Saturday Night Live announced yesterday that it would be bringing one of its more promising talents out of the writers room and in front of the camera. Starting this weekend, Leslie Jones, the woman behind S.N.L.’s most controversial bit of comedy last year, will become the show’s newest featured player. And that, right there, is the smartest casting news we’ve heard from S.N.L. in a long time. Because the comedic institution has slumped a bit as a relatively new cast struggles to make an impression. And if there’s one thing we know about Jones, it’s that the woman can make an impression.

Jones originally tried out for Saturday Night Live last season when, in response to criticism about the lack of diversity in the cast from both outside the show and in, the show held a round of mid-season auditions. That slot eventually went to Sasheer Zamata, but Jones, along with LaKendra Tookes, was hired on as a writer for the show. Jones quickly landed a guest spot on “Weekend Update” and her dynamic, edgy bit linking her dating life to slavery caused quite a stir.

But it’s not just Jones’s penchant for controversy (and her adept handling of said controversy) that makes her such a strong pick. Controversy or no, the woman knows how to be noticed. Take, for example, the way she shows up at the end of this “39 Cents” sketch to steal the spotlight from host (and veteran S.N.L. cast member) Bill Hader.

That’s star quality right there, of the kind the show has been short on since cast members like Hader, Kristen Wiig, and Andy Samberg took off. The show can’t coast on blandish ironic detachment alone and that, unfortunately, is the attitude that’s been hanging over Saturday Night Live ever since Seth Meyers departed as head writer. Jones is just the latest in a series of seemingly conscious efforts from the show to move in a new direction. And this season’s other choices, Michael Che, an invigorating breath of fresh air on “Weekend Update”, and splashy (if untested) new young star Pete Davidson, have both made more of an impression in three episodes than most of the freshman cast that joined last year. But Davidson and Che pale in comparison to Jones’s unapologetically brash style.

She may not be your cup of tea, but she is the rising tide S.N.L. needs to lift themselves out of this current slump.