Leslie Jones Remembers the Moment She Got Hired on SNL

Last night, comedian Leslie Jones stopped by Late Night to chat about her new Netflix stand-up special, Time Machine, but of course, the conversation also covered her stint as an SNL cast member. When asked by Seth Meyers to tell the story of how she got hired on the show, Jones remembers pulling her car up to a nail salon, only for her phone to start ringing profusely — turns out it was a call from Lorne Michaels that would seal her comedy fate for the next few years. “I was like, ‘Oh! Right here in the parking lot? Yeah, let’s do this,’” Jones recalls, before explaining that Michaels first asked her to come in to be a writer so he could figure out how to fit her into the show. Jones played it as cool as possible during that call, but the moment she hung up, things changed drastically. “I had a beautiful burgundy Altima, and I jumped out and I ran around the whole parking lot going ‘RAAAHHHHHHHHH!’ The security guard knew who I was; he was like, ‘What’s wrong?! What’s happened?! Has something happened?!’ And I was like, ‘I got SNL! I got SNL!’ He was like, ‘What is that?! Is that a disease?!’”

If you’re craving more Jones SNL stories, the comedian was also a guest on Howard Stern’s show yesterday, where she explained how Chris Rock had a major role in helping her land the gig. “He saw me at the Comedy Store one late night doing a spot, and he was like, ‘Yep, she’s next-level. She’s ready,’” Jones said, explaining how Rock added her to his “funny people book” and personally recommended her to Lorne Michaels. But when Rock told Jones she should expect a call from the show to audition, she didn’t react too well: “I was like, ‘Why the fuck would you do that? I am not a sketch comic. What the fuck, Chris? I don’t do that shit! I’m a fuckin’ stand-up!” According to Jones, Rock told her to just do stand-up for her audition before hanging up on her. Rock’s tough-love approach, and Jones’s attitude about the whole thing, ended up being a huge advantage for Jones … and the rest after her SNL hiring is history. Watch the Stern clip below: