Leslie Jones leaves SNL

Leslie Jones is an acquired taste. Sometimes I like her. She is 51 and this was a lucky late mid-career break. I hope she is saving her money and gets a few really good pay checks in coming years.

She's a better actress than stand-up. She was like Lewis Black (before he broke out). Great stage persona and POV, not enough material. She kind of admitted it. I saw Lewis Black about 20 years ago - he was great but all delivery. The material was not first rate. He fixed that and with the help of Jon Stewart, broke out.

My mom loves her commercials, and I like her in movies. It's good that SNL pushed her to the part of the business where she'll thrive.

My dress gave her the confidence to stand on her own!

[quote]She's a better actress than stand-up.

Ouch. Talk about damning with faint praise

She's going into full time SJW where she goes around to companies and screams discrimination against obnoxious black women.

See: Sephora

See: Ritz Carlton

She can be quite funny. But overall I find her very abrasive. Frankly, I get the feeling deep down she probably doesn't like white people.

I wouldn't be surprised if we soon see her with a recurring part on some show.

I don't think she'd leave unless there was something else going on for her.

Deep down a lot of Black people are tired of white people. Not hating or even dislike, just tired of the bullshit that comes from living in a white world.

Other cast members ― including Kate McKinnon, Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Colin Jost, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson and Melissa Villaseñor ― are expected to return.

Finally!

[quote] Frankly, I get the feeling deep down she probably doesn't like white people.

Honey, most black people don't. Or they're suspicious of us. For damn good reason.

[quote] Other cast members ― including Kate McKinnon, Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Colin Jost, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson and Melissa Villaseñor ― are expected to return.

Jost is one of the worst HWs they've ever had. And Kenan is so far beyond expired it's not even funny.

Shouldn't be too hard to find a replacement who can botch every other one of her lines.

The Time Square Wendy's offered her a 3rd shift Asst. Mgr. position she just couldn't turn down.

R7 there’s a cure for that.

Oh happy day! Can she please take Pete with her?

She's one of the ugliest women I have ever seen in my life. If she's going to stay in the public eye please wear a bag or a mask over her face.

Beck Bennett is a hot muscle stud.

Pete is busy in Florida calling his audience "retarded". I fail to understand what Pete's talent is on SNL or anywhere.

Check his crotch, r18

I'd rather have Kate McKinnon leave!

R20 I didn't realize how truly annoying she was until I saw "The Spy Who Dumped Me". Ugh.

I was hoping they'd clean house and bring in a bunch of fresh new faces.

More reason not to watch.

They need to revamp the show like they did in the mid 80s after the season with Robert Downey Jr and Anthony Michael Hall

I guess that Kenan Thompson isn't tired of the bullshit that comes from living in a white world since he's back and has been on this show longer than any other cast member in the history of the series.

Leslie is not only unattractive and unfunny but she's old for showbiz. How many starring roles are there in Hollywood for an old, unattractive and unfunny performer who can't read a cue card? Wherever she ends up (Netflix, probably) she'll be easy to ignore.

Leslie is extremely well liked. Not by the old white men of Datalounge - but most everywhere else. She's not an angry black woman at all. She's very open minded and curious and personally delightful. She's very funny in an observational and conversational way, and she's very nurturing. She's a sweetheart to be honest. If anything, I think that SNL was the wrong place for her.

I didn't think she was particularly talented on SNL. If she is walking away from a guaranteed job I don't know if that is wise, are people really jumping to hire her?

Lorne Michaels may have gotten bored of her limited shtick (screaming about being horny) and is letting her say that it was her idea to move on. It wouldn’t look good for the show to announce that it had fired an AA woman.

What a loss!

And she was never heard from again!

Kenan might make over 1/2 million a year. That's good steady dough, year after year, and he probably has it down to a very manageable routine.

LSA troll thread. No one fucking cares. No one likes her. Jones has been a blight on that show since she was hired and she can get through 3 words of a script without flubbing.

I love Kenan. I think he's hilarious.

I like him, too. And he is comfort food.

I love Kenan. He's one of those rare performers who just makes you want to smile. He's adorable.

R27, I had a similar thought. If it had been her idea she probably would have made the announcement at the end of last season.

Love, love, love Leslie Jones. SNL always circles back to frat boy humor and Leslie Jones has always been able to blast them out of that dank and unfunny pit.

Kenan is more charismatic than any of them. He smiles and everything is good. He definitely stays in his lane, but no one else has that one covered.

She was funny for a minute but her routine tires easily.

