Leslie Jones Says She Was Attracted to Seth Meyers and This Other ‘SNL’ Cast Member
Many Saturday Night Live fans were upset to find out in the summer of 2019 that Leslie Jones wouldn’t be returning for SNL Season 45. But the Ghostbusters actress had nothing but love for the show when her upcoming departure was announced.
But Jones has plenty of new projects in the works, so fans don’t have to worry they won’t see her on both big and small screens in the future.
Her Netflix standup comedy special, Leslie Jones: Time Machine, dropped on Jan. 14. She’s set to appear in Coming 2 America, the sequel to Coming to America (featuring Eddie Murphy), with Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne, and Rick Ross. Jones will also be hosting the reboot of the grocery store game show Supermarket Sweep on ABC.
In a Jan. 2020 interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Jones opened up about her upcoming projects and her history on SNL. She even shared which writers and cast members she found attractive and who championed her work behind the scenes.
Jones called Meyers and Colin Jost ‘beautiful’
According to the 52-year-old comedian, Jones was into both Seth Meyers and Colin Jost of Weekend Update when she met them, at least aesthetically speaking.
“I know you didn’t know I was going to say this,” Jones began when Meyers asked her about her early time on Saturday Night Live. “When I first met Colin, I was like, ‘This is the perfect white man machine.’ And then when I met Seth, I was like, ‘Woooow. He’s like the next president.’ He’s so beautiful. I was like, ‘These white men around here are so beautiful.’”
Meyers blushed and said Jones was “too kind” as she continued to praise his looks, gushing, “His steel blue [eyes], I was like, ‘yeah, whatever, dude.’”
Jones also revealed that Meyers was her biggest fan behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live. “Let me say something about Seth,” the comedian said, before sharing that Meyers had championed her as a writer and cast member on the show.
“Seth was the first person that was telling Lorne [Michaels], she’s funny,” Jones said. “She’s funny. If you ain’t going to have her, I’ll take her. She’s mine. She’s not leaving this building.”
She also recounted where she was when she found out she was joining the ‘SNL’ cast
The Trainwreck and Ghostbusters star also opened up about the moment she found out that she would be on the show. “Do you remember where you were when you found out you joined the cast?” Meyers asked Jones.
The comedian explained that she was not used to desperately longing for a gig, but that all changed when she was being considered for Saturday Night Live.
“First of all, I was cocky. Where I was, I was like, ghetto fabulous. I was at the top of my game,” Jones told Meyers. “When I walk in the room, I rep. And I have respect, you know what I’m saying? So when they called me for this, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to go show them how dope I am, and I’m going to walk out the room.’”
Jones couldn’t believe how much she wanted to be part of SNL after she got to see the creative process up close and personal during the audition period. “But they made me want it,” she continued. “I really wanted it after that whole week of being there, watching them do the stage, watching the writers, watching the band, I was like, ‘Ooo, I want this so bad.’”
Jones didn’t expect to be asked to write for the show
The actress recounted her unlikely location when she was told she’d be joining the cast of the iconic sketch show.
“I was driving to get my nails done, over there on Adams and Crenshaw,” Jones told Meyers. “It’s a bomb nail shop. Stop and see Nikki, she does do the bomb eyelashes.”
But Jones didn’t believe she was about to hear good news, so she didn’t pick up the phone at first. “So I pulled in and I kept seeing my phone ring, 212,” she explained. “So I thought it was just somebody calling going, ‘Yeah, we saw her, but we’re going to go with somebody else.’ That’s what I thought the call was.”
Finally, after it kept ringing, she picked up the phone that would change her life. The caller introduced himself as SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels. “Oh, right here in the parking lot?” Jones recalled thinking. He asked her to come out and be a writer, and Jones said she was more of an on-camera performer instead of a writer.
Still, Michaels insisted that Jones come out to New York. “He was like, ‘I know what you are, but I need you out here so I can see exactly what to do with you,’” Jones explained.
She said she tried to play it cool and act professional, but after she hung up the phone, the mask dropped and she let herself celebrate. “I jumped out of my car and I ran around the whole parking lot, going, ‘Aaahhh!’” Jones said, as she let out a triumphant victory yell.
Apparently, her excited display was enough to alarm the security guard, who asked her what was going on. “I was like, ‘I got SNL!’” Jones exclaimed.
