Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones, 59, has revealed why she felt compelled to leave the show.
“If they had got me when I was 23, 25, I would have stayed there 20 years at least,” she told Obsessed: The Podcast. “I definitely would have stayed there. Bad, good, whatever. I would have stayed.”
Jones was a cast member on SNL from 2014 through 2019. She came from a stand-up comedy background and joined the show at 47—much later in life than many of her castmates. SNL was central to her growth as a comedian and her success in the entertainment industry, but for Jones, it wasn’t a means to an end.
“For me, when I got there, I was 47,” she said. “So in my heart, I felt like I was on a time clock anyway. And yes, I could have stayed the rest of my days there, but I was a different person at SNL; I was not doing everything that I wanted to do. You know, I want to be a stand-up. I want to do some drama. I want to do other things.”
SNL was an education in all things comedy and show business, Jones said. It prepared her for the rest of her career and gave her a space to further hone her skills. Having access to such a robust platform made it difficult to leave, but it also gave her opportunities and ample freedom to explore the broader entertainment scene once she moved on.
“It’s a good place to be. You can learn, you can get opportunities. They really protect you there,” Jones said. “You learn how to write, you learn how to produce, you learn how to cast, you learn how to direct, you learn everything there. Everything. And it’s like, when you do come out of there, you are a college graduate. You have the connections to be able to do what you want in the industry.”
Midway through her tenure at SNL, Jones starred in 2016’s Ghostbusters alongside SNL alums Kate McKinnon and Kristin Wiig, as well as comedian Melissa McCarthy. After leaving the show, Jones hosted the ABC game show reboot of Supermarket Sweep from 2020 through 2022. She’s also guest-hosted The Daily Show, published a memoir, and released several stand-up comedy specials.
Starting in July, Jones has hosted HGTV’s Roast My Rental, where she visits terrible short-term vacation rental houses and delivers brutal reviews before giving designer Jasmine Roth and her team 72 hours to renovate the property.
Most of Jones’ SNL castmates, including McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and Pete Davidson, stayed on the show several years longer than Jones, but not by much. Kenan Thompson, 48, is a notable exception, Jones said. Thompson is the longest-tenured cast member in SNL history, having joined the cast in 2003.
“I think that stands to how awesome he is,” Jones said. “Kenan can do anything. He chooses to be there because that is a great place for him to be. And you know, the money ain’t bad either, and he got two daughters he wants to put through college. And he’s really a staple there. Kenan has thought of maybe leaving a couple of times, but it’s like, why when he loves it there?”
But the factors informing Jones’ decision to leave or to stay were different than Thompson’s.
“SNL do take up a lot of time, so it was one of those decisions like, ‘OK, if I don’t leave now, I’m not gonna be able to really leave and do what I want to do,’” she said. “I had to leave while I could.”
Though Jones left the cast seven years ago, Lorne Michaels hasn’t yet brought her back as a host. Jones’ SNL peers McKinnon and Davidson have both hosted since departing the show.
Asked about the possibility, Jones uncharacteristically demurs and says, “It is what it is.”
In her view, Michaels will ask her “when he thinks it’s appropriate to do it, because he’s that type of person. He doesn’t like to be told what to do. And definitely don’t ask him, because now he knows you want that.”
“He’s a Scorpio,” she added. “He’s gonna keep the drama.”
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