By Allison O’Reilly
Comedian and actress Leslie Jones, known for her work on Saturday Night Live and the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters, filled Stamp’s Grand Ballroom with laughter March 30 for Student Entertainment Event’s annual Spring Comedy show.
Jones, 49, opened her stand-up set by warning the audience it would be nothing like SNL, which definitely rang true. Her comedy was very interactive and centered around sex.
“I’m a fan of Leslie jones because I watch SNL, and I’m always down for a good comedy show so I chose to go see her because I already liked her so much,” said Bridget Divers, a freshman journalism major.
Likely to the enjoyment of SNL fans, Jones told the backstory to the famous skit in which she wanted to take over Alec Baldwin’s job impersonating President Donald Trump and shared funny memories with co-star Kate McKinnon and guest star Melissa McCarthy.
Even though Jones is most well known for her work on SNL and her stand up comedy differed greatly from her TV persona, students enjoyed her set.
“I think she made her show really unique by connecting it not only to her life, but the lives of her audience,” said Jarod Golub, a freshman journalism major. “Typically you’ll see comedians pick out one or two audience members and heckle them, but Jones went out of her way to walk through the crowd and engage with the students.”
Jones related to the audience by talking about her youth – even though it was far from ordinary. She told a story of a time she made a fool of herself dancing in front of Prince at a Grammy’s after party and joked about her poor performance in college.
Following some anecdotes about life in her 20’s when she was a self-proclaimed “hoe,” Jones walked through the crowd and asked multiple people about their love-lives, poked fun at people’s clothing and even signed a drawing a student made of her… only after making vulgar thrusting motions when the student offered his back as a hard surface.
In late 2016, Jones’ personal website was hacked and her nude photos were posted there. The backlash helped make her a household name. She focused the beginning of her routine on making light of the situation, teaching the audience techniques for similar photos and mimicking the reaction of her “aunties.”
Jones made a point to interact with SEE staff, as well. She ran around the light technician trying to hide from the spotlight, danced on a woman guarding the stage and had an especially fun time with the woman signing for hearing-impaired members of the audience.
“My favorite part of the show was when she went up to the signer and kept repeating erotic words so the signer would have to do the signs over and over,” said Divers. “It was just hilarious.”
Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of Leslie Jones’s Facebook.
Allison O’Reilly is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at aoreill1@terpmail.umd.edu.
