Leslie Jones is SNL’s newest cast member: The show writer gets promoted to featured player (VIDEO).

The Smart, Talented, and Utterly Hilarious Leslie Jones Is SNL’s Newest Cast Member

The Smart, Talented, and Utterly Hilarious Leslie Jones Is SNL’s Newest Cast Member

Brow Beat has moved! You can find new stories here.
Brow Beat
Slate's Culture Blog
Oct. 20 2014 9:13 PM

The Smart, Talented, and Utterly Hilarious Leslie Jones Is SNL’s Newest Cast Member

lesliejonessnl
Leslie Jones, newest cast member of SNL.

Still from Hulu

The latest dispatch from Lorneland involves an auspicious promotion: Leslie Jones, an SNL writer for the past year, has been hired as the show’s newest cast member. Jones will be a featured player beginning with this week’s episode, hosted by Jim Carrey.

Sharan Shetty Sharan Shetty

Sharan Shetty is on the editorial staff of the New Yorker. You can follow him on Twitter

The move isn’t entirely unexpected: SNL loves to promote from within, and Jones was clearly being groomed for greater exposure via a handful of appearances on Weekend Update. Still, her ascent has been swift. Late in 2013, when long-gestating concerns with SNL’s race problem had reached a fever pitch, show producers conducted a kinda-secret casting call to find a black female cast member. Sasheer Zamata won the spot, but Jones impressed in her audition and was offered a writing position. Her promotion Monday adds to the show’s burgeoning number of black cast members: along with Zamata, Kenan Thompson, and Jay Pharoah, Jones joins Michael Che, the newly anointed Update anchor who was also promoted from a writer position.

Advertisement

But as good as the move is for SNL’s diversity, it’s even better for its comedy. Jones is a fiercely independent performer whose brash and unapologetic riffs can ruffle feathers—a welcome risk for a show that’s become too sanitized and vanilla to produce genuinely edgy sketches. Here are a few choice clips from the comedian:

Her Update appearance in May, which featured multiple slavery-related jokes, provoked outrage in several quarters, and even spurred Jones to write a lengthy rejoinder defending the segment.

Jones showing off her stand-up chops in a hilarious bit on the personalities of her posse.

Jones’ set on Seth Myers, where she talks about texting, booty calls, and the ill-advised move of wearing Crocs to a breakup.