Chapter Ten: Kimbo Slice – SNL Audition to Cast Member

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

In March 2013, Leslie Jones is among about twelve Black women invited to audition for Saturday Night Live after a misquote suggests the show needs to diversify. Leslie arrives in jeans and a T‑shirt, unconcerned with the younger actresses’ polished looks. She improvises a set that begins with a Nadia Comăneci joke and ends with a joking reference to slavery, winning laughter from a famously silent audition room. Later, she learns she has been invited to stay for the week. After an exciting week meeting cast members and attending the live show, she returns to Los Angeles. In a nail‑salon parking lot she receives a call from Lorne Michaels offering a writing job; she accepts reluctantly. Her early months as a writer are frustrating—none of her sketches are picked—but she eventually lands her first Weekend Update segment, delivering the “slave draft pick” joke that goes viral. The joke sparks online backlash but also earns her a hug from Lorne. After playing “hard to get” by skipping rehearsals, Lorne finally makes her a cast member. That same night she is offered a role in Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot.

Key Events

SNL Audition (March 2013): Leslie walks onstage after deliberately getting “lost” backstage, orders the audience to move to the front, and delivers a set that ends with the slave joke.
Dinner and Texts: During a group dinner, Leslie, Amber Ruffin, and LaKendra Tookes receive texts from SNL talent coordinator Jeff Blake asking them to stay for the week. They leave the restaurant calmly, then celebrate in the street.
Hotel Drama: While in Leslie’s hotel room, they hear angry one‑sided phone calls from other auditioning actresses who were not invited to stay.
First Weekend Update: After months of failed sketches, Leslie performs the slave joke on Weekend Update (May 3, 2014). The bit is a hit but draws criticism on social media.
“Hard to Get” Strategy: Leslie skips pitches and rehearsals, only appearing for the live show, to force SNL to see her value.
Cast Member Offer: Lorne Michaels calls Leslie into his office and tells her she is being made a cast member, saying he does not want her to “win the Super Bowl somewhere else.”
Ghostbusters Offer: The same week, director Paul Feig offers Leslie a role in his Ghostbusters reboot.

Character Development

Leslie Jones: Grows from a seasoned stand‑up comic fighting for a network foothold into a confident SNL cast member. She learns to navigate the writing process, trust her instincts, and use her “don’t give a fuck” attitude as a strategic asset.
Lorne Michaels: Initially a distant figure, he reveals a more personal side by hugging Leslie after her first Update and later championing her promotion.
Kenan Thompson: Becomes a supportive ally, privately affirming Leslie and telling her Lorne listens to his opinion.
Michael Che / Taran Killam / Bryan Tucker: Act as mentors who help Leslie refine her material and encourage her not to give up.
Melissa McCarthy: Rejects Leslie’s “Real Women” sketch but later explains it was a “you sketch,” not a host sketch, prompting Leslie to reconsider her approach.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Authenticity vs. Polishing: Leslie’s jeans‑and‑T‑shirt audition and her refusal to write in SNL’s house style highlