Fresh Air - Comic Leslie Jones

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

Leslie Jones says performing stand-up for the first time as a freshman in college felt like putting on a shirt that fit perfectly: "It was just so natural." She spoke with Tonya Mosley about the best advice she got, her bittersweet time at SNL, and why she loves physical comedy. Her memoir is Leslie F*cking Jones.Also, Justin Chang reviews the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, starring Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. When comedian and actress Leslie Jones joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2014, she held the distinction of being the oldest person to ever join the cast at 47 years old. But that detail might just be the least interesting thing about her. Jones was on Saturday Night Live for five seasons, first as a writer, then as a cast member. She became known for her hilarious weekend update reports, as well as her outrageous sketches playing everyone from Whoopi Goldberg to Donald Trump. And last week, she guest-hosted The Daily Show.

Here she is responding to Trump's comments that if president again, he would root out the vermin in this country. This man is calling American citizens vermin when he is literally the definition of vermin. He's talking about throwing the definition. He's talking about throwing his opponents in jail when he literally should be in jail. And he is the leading candidate. Can you believe he is

the leading candidate? What the America? How did y'all let this happen? Because this ain't my fault. I wasn't paying attention. The man's indicted in every state in America. I didn't know you was allowed to run for the president while you was already running from the po-po. In her new memoir, simply titled

Leslie F.N. Jones, I can't say the actual word on the radio, Jones makes clear that she's no overnight success. For years, she worked odd jobs to get by while doing comedy shows everywhere. In the book, Jones also shares details of her life that she's never spoken about before. Her life growing up as a military brat, working comedy clubs in a male- Saturday Night Live, and in 2016, she starred in Ghostbusters. In 2021, she starred opposite Eddie Murphy in Coming to America, for which she won an MTV Movie and TV Award. Leslie Jones, welcome to Fresh Air. Gotta love when a conversation starts with laughing. Oh my God, yeah, because I was just like, wow, this is so crazy.

When she's reading the credits, I was just like, I went back to sitting in my living room and thinking, oh God, how long am I going to have to do this until somebody realizes that I'm actually funny? I know. How many moments did you have like that? A billion. A billion. Because I knew I was funny. I knew I was funny. And I knew that they didn't know what I was. They knew that I was an entity. They just did not know. And up until I got SNL, nobody really knew what to really do with me. And everybody trusts me. They tried. But what the problem was is that I knew what I was, but I didn't tell them because I felt like they wouldn't get it.

You are undeniably funny. Thank you. But when you were young, and I'm talking like when you were young, young, comedy wasn't something you saw yourself being in. Like you, you saw it as like Richard Pryor, but you didn't see yourself in Richard Pryor. No, no, I was, I was a funny kid. I, I, every time I meet somebody from the past, they go, yeah, you was crazy. You was like a little fun, but I never thought of myself as funny. I thought of myself as just like I just like to have fun, and I was emulating a lot of comics that I would watch, you know.

So when it came down to it, like when my friend entered me in the contest, I was like, I'm not a comic. I always thought I was going to be an actress, that one day that I would play Whoopi Goldberg, like I would play a comic. I never thought I would be a comic. Your friend entered you in this contest, Colorado State University. You were a freshman. So this contest was the funniest person on campus contest. And you say that the moment you picked up the mic, you walked on the stage. It was like a religious experience. I can't even explain it more than when I grabbed the mic,

I just remember thinking, I've been doing this forever already. Like, oh, my God, this fits like a glove. It's almost like putting on a shirt and going, oh, God, this shirt fits. It almost felt like I saw a line leave from the mic and just went out. And it was like, oh, that's the path I'm taking. It was like I had already been doing it and didn't know I had been doing it. It was just so natural. And then when you were 19, a young Jamie Foxx was the headliner for this club called The World. The World, what Magic Johnson used to own, owned The World. It was back in the day,

back in the day, like 87. This was 87. So Jamie blew you away. And so you were like, I'm going to blow the world. It was back in the day, back in the day, like 87. This was 87. So Jamie blew you away. And so you were like, I'm going to blow Jamie away. Well, I was, well, first it was like, Jamie, when Jamie started performing,

I was like, oh, there's other comedians other than Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor and Whoopi Goldberg who know how to do this type of comedy because it's a certain

type of comedy. It's a very, when you could take from your life and then you could make someone just be right there or you could just relate. I was like, he's performing like this, and I'm like, oh, my God. So that means that I can learn how to do this then. So my friend that was with me, she was, you know, knew the promoter. And she I told her to go and like hook up with the promoter, do whatever you got to do so we can so I could talk to Jamie Foxx. So we all went to Fat Burgers. We all went to Fat Burgers and we was waiting on our burgers and Jamie was over there.