Can't say I'll miss her. There have to be strong black female comedians who can actually remember a line or two, right?

I hope she has a career as long and varied as Ellen Cleghorne!

[quote] Deep down a lot of Black people are tired of white people. Not hating or even dislike, just tired of the bullshit that comes from living in a white world.

Not only Black people, but Asians, Spanish speakers, immigrants, poor White folks and the rest of the people who didn't vote for Trump.

I think that Leslie was actually the best part of the 2016 Ghostbusters. She was the most believable as a Ghostbuster The rest of the cast seemed liked they were in a different movie.

Colin Jost is a smug douchebag and the show is incredibly boring. I will watch when Eddie Murphy hosts but otherwise it’s terrible except for Kate McKinnon.

He should have fired half of them, just to shake it up and also shake up those performers, many who should move on to shit or get off the can.

So many black racists from LSA in this thread.

Kate McKinnon knows she has a good thing going, and wouldn't last a year without the SNL exposure.

I posted this before, I think, but right before the female Ghostbusters came out I was at a show at Second City and Leslie came in by herself (they gave her the best seat in the house).

She was wearing a professional suit, her hair was styled and she had on makeup. Very composed. Sat there quietly, checked her phone and drank a big glass of red wine while she waited for the show to start. It occurred to me than the man-hungry character might be a distraction from the fact she's actually a power lesbian.

The funniest part was when the host seated a group of about 12 tourist puffer-jacket-wearing fraus next to her and not one of them realized who she was. She looked like this (except in a suit).

I wonder if Pete Davidson's emotional and mental issues have become too much for Lorne Michaels and we'll hear he's "leaving" next. I worry about him.

and yet Kyle Mooney

She's apparently leaving to.....

Host a game show

I love Leslie Jones, but not from her SNL stuff. I saw her do stand-up at The Comedy Store prior to her SNL days. She was heckled by a drunk white chick, and Leslie WENT TO TOWN ON HER. It was so brutal and hilarious. Turns out the chick was Shanna Ferrigno, the daughter of Lou.

[quote]she's actually a power Lesbian

You think? 🙄

No, R47 I think Lorne keeps Pete around mostly out of fear he’d kill himself if he was let go. Kind of like he kept Darrell Hammond around for years out of fear he”d start doing coke again otherwise.

Pete Davidson has that “big dick energy”, remember? How could anyone fire him?

Darrell Hammond is enormously talented. Pete Davidson is a celebrity troll. He is without a gift. And who cares if a geek that ugly has a big dick? What are you, twelve?

Ellen Cleghorn was the funniest, most talented black chic they ever had on the show. They’ve tried to get “another black chic” so they look goo but Ellen was the best. She even got her own sitcom after leaving SNL.

Ahem, r55...

R56 you are right!! Danitra was really good but she never got the after exposure that Ellen got, which is really too bad.

Eddie Murphy was by far the funniest black woman ever on SNL. I love Eddie. He's a sexy bitch still.

This thread just reminded me of how dead Milo’s career is. I love that!

Danitra was amazing, and SNL never knew what to do with her, not even a little.

What they did to Danitra and Terry Sweeney was a fucking crime, to be honest.

Ellen Cleghorn as Joycelyn Elders was faaaaabulous.

That was something R60. Thanks.

R60 Agree 100%!

[quote] LSA troll thread. No one fucking cares. No one likes her. Jones has been a blight on that show since she was hired and she can get through 3 words of a script without flubbing.

[quote] So many black racists from LSA in this thread.

[quote] OP = LSA bible

Explain to us why you insist going around Datalounge screaming about “LSA.” Do you believe that these are the only 2 websites on the internet?

It always took me out of the moment when she'd fuck up the line.

Also, I think the person most thrilled about this is Colin Yost. I mean...she was sexually harassing him with all those remarks in the news. I guess it's supposed to be funny, but she's big enough to pick him up.

There were one or two times she'd do well, even hitting it out of the park. But those were so rare.

She didn't really do a good job imitating celebrities. When she did Whoopi on the View, all I saw was Leslie Jones yelling and yelling.

Oops "Jost."

[quote]Ellen Cleghorn was the funniest, most talented black chic they ever had on the show.

Maya Rudolph would like to have a word with you.

[quote]Also, I think the person most thrilled about this is Colin Jost. I mean...she was sexually harassing him with all those remarks in the news. I guess it's supposed to be funny, but she's big enough to pick him up.

Technically Colin was her boss at one point so he probably didn't care. Then again this is the place where, at one point, the writers would pee in jars and let them sit around, collecting them. So something tells me that most of them are terrible backstage.

And the fact that she was big enough to pick him up is supposed to be the funny part. She even did one of those SNL featurettes where she was dating one of the skinny white writers.

As for Leslie:

I'm not sure how to put this but: Leslie Jones was funniest as herself. She was funny when she did her Weekend Update Commentaries. She was funny when she would do guest spots on shows talking about Game of Thrones. She was even funny at the Olympics. She was great in Ghostbusters. She just didn't come across, to me, as a great performer on the show.

She'll be fine. She'll pop in movies playing basically herself. She'll tour and do stand up. I genuinely like the woman but I guess I just like her as herself.

Another unemployed black woman.

[quote]She is 51

I was shocked when I first heard this. She doesn’t look anywhere NEAR 51.

Kate McKinnon is incredibly boring and unfunny. Her “impersonations” are all the same person and not even remotely like the person she’s supposed to be impersonating.

Colin may or may not have cared, but I just didn't find it funny -- it got OLD fast.

Maybe Leslie will play herself in movies doing guest spots for the next decade and she'll bank enough for retirement.

U.E.S - for LIFE

She’s been lashing out a lot on social media, accusing this one and that one of being racist. Maybe NBC got fed up with her.

She switched to UTA a few months ago in April.

We know she's currently filming "Coming to America 2" & a comedy special on Netflix coming up.

However she also has a role in the Chris Rock drama about a Haitian immigrant moving to the US to become a boxer, "I Am Maurice" and another with Kristen Bell in "Queenpins." It was also announced that she's hosting a new version of "Supermarket Sweep" just a few hours ago which didn't just happen over night.

I couldn't imagine going from doing a movie to back to the grind at SNL in a month. Something tells me she really was the one to make the decision to leave since she is booked for the next year or so even without the show.

Lorne would have given her a sendoff otherwise because she has brought a lot of attention to the show and is one of the most recognizable cast members born out of the correction of their lack of black women on the show. She succeeded when Sasheer failed.

R74 Sasheer was never given a chance to succeed OR fail.

R67, Maya Rudolph would like to have a word with you. she does not consider herself to be black.

I agree she’s best as herself, maybe she can do an Ellen like show on BET?

R75, Unfortunately many people who were on the show at one point or another as players have said the trick is to be able to write for yourself. If you can't do that, then good luck.

R76, Miss "I Don't Like Labels" Rudolph is still considered a former black cast member (able to play black people on the show, complain because certain parts went to "white" cast mates and about people being racist while her hair was being styled) just as Barack Obama is considered the first black president.

Leslie could be funny as shit. She bombed a lot of her lines and broke way too often. But when she was good, she was good.

[quote] I couldn't imagine going from doing a movie to back to the grind at SNL in a month. Something tells me she really was the one to make the decision to leave since she is booked for the next year or so even without the show.

Past cast members have said SNL does not pay very well.

R78, Barack considered himself to be black when he ran for office. Who knows what he considers himself to be now. Maya has always lived her life as a white woman. But sure white people consider her black much like they do Tiger Woods even though he has said he is not black.

[quote] [R78], Barack considered himself to be black when he ran for office. Who knows what he considers himself to be now. Maya has always lived her life as a white woman. But sure white people consider her black much like they do Tiger Woods even though he has said he is not black.

You sound like an idiot.

R67, I always enjoyed the "Game of Jones" bits she did on Late Night with Seth Meyers. They're really good together and I'll bet filming was a kick.

Pete, Kyle, can go.

Wasn't Maya Rudolph's mother the VERY exceptional, VERY black singer Minnie Riperton?

And as for Little Katie McKinnon, didn't A LOT of the screamers here on DL predict how she was the biggest thing since Streep, and that she completely eclipsed all of her SNL castmates, and that she'd leave the show in a year or two for much greener pa$ture$? And weren't they all saying that about her what, six, seven years ago?

[quote]It occurred to me than the man-hungry character might be a distraction from the fact she's actually a power lesbian.

NO! Get out of here!

I actually think she'll do great as a game show host. She's been a guest on a couple of the ABC revivals over the past few years, and is just delightful and infectiously enthusiastic on them. I'm sure that's why Freemantle offered her the job.

I think Kate will hang with SNL for a few years and then will assume Ellen’s role in her show when she’s ready to retire, doing it in character and not missing a beat. Power lesbians stick together.

What r12 said.

R49 Wouldn't something like "Pawn Shop Probe" be more appropriate for her "talents."

[quote] Power lesbians stick together.

Ohhhh! THAT is an image I did not want in my mind's eye as I enjoy my morning coffee.

So she's going to stumble over her lines with bad delivery somewhere else?

I like Leslie. On SNL the joke was that SHE was the character, so it was hard for her to play/embody other characters without seeing Leslie Jones. But all that aside, I applaud anyone who can find fame and fortune in the youth obsessed entertainment industry, at her age. She is one of the few people that I really root for.

Leslie Jones came from stand-up comedy, not sketch comedy. Nothing in her history promises she will be great with characters. But SNL already had sketch comedy players. Jones balanced them with energy and presence. They disappear into their characters. She works another way. It's just silly to compare the two. Cecily Strong is brilliant with the characters she can become. But she can't do what Leslie does so readily. And, of course, vice versa.

What Leslie Jones can't seem to do is say her lines.

Wow, I never would have guessed there would be so many LJ apologists here, I assumed she was universally reviled.?

Melissa Villsenor should be next out the door. Not that she doesn't have talent but it hasn't been served by SNL. She usually just plays the girlfriend.

R12 Melissa "Muppet Voice" Villasenor already botches a lot of her lines in sketches.

R5 I suspect she lied about one of those incidents. With the supposed Ritz Carlton incident, a black centric community website wanted to know specifics on what went down and they tweeted Jones with questions. She never responded to them.

True enough, R93. Not since Tina Turner and K. T. Oslin became fortysomething divas back in the Eighties has a woman so successfully fought against ageism, and won. So, good for her.

Oh, darn. Now I can't play my "how long before Leslie flubs her lines in this skit?" drinking game anymore.

I wasn't crazy about her on SNL but enjoy her more when she's being spontaneous, like her Olympic commentary videos. Those were a riot.

It's heartening to learn that someone so unattractive and untalented is getting so many high profile showbiz jobs. Maybe there's hope for the rest of us in our respective fields.

Will Leslie scream about being horny on Supermarket Sweep? That would be fun to see.

LOVE her. She's a big "drag race" fan and she loves the white gurls on it. Her reaction clips to the show crack me up.

I think Leslie and Oprah should team up and do a Broadway revival of The Female Odd Couple.

Maybe Leslie could do a modernized version of "A Christmas Carol" as Bob Cratchit's wife. They could call it "Cratchit and Ratchet."

Oh good. Another season of Kate MacKinnon's creepy and unfunny impersonations of male politicians. They're not tiresome at all.

Tiresome, thy name is r107.

They ARE tiresome, R108.

SNL has relied on men in drag for decades so it's nice to see women in drag for a change. Also, Trump HATES that women are playing his minions so if it pisses off Trump, it must be effective.

[Quote]What Leslie Jones can't seem to do is say her lines.

She has gotten a HELL of a lot better, r95. She's obviously aware of that problem, so she's worked on it, with impressive results. I'm certain that she'll enjoy many career accomplishments in the future.

BTW, this is one of my favorite SNL clips with her.

r111, if you're an actor (for a good living!) you should do better than merely"get better" at saying your lines.

R112, someone detailed this here a while ago but they're literally changing the lines right before the show airs. They don't really get to memorize anything. There's a whole short doc on it.

She got better at reading the cue cards which even the actors who host the show have problems with.

Based on her performance in Ghost Busters she's fine and funny.

Each and every Millenial/Centennial character Heidi does makes me stabby.

Even sitting next to Goop herself, she couldn't slam a joke at Gwynnie.

Just go.

Are they hiring? I'm available!

In this past season, Leslie fucked up her first line in a skit. That line was "I have popcorn."

"I have popcorn" was not a joke or a punchline. It wasn't written moments before the show started.

Three words. She couldn't read three words correctly. And that's her job! Or, at least, it was her job.

I predict Big Things!!!

[quote]I predict Big Things!!! —Larraine Newman

I smell an Emmy for Leslie in the cards!

An Oscar!

Or two!

I predict Big Thighs!

I read she’s looking at game show host for a new Supermarket Sweep.

I will miss her.

The perfect career path.

She's no Luke Null!

I think SNL knew this was coming. Why else would they have hired a new black female cast member last season? I was looking forward to seeing Leslie as Kamala Harris, but I think Ego Nwodim will be good too. As she will with Whoopi, Beyonce, Oprah, etc.

I hope this means Ego gets more things to do. She’s criminally underused.

I don't know about that r27.

Looks like she's got other things to do.

R126 Leslie would have never played Kamala. That's for Maya Rudolph.

How long until Leslie tweets about the racism behind the scenes at SNL? A week? A month?

r128 she looks like she needs those Clearisil degreasing wipes.

R130 She was in tons of sketches so she can't really claim racism at SNL. I think her post SNL career will flop in a couple of years and then she'll complain about ageism. There is something fake about Jones and I wouldn't be surprised if a scandal happens.

Leslie is, as far we know, well liked by the people she works with. They'll keep her working.

The same can't be said about Ellen Cleghorne. (Who I didn't know until just now is two years older than Leslie at 53.)

As for Leslie, I loved her constant adoration of James Spader.

I'm not saying this to be contrary R132 - butt, I think that there is something very real about Leslie Jones. SNL pushed her in fake directions. She's become famous and the people who work with her love her. She's a loud black female comedian. Well good luck to anyone like that. She started as a writer on this protected TV show that features so many non talented talents. The not big secret is that Leslie is sweet and likes real people and is very outspoken and funny in that way. She's a very generous woman in the ways that people who never had money before are generous. She's not the kind of woman to take a swipe at someone that didn't hit her first. Leslies is not an angry black woman at all. We all know how to GET angry....

Listen to her moment by moment Drag Race commentaries. (I think that World of Wonder made her erase most of them because she reviewed most every single moment of every episodes - she was adorable and shocking and real and super smart) She says, "that's not right Ru - you picked the wrong winner, or don't do that Phi Phi - don't be that girl, or I love you Alyssa you wild bitch, go on you crazy queen. I'm in awe of you motherfucker."

Big black women and Drag Race, two things that white eldergays have problems with. But we've all seen her Olympic coverage and Siriano has made over 50 outfits for Leslie now and considers her a great friend. (I am his friend and I've met her a few times) Leslie Jones is a very cool woman who you can meet in Brooklyn most any day. She's scared abou film reception, she has feelings - she failed a lot on her way up. Eddie Murphy was a star at 21 years old! I was born in 1983 but I would fuck Eddie today. Hercules. They put Leslie in his new movie. And his last movie. She funny. She ready. She's not brilliance, but she's good at being herself. A poster upthread said that best. The idea that she will soon be crying racism is a thought that can only come from the misinformed and hateful. Leslie left SNL. You will still see her around a lot. They love her there. Why would you think that all black people "cry" racism anyway?

racists like you

She couldn't act. Just read the cue cards. Very rarely was she funny

I stopped liking Jones after she bashed some Atlanta restaurant on twitter and the restaurant responded that Jones made fun of a server's accent.

I’m sure she’ll be fine

R137 Dip that face in batter to make gorilla pancakes.

R137 You sho is ugly.

Good riddance..overrated and not funny

It baffles me how a majority of DL posters are progressives and at the same time racists

Disliking a talentless, screaming hack who can't memorize 3 consecutive words does not make anyone a racist.

Calling her a gorilla does

R142 has serious reading comprehension issues.

R141

Bold of you to assume that progressives aren't racist.

R145 I guess I thought wrong.

I wish you idiots would stop with the "DL posters" bullshit. One or two trolls doesn't make "DL posters". Just ignore them and move on, rather than whining and castigating the rest of DL (or progressives) as being racist.

Leslie Jones videotaped a statement about her departure from SNL, but had to start over five times because she kept stumbling over the words in the first sentence.

Who's going to play Whoopi or Samuel L. Jackson or Oprah?

Why do people watch a show that’s embarrassingly unfunny?

^^^^Kenan Thompson will play those characters

The show is greatly diminished this season without her. EVERYONE else is in the same Second City / Groundlings tradition. But Leslie is a stand-up comic. The improv background gives the others an advantage in the sketches. But none of their little character-driven bits command that Weekend Update desk the way that Leslie did when she appeared there.

She was a unique member of the cast. Sometimes it worked for her. Sometimes not. But her energy is missed.

Yes, the show is greatly diminished because it doesn't feature an unattractive, fifty-something woman screaming about sex every week. That's what this shit show needs to get back on top.

R152 Her improv skills were pretty lacking. Every time she'd fuck up her scripted lines - which was every goddamn week and in every goddamn sketch - she'd flail. A truly gifted improv comedian would've been able to take those screw ups and spin them into something funny.

Leslie was lucky to get as far as she did.

I hear they are auditioning Leslie Jordan and Leslie Stahl to replace her.