good / 2 Coneys = Needs Improvement / 1 Coney = Worst

Jason Nummer still wonders what a second SNL season with Brooks Wheelan would have been like. You can follow him on Twitter at @jrnummer.

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