And I think I flirted with him at first, but because I was like, OK, if that's what it's going to take for me to find out what I need to, if you think I'm cute, then I'm definitely going to try to talk to you. But he didn't. He was like he didn't. I didn't think I was cute or whatever. He just was like, you are young and he knew I was 19. So he was like he was like, you 19. He was like, of course, you wasn't funny. He was like, you ain't got nothing to talk about yet. He was like he was like in the stuff that you're talking about, you're not funny enough yet to talk about it. He was like, so you're just up there doing jokes.

He was like, go live. He was like, go live. Go get jobs. Go get fired. Go get hired. Go quit. Go break hearts. Go get your heart broken.

Go and live. Go live. Go live so you can have something to talk about. So I just remember going. You went to live. I went and lived. So for six years after meeting Jamie Foxx. That was in 87. You quit comedy essentially, or you didn't quit, but you like went to go live. I went to go live, but I'm telling you at the root of every job I would get, everything I would be assigned to, I would be like, this is temporary. I always went in at temporary because I was like, this is not, I'm going to be a comic.

I'm going to be a comic. This is just until I'm a comic. Leslie, we have to go through some of the jobs you held. Okay. For Hot Minute, you were a justice of the peace. Yeah, I married people. I married people and I was really good at it. I actually was good at it because I'm funny. But when I first

started, the judge pulled me into the office and he was like, hey, are you reading the card when you're doing the ceremony? I was like, no, I know about heart. He was like, you actually don't know about heart because you're saying awfully wedded husband and awfully wedded wife. And I was like, that's what it is, right? And he was like, it's lawfully and please read from the card. and I was like that's what it is right and he was like it's lawfully and please read from the card and I was like well you know awfully is pretty funny he just I know he wanted to laugh but he's just like Leslie please

go and do it the right way and then from there they're like alright let's move her to the annulment office and then all the people I married literally most of them came in and got an annulment so I was like I guess the awfully and the lawfully was true. I guess I did jinx y'all mess. What I want to know, though, you worked for Scientologists.

Yes, I did. Twice. I had two jobs with Scientologists because they own Glendale. I mean, you don't work in Glendale without working for some Scientologists. Right, which is right outside of Los Angeles. So what they do is they buy a lot of businesses. They have a lot of businesses. I guess that's how they bring a lot of money to their thing, or I don't know what it is.

What were you doing for them? Well, the first job that I had for them was with the Doering Company. And I remember because I used to always have to write it on this little survey because that's what they did with surveys. Like if you bought a car and somebody called you and be like, yeah, we'd like to ask you how your car was. You were the person calling. I was that person calling. So you get money for that. And it was a good paying job.

I remember it, you know, pay the rent. And I live right around the corner from there. And they loved me because I was very enthusiastic. I would come in. I have an energy. I would come in and just be happy, and everybody would be happy to be at work or whatever. And they was always trying to hat me. That's what they called it, hat you.

When they want you to join and then they want to move you up, they want to make you feel important and stuff. So I remember that lady. She was moving me up in the office, which I didn't mind. I liked doing the surveys because when she came at me like this, I went back to doing surveys, but she was trying to move me up, but she kept saying, hat me. I want to hat you. I want to hat you. And I was like, what is that hat stuff? What is that? And she was like, oh, you know, in the Scientology words,

and I was like, nah, I want to go back to surveys because I'm a Christian. You let them know I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I believe in God. I don't know what y'all believe in. No. So then I went and worked for a construction company and they were a family deal. And I didn't really like being around them either because I always felt like they was going to kidnap me.

I don't know why. So I went and looked for another Scientology because there was a billion of them in Glendale. Well, look, you definitely took Jamie's advice as far as that's concerned. Girl, please. I went and had a life. Yeah. Leslie, you really like physical comedy. Yeah.

Lucille Ball, for instance, taught you that you can't just be happy or sad with your, you know, you can't just like show emotion or happy or sadness. You got to show it in your face. Well, you just be it. I remember being in an audition because I was in a Martin Lawrence movie. And the director, I remember I was auditioning. He was like, Leslie, you don't have to act mean. He was like, you could just be it because you've got that face that your emotions is going to come across your face. And Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett, Melissa McCarthy too,

like very good. The face, just face. Like that's the one thing I want to learn is that. You know, I heard Jim Carrey, and of course we know Jerry Lewis talk about though, like the physical toll of physical comedy, like literally on your body. What about for you? Do you feel it? Well, you know, it's so weird. Like I played basketball since I was a sixth grade. I didn't start getting injured until I started doing stage stuff and started at SNL and all that. I think those are my injuries. Like, like just because you give it all. Like to me, John Ritter is one of the best. Wait, can I just say, I've ever, you wrote about him in the book.

