The former ‘Saturday Night Live’ star says she wasn’t ‘free’ on the long-running sketch show
While Leslie Jones became much more of a household name during her time on Saturday Night Live she says she’s not looking back. The 53-year-old comedian, who was a featured star on SNL from 2014-2019, became the oldest member to ever join the cast at 47.
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After first being part of the writing staff, when Jones officially became part of the ensemble in 2014 it was the first time SNL had more than one African-American female cast member in its history.
“I don’t miss it. At all,” Jones told Entertainment Tonight host Kevin Frazier, in a new interview. “That job was hard, man. That job was like two jobs and very restrictive too. I wasn’t very free there.”
She did say she does miss her former co-star Kenan Thompson, who’s been at SNL since 2003 and is now the longest-running cast member in the show’s 45-year run.
Jones has moved on to the hosting role on Supermarket Sweep. The classic game show originated in 1965 but became popular during a 90s revival hosted by David Ruprecht. Contestants basically get to power shop the grocery store to earn cash and prizes and Jones says it was one of her personal favorites, so much so that she once auditioned to be on the show.
She told Entertainment Tonight that she and her then-roommate “trained” for Supermarket Sweep, going so far as to practice running up and down the aisles at their local grocery stores. But Jones didn’t get to the audition finals because her roommate had to head to work at Los Angeles’ famed eatery, Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.
“We were the last four teams and they were bringing people in to compete against each other, but you had to stay for that part,” Jones says adding that potential contestants were told to have the whole day free.
“She was like, ‘I gotta go.’ And I lost my ever-living mind,” Jones remembers. “I don’t think they were ever gonna let me on that lot again ‘cause I called her every type of name I could come up with. I was like, ‘I’ll never talk to you.’ Then I was like, ‘I’m not riding home with you.’”
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While we don’t know what happened to her roommate, Jones at least now has what she says is her “dream job.”
“It’s just, you know, a comedian’s dream come true,” Jones said.
Supermarket Sweep debuts on ABC on Oct. 18 at 8 p.m.
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The post Leslie Jones: ‘I don’t miss SNL’ appeared first on TheGrio.
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