Being funny enough to make millions of people laugh is a gift that’s simply not afforded to many of us, but few would likely say that such a talent wasn’t gifted to Saturday Night Live alum Leslie Jones. The comedian was an important and certifiably hilarious member of the cast for five seasons, and not long ago opened up about being intimidated after landing the gig, even though she was “cocky as fuck” during her audition.
What Did Leslie Jones Say About Auditioning And Starting Work On SNL?
While Leslie Jones has certainly made waves away from a certain long-running sketch comedy show (by doing things like live-tweeting Zack Snyder’s Justice League and serving as a “chief superfan” commentator during the Olympics), the Ghostbusters actress is still best known for her time on Saturday Night Live. She served as a writer and on-screen performer from 2014 through 2019 and was Emmy nominated three times for her work during that tenure.
However, that doesn’t mean that the entire process of getting a spot on the famed series was 100% easy for Jones. She recently spoke to People about what it was like auditioning and then settling in to work, and talked about her first table read with the rest of the cast, noting:
Let me tell you something. It's so funny. I was cocky as fuck. I was like, 'Oh, I'm the funniest shit that walked in this motherfucker.' That's how I was. … Fucking Cecily [Strong] had seven voices inside of her head that she was doing at random. This motherf---er was doing all kinds of accents. This bitch, I literally was totally intimidated when I got at the table, but the auditions? Man, I walked in there, I was like, 'Yeah, move to the front. Y'all in the back, move to the front. I don't perform like that.'
The late night show has launched the careers of dozens of comedians into the stratosphere over five decades, but not only is it a really tough gig to create and perform a different live show weekly, but others who’ve been in the cast have spoken about how terrifying the audition process alone is. Andy Samberg admitted to throwing up at the time of his first audition, and even the longest-running SNL cast member ever, Kenan Thompson, called it a “miracle” that he made it through the process.
However, Jones (who got real about working on the series and her “bittersweet” decision to leave) was enough of a stand-up comedy gangsta to take no shit when she headed up to the stage for her audition. While it was the first table read that got to her, she does also note that her audition maybe didn’t thrill the way one would want:
I was a cocky ass bitch and they moved to the fucking front because that's what the fuck I said. And then when I finished I was like, ‘My name is Leslie Jones. Peace.’ I didn't get the job, but it's cool. It's cool.
What the talent known for impersonating Whoopi Goldberg (whom she and Thompson both tried to “kill” on the show) means is that she didn’t immediately land a full time SNL player role after her audition. She began as a writer who made occasional appearances, but that quickly led to her becoming a full-blown cast member and, eventually, a “cocky ass bitch” that few who’ve seen her perform will be able to forget.