I don't think I've ever met anyone else who describes that feeling that you feel for John Ritter. I feel that too. It's like a comfort. He brings a comfort. It's so, I hate that that's one person I never got to meet. Because when I say that man would fall over a couch and I would die laughing. Because there's no one else who could do that. That jerk thing that he would do.

He would do this. It was just such good movements. And then John Ritter went on to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and played the malfunction robot. And what an Emmy for. I was like, just like artistry. You know, Buster Keaton. It's just a physical thing. Like I always tell everybody, don't try to reinvent comedy. Comedy is all his own entity. You're just like you're trying to reinvent the wheel.

The wheel will always be round. It needs to be. You know what I'm saying? So so just try to just learn the tricks and make them yours. Like slipping on a banana will always be funny. And I don't care what nobody say. Slipping on a banana will always be one of the funniest physical jokes ever. But it's really interesting. You playing basketball from sixth grade. You went to college to play basketball. And I feel like that feels like that's really physical.

And it's also you're running. I didn't ever injure myself. What is it about, like, just being in that? Because you love it. Like, I didn't love basketball like that. I wasn't going injure myself. What is it about just being in that? Because you love it. I didn't love basketball like that. I wasn't going to throw myself. I wasn't going to do all of that. But comedy, if I'm trying to get a joke across, oh, yeah, I may twist my knee.

I didn't fell off stages. I didn't fell off tables. I didn't fell off chairs. It's just real. It does take a toll on you, especially when you start getting older and start forgetting. But let me tell you something about the joy of watching physical comedy. If you do it right, people love you because you don't forget that physical move. You don't forget the dance and you don't forget that, especially if you're there live and watching them do that.

It is magnificent. I love physical comedy. Do you treat your body differently now? I saw on your last special you had on like a brace on your leg. Well, it's so weird, girl. Let me tell you the stages that you go through, not only as a comic, but as a woman. When I first started comedy, I thought I had to be sexy. I used to wear heels on stage. I remember that. I used to wear the splits and all of that. And then, you know, at the end of it, I'm sweaty,

and maybe the makeup didn't all melt it on me. You look gross. So it's like, and then, too, this is why I tell women, don't be afraid to be yourself because, see, there's women who can go dressed up on stage, then do your thing. But this is what happens when you walk on stage. The first thing that happens is a woman look at you and they go, oh, does she think she cute? And then they look at their man and they go, does my man think she cute?

All that's happening while you're trying to open up. So I always say in your first couple of years, T-shirt, jeans, tennis shoes. If you can make it lovely and cute, do that because you don't have to prove you're a woman. And listen, you can do whatever you want. I'm telling you, as far as I've been doing this a long time, I know what that's doing. I want to go back to your early life for a moment, if you're okay with that. Your family growing up was made up of your mom, your dad, and your brother. Nuclear family. Like straight nuclear family, yeah.

You all moved around because your dad was in the military. You're a military brat. And your dad later worked at a radio station in Memphis as a studio technician. It was the first all-black station in the United States. Yeah, WDIA. Before moving to Inglewood to work for Stevie Wonder's radio station. Yeah, and we moved to Linwood. We moved to Linwood.

Yes. But the radio station was in Englewood. That's right. That's right. Did you ever visit your dad at work at Stevie Wonder's radio station? I might have and just don't remember. Only particular time I remember that I was going to go to work with him was because I was in love with the DeBarge familyBarge fam oh yeah I was who was it geez it was it was like a DeBarge poster on one of my wall

and Duran Duran on the other wall so I was just like in love with DeBarge and they were coming to the radio station and like whenever you see the fans cry like you see them cry over Michael Jackson stuff like that I used to be like why. That's how I was about to barge. So my dad was like, oh, you're going to come to the studio. And I literally burst into tears. And I said, Daddy, I don't want to go. Because I felt they were so beautiful they wouldn't like me. You know, because I'm a little black girl.

You know, they're not going to like me. They're all beautiful and light skin. You know, right now, thinking about that, that's what I thought. Taking you back. Absolutely. It's so weird. That's what I was thinking in my head. If I had said that out loud to my dad, my dad would be like, get your butt in the car, girl.

You finna go meet these folks. But I think he was like, oh, she a fan, freaking out. Because I was like, oh, my God, I can't meet him. But I sent my brother. And he took a picture. And my brother said he got a sign and you know what they said? They said that they wish you had came.

I cried all night. I was like, I could have met Elder Barge, but I didn't know what, I probably would have fainted or something. I didn't want to embarrass myself. So funny,

on my 44th birthday, I was having it at the comedy store and guess who walks up? Elder Barge. I had to pick. I've got to find a picture. When I say the smile in that picture, it's so big. And I told him that story, and he just laughed.

He was like, that is hilarious. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, your dad worked at Stevie Wonder's radio station for a short period of time. And then the thing that you saw through your dad was a man who wanted to be successful. He wanted to be, at one time, you know, I think he managed or either got a gig for Tony, Tony, Tony. For the group, Tony, Tony, Tony. Yeah, but they wasn't famous then. They wasn't famous then. And I think he got a gig for them and then they signed with someone else. But like, yeah, he wanted to be in the business for sure. He wanted, but he never quite got there. I think that's why I wish he was alive because the Lord, he would love everything. Oh my God,

he would love this. Oh, he would just be tickled pink with this. So thing is, you always knew seeing him, seeing how he moved. How did it influence how you moved? My dad always worked. He always worked. He was always thinking. He was always, my dad was always so super confident in himself and in his ideas. And he would always tell me, like, this is so funny because I hear like parents be trying to get their kids to get married or try to get their daughter married.

My dad never did that. My dad was always like, I want you to make your own money. He used to always say, I don't want no man taking care of you. I want you to take care of yourself. Be undeniable. They're going to tell you that you black and that you can't make it. They're going to tell you you're a woman and you can't make it. They're going to tell you you're a black woman and you can't make it.

He said, please don't listen to them. He said, because if you work hard, if you work hard, you can't be denied. Our guest today is comedian and actress Leslie Jones, who has written a new memoir about her life and career. We'll hear more of our conversation after a short break. And later, Justin Chang reviews the new film Maestro. I'm Tanya Mosley. This is Fresh Air. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. Today we're talking to comedian and actor Leslie Jones.

She's written a new memoir titled Leslie F.N. Jones. I can't say the actual word on the radio. It's about her life and rise to fame. Jones was on Saturday Night Live for five seasons. She's also appeared in the 2016 female reboot of Ghostbusters and in Eddie Murphy's 2021 Coming to America sequel. Last January, she was the first guest host for The Daily Show after the departure of Trevor Noah. When we left off, Leslie Jones was talking about growing up with her family. You also had a really special relationship with your mom. Yeah. She had a stroke during your freshman year in college. Yeah. I got chills reading about the dream that you had the night before you got the call that she had the stroke.

Yeah. Would you mind sharing that story? Yes. Okay. So, ooh, I hope I don't get emotional. But I remember, you know, I'm going to tell you, kids, we take advantage of our parents. We do not love them as much as we need to love them. We complain more than we love them.

I used to fuss at her because she would come up to the campus and clean up my room when I wasn't there. Like, she would just do stuff like that. And I remember her talking to one of my teammates. Your basketball teammates in college. And they were like, she's so good. And I just remember we was in, I think it was, I want to say we was Utah. We was playing in Utah and we were delayed at the airport. All of us was laying on the floor because it was a big basketball team. All of us tall. We laying

on the floor and I fell asleep because I could sleep anywhere. Then my coach would just be so angry because he'd be like, you just fall asleep Yeah. So I wish I could do that now, those days. Anyway, I fell asleep and I just remember this big white room. It was just a white room. Nothing was in it. And it was just a silver table. And my mom was in the middle of that table. She had those white little white robe on and she was in a fetal position.

And I just remember waking up and ran to a telephone because I was like, hey. My brother answered crying. He was like, they just took Ma to the hospital, you know. And I was like, he was just crying. He was like, I don't know what's wrong. She couldn't breathe. It was just like he was freaking out. So I always tell everybody, and I tell this and I say this all the time, it is a very, very, very scary world without your parents, especially ones that loved you.

And I know they don't always get it right. But at some point, you have to give them some grace. There was this moment, because your mother, after she had the stroke, she was never the same again. And you looked at her. There was a moment when you went home, you looked at her, and you realized that she would never be the same again. And you looked at her, there was a moment when you went home, you looked at her and you realized that she would never be the same. And in a way, like you, I said goodbye to her. You said goodbye. I said goodbye to her. And it's not like I didn't go visit her and stuff after that. But I was like, you are not going to ever be my mom again. And I hate that I maybe did that

because maybe I should have put effort for it for rehabilitation. But I was a kid, you know, and real talk, the main thing in my head is I remember when the last time she got sick and almost died, she said to me, the reason that I think I made it was because I asked God to let me survive until my children could take care of themselves. So I just remember thinking, yes, my mom is sick. But every time I went to go and visit her, she always had this look of like, you better be, please be out there. Please don't be out there giving up. Could she speak? No, she couldn't speak or nothing, but she knew what was going on.

And I would go and visit her and I would cry with her. Anytime my brother was mean to me, I would go and cry with her. And she would just, she understood, you know, I saw her more than anyone. So, oh. Your mom and dad died six months apart. Which is really weird because I think my mom secretly probably was trying to outlive my dad. Oh, really? Because I think everybody was, I think with everything that happened between

them and how everything went, I think my mom was just like, yeah, I'll leave you. But yeah, she passed away six months after my dad passed away. And at the time you were, you were a working comic at the time, but you hadn't made it, made it yet. I hadn't made it yet. And they did not die with life insurance. So I didn't go to either one of their funerals because I was working to pay for them. Leslie, I'm just thinking about what you had to access within yourself, though, to go on stage, knowing you were doing these sets, making people laugh so that you could pay for your parents' funerals. Girl, that first gig, because I had to go to Amsterdam, and I remember I missed the first flight. I missed the first flight that was booked,

because that had happened. And my friend came and picked me up with her boyfriend. Man, I was crying so hard, because nobody had ever seen me cry like that. Oh, I'm trying not to cry now. It was really hard. I couldn't do it. I was helpless.

Helpless in everything. I wasn't rich to send them money. And then hearing about my dad, who was such a strong person. He was so strong. Six-five, he was such a strong man. And for him to be so weak when he died and it's just too so unexpectedly

because I always thought I would get the call by my mom and yeah that first gig out of the box cause I was so you know I can work through a lot of pain now but I don't know.

I think that might have been the first experience of me trying to perform under such pain. And also, too, death is like something else. Like whenever, you know, it's a distance death, that's different than somebody right up on you death. Like your dad, like it was just so hard to perform. And I was awful that first night. But the promoter was like, man, just so hard to perform. And I was awful that first night. But the promoter was like, man, the fact that you perform. He was like, you're definitely getting paid. And I told him, I was like, I promise it won't be like this, you know, tomorrow night. So, yeah, it was hard.

Both your mother and your brother died at the age of 38. And you actually died. Well, my mom got sick at the age of 38. She actually died like 20 20 something years later okay yeah now my brother died at 38 though and you really felt like maybe I felt like yeah yeah 38 I was like oh they trying to get rid of all the Joneses I was like I'm next so after my brother died I was like oh okay well next. So after my brother died, I was like, oh, okay, well, I'm about to do everything. I did not care. I don't care what nobody say.

I'm living like I'm doing the jokes that I thought I could. I'm doing everything. Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, my guest is Leslie Jones. She's written a new memoir about her life and career in comedy. We'll continue our conversation after a short break. This is Fresh Air. have this woman. And you went on an audition because they were looking for a black woman at the time. So the audition process for SNL sounds pretty intense, of course. And you were up against some pretty heavy hitters. Like it was you and several comedians, but then there were some black actresses. Okay. They weren't heavy hitters to me. I mean, listen, I'm Leslie Jones. I'm the heavy hitter walking into the room. Trust and believe. Listen, give all respect to those ladies.

But none of them was a comic like me. None of them was going to ever challenge me on stage. But what they had on me, though, was the sketch stuff. They had that down on me. So SNL hired you as a writer. You didn't want to be a writer. You were like so dejected by that, but you took it. No, but Chris had warned me.

Chris had already told me. He said, listen, there's no way they're going to let you go. He was like, I know Lauren's not going to let you go. And Keenan told me the same thing. Keenan was like, there's no way. Once you get in as a writer. Well, there's no way they're letting you walk out the building. They know you're something. So they called me and hired me as a writer. And I told Lauren, I was like, listen, I'm being honest with you. I'm not a writer. I'm in front of the camera chick. But he told you, he said, just come. Yeah. I don't know what to do with you, but we'll figure it out. Right. You know, I mean, writing in the beginning, it wasn't easy because you had all of these pitches that were rejected at first. Yeah. Because I was pitching like a comic. Yes. Instead of pitching like a sketch person. And that's the thing that

I have really had to learn was that when you write in a joke, in a sketch, it has to have foundation. Like it has to have a story, it has to have character names, it has to have, you know, a flow. You're a writer. You're doing your thing. You're trying to work out even writing. Yeah, yeah. But once you started performing, in many ways, you write about this in the book, they started to treat you like a caricature. You mean once I became a cast member? Once you became a cast member. Well, because, again, I've been doing comedy so long, it's like I know what I am and I know what I'm giving them. At SNL, they take that one thing and they ring it. They ring it because that's the machine. So whatever it is that I'm given that they're so

happy about, they feel like it's got to be that all the time or something like that. So it was like a character of myself, you know what I'm saying? So it was like, now either I'm trying to love on the white boys or beat up on the white boys or I'm doing something just like loud. I knew once I did these things, though, I knew it was going to happen because I know the power of them. You were so good at Weekend Update. Yes, because that's comedy. That's nothing but me sitting down doing stand up behind the desk. That was my, yo, let me tell you something.

That was like, yes, that was mine, you know? So when I left, I was like, yeah, this is the worst. But no, man, it was just bittersweet because it really is a training, you know, for some people it should be the springboard. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And so much good has happened from your time on SNL. Yeah. Yeah. It also sounds like Kenan Thompson became like your homie. The first day I met Kenan, we were brother and sister instantly. And it's so funny. Lauren Michaels, love Lauren Michaels. At the time when you, like I said, when you leave, you're just so angry because you can't. But in his defense, I used to always be like, he's a puppet master. So he has to make the cast happy,

has to make the writers happy. He has to make the WGA happy, has to make NBC happy. So he has to make the cast happy, has to make the writers happy. He has to make the WGA happy, has to make NBC happy. Then he has to make a family in Omaha, Nebraska, who's watching the show happy. Imagine the strings that have to go out to him. So it's a machine that has to work. It's so interesting when you say it's like a machine, because, right, you see folks like you on there you're like yes there's leslie jones i mean all the way back when eddie murphy was on right but there's always just one and they always do have their signature and then they leave and in fairness because i remember i was talking to another cast member that retired and they said

but in fairness like that's how they do all of them not just the black ones not just the black ones and I look back and I was like oh that's right Taryn Taryn Killam can Taryn wanted to do so much other stuff but they would only have Taryn in those very masculine and singing and stuff and I said oh this is yeah this is a machine, you know? The advice Jamie Foxx gave you about like living life, being yourself, you have definitely like a catalog of stories now. Yeah. I got to ask you about one you've talked about. All of them, baby. You've talked about this one a lot already over the last few years.

But there's an element of it that I want to just talk with you about. So you met somebody on Match.com. Oh, yeah. You sent them nudes, and then the FBI was involved over it because you're famous by now. Like, this is like your face. Which is so funny that you're not smart enough to know. That you're famous.

No, but wait. You know what's so funny about that? I started dating someone a little bit after that, and I sent him a nude. Again? He literally sent me back the text, you ain't learned. The thing I want to ask you about, so the FBI was involved. It was a whole thing. Oh, my God.

Because you sent this person nudes, and then they were like, we're going to use this against you. TMZ even called you and was like. Yeah, well, what happened was they got Homeland Security involved. And then the FBI got involved. And they took over. And instead of them just taking my computer, they made me send what it is I sent to the dudes. So you sent nudes again, but to the FBI. So whoever was hacking me, because the Ghostbusters stuff was going on too

and I was fighting against that so whoever was hacking me was just trying to hack me because dude from Twitter was like, they are on your account. Like they have to protect me. So the audience knows

with the Ghostbusters stuff, you were starring in Ghostbusters and you were getting a lot of hate on social media. I was getting a lot of hate already so it was just like in the midst of all of that happening so I know it was just

super hackers going, we're going to get our whatever, you know, whatever. They went into the email because they got my passport. They got my ID. And then they got the nudes. So I woke up to a phone call from the chick from TMZ, the black girl. And I hope you're listening because I will never forgive you. I will never forgive you.

Because she calls my phone and she goes, hey, do you know that your nudes and your passport and your ID is up on? And I've looked at the number and said, who is this? Oh, this is so-and-so, so-and-so from TMZ. And I was like, well, how did you get my number? Did you use the number? And she was like, well, I'm just trying. I was like, you ain't trying to help. And I hung up and I called my publicist. And my publicist had it down in 20 minutes, but 20 minutes is like 20 days on the internet. So you got hacked in addition to being threatened by this person you met on Match.com. And so then you put together a sketch

for the Emmys and for Weekend Update. Yes, yes. So after all the hacking and all that stuff happened, we were like, you know, and me, I was just like, I'm not going to play the victim. I'm not a victim. This is not a victim. This is me being harassed by some disgusting actor that went into my private thing.

So they wanted me to play a victim and I'm not a victim. I've refused to play a victim because that means that you don't have control of nothing about me. You want to see me naked? Ask. That's what it's about. So when the Emmys hit me, I was like, this is the perfect sketch to do with the accountants. Like, y'all got this in the suitcase. I need to put my Twitter account in there.

And, you know, that was the whole gist of it. Now, when I got back to Weekend Update, you know, I am that person that's going to address it. And I really, really was about like, if you wanted to see me naked, ask. I have a trove of pictures I can send you.

And they way better quality than the ones that got hacked. You know, and the whole thing there was a preaching about is like, no one else has the power to come and break you.

The only person that can break you is you. Don't give nobody else that power. You've worked so hard to get to where you are. Does success feel like you thought it would? Absolutely not. It's, oh, it's a no, it's, I was just telling this to somebody today. I was like, man, I used to sit on my gigs when I was with What Nothing and was selling DVDs and stuff. I would sit after my gig. I would run to the front just to hug and sign stuff and get in touch with people. And I thought that when I got famous, that was going to be my most favorite part, was connecting with my fans. And it is sometimes, but it is hard. It is very, because I have to always tell myself, okay, you're famous. Hey, you can't smack that person, man. You're famous. Hey, man, you can't curse that person

out, man. You're famous. Now, some things I break through. I'll be like, if I'm going to go to the Beyonce concert, I'm going to the Beyonce concert. It's happening. You know, y'all just going to have to deal with it. And I always try to do the Arsenio Hall, Magic Johnson rule is to make yourself seem so much that people get used to seeing you so they don't attack you. And a lot of people see me out all the time. I'm always at the gym.

I'm always Ralph's. I'm always at the comedy store. And I act normal as hell. I don't shut the time. I'm always at the gym. I'm always Ralph's. I'm always at the comedy store, and I act normal as hell. I don't shut stuff down. I don't send a... I try to be as normal as hell. I try to dress myself down. The mohawk was a big thing.

I had to get rid of the mohawk because... It was too much of a signature. It was all... I mean, and people... Like, I could be with Kenan, and they would not notice Kenan. Even see Kenan Thompson. They'd have to ask Kenan to take pictures, and'd look and go, oh my God, Kenan.

Yeah, it's just a thing. You're a six foot tall, smiling black woman with a mohawk. They're going to recognize you. So I had to calm that down. It's a lot of things, but I refuse to be trapped in my house. I'm not that type of star. Leslie Jones, thank you. Thank you for being you. Thank you for this book. Just thank. Leslie Jones, thank you. Thank you for being you.

Thank you for this book. Just thank you. Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. Leslie Jones is a comedian and author of a new memoir. Coming up, Justin Chang reviews the new film Maestro about composer Leonard Bernstein, directed by and starring Bradley Cooper. This is Fresh Air.

Five years after directing and acting in the remake of A Star is Born, Bradley Cooper is once again in front of and behind the camera with Maestro, in which he plays the famed composer Leonard Bernstein. The movie centers on Bernstein's marriage to the actor Felicia Montalegra, played by Carey Mulligan. Maestro began a limited theatrical release this week and will start streaming December 20th on Netflix. Our film critic Justin Chang has this review. We're in the thick of year-end movie season,

or as I've come to think of it, biopic season, when some of our finest actors line up to deliver their most Oscar-friendly feats of historical impersonation. Right now you can see Rustin on Netflix, starring Coleman Domingo as the civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. This week also brings Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon, and next month, keep an eye out for Adam Driver in Ferrari, playing the founder of the Italian sports car empire. One of this year's strongest biopics is Maestro, an exquisite new drama starring Bradley Cooper as the conductor

and composer Leonard Bernstein. Cooper, who also directed and co-wrote the movie with Josh Singer, gives a dazzling multi-decade arc of a performance. We first see Bernstein near the end of his life, playing a somber piano piece from his opera, A Quiet Place, and remembering his late wife, the actor Felicia Montalegre. The movie then flashes back to 1943, when a 20-something Lenny makes his electrifying Carnegie Hall debut, guest-conducting the New York Philharmonic, his first step toward becoming the most famous conductor in American history. Cooper captures

Lenny's brilliant musical mind, his gregarious energy, and his intense attractiveness to both men and women. Matt Bomer gives a brief but poignant turn as the clarinetist David Oppenheim, one of his many lovers. It's around this time that Lenny meets Felicia, who's just getting started as a New York stage actor. She's played, superbly, by Carey Mulligan. They're introduced at a party by Lenny's sister, Shirley, played by Sarah Silverman. Hello! I thought you might be here. You've certainly been making the rounds. Have you met the gang?

Betty and Adolph, they're just around. Hello, Claire. Ellen, of course, you've run into her in Mother's Studio, no doubt. Hello, Felicia. Who did I miss? Have I missed anyone? Just the piano player. Well, I figured you needed no introduction. Hello, I'm Lenny.

Hello, Felicia. Bernstein, like that one. Montalegre. Montalegre? Montalegre Cohn. Cohn? Montalegre Cohn? Well, that's an interesting marriage of words. This early stretch of the movie was shot in black and white by Matthew Libatique,

whose marvelously fluid camera work conveys Lenny and Felicia's boundless sense of possibility. One playful sequence uses a musical number from Bernstein's own On the Town to capture both Lenny's attraction to men and his very real feelings for Felicia. In time, Lenny and Felicia marry, buy a house in Connecticut, and raise three children. Meanwhile, Lenny continues to have affairs. As the years pass, the black and white shifts to color, and the once freewheeling camera work slows to a melancholy crawl. Even as Lenny's career flourishes, the cracks in his and Felicia's marriage are widening. The beauty of Maestro is that it sees the complexity, the tragedy, and the undeniable

passion and tenderness of the Bernstein's relationship. Crucially, it gives both leads equal dramatic weight. Like Cooper's 2018 directing debut, A Star is Born, this is a remarkably even portrait of a complicated showbiz marriage. It even strives for balance in the way it presents both characters as artists. Unsurprisingly, the movie can only squeeze in a handful of Bernstein's creative highlights, whether it's dropping in a bit of the West Side Story score or a reference to his famously polarizing 1971 theater piece, Mass. But there are also glimpses of Felicia's acting career, including her appearance on the arts anthology series

Camera 3, shortly before she's diagnosed with cancer. Mulligan, who receives top billing, gives one of her best and most piercing performances. She fully captures Felicia's anger at her husband's philandering, her frustration at having to dwell in his artistic shadow, and her persistent love for him, despite his exasperating flaws. Cooper plays Lenny as a font of energy, charming and irrepressible. At times, there is

something a little overly imitative about the actor's mannerisms, especially during Lenny's later years. But this is still a complex and persuasive performance. Crucially, Cooper doesn't soft-pedal the character's selfishness or his failings as a husband and father. When the trailer for Maestro was first released, there was controversy around Cooper's decision to wear a prosthetic nose, raising questions about, among other things, whether non-Jewish actors, like Cooper, should play Jewish characters. That debate won't be resolved here, but it's worth noting that Cooper employs many cosmetic enhancements to play Bernstein over roughly five decades, and his performance is too rich to be reduced to just one detail. In the end, we believe Cooper not just because

of any physical resemblance, but because he so fully captures Lenny's charisma, the way his love for music and for people seems to flow out of him. We don't see him do much actual conducting until late in the movie, when Cooper recreates a famous 1976 Bernstein performance with the London Symphony Orchestra at Ely Cathedral. The piece is Mahler's Second Symphony, often known as his Resurrection Symphony, fitting for a sequence in which Bernstein, pouring sweat and waving his baton, really does seem to live again.

Justin Chang is the film critic for the LA Times. He reviewed the new film Maestro. On Monday's show, how some conspiracy theories about the deep state have roots in UFO conspiracy theories. We talk with journalist Garrett Graff about his new book UFO. It's about reported sightings, how they're investigated, and what the military keeps secret and why. And the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence. I hope you can join us. Fresh Air's executive producer is Danny Miller.

Our senior producer today is Roberta Shorrock. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham, with additional engineering support from Joyce Lieberman, Julian Herzfeld, and Al Banks. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Amy Sallet, Phyllis Myers, Sam Brigger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Teresa Madden, Anne-Marie Baldonado, Thea Chaloner, Seth Kelly, and Susan Nyakundi. Our digital media producer is Molly C.V. Nesper. I'm Tanya Moseley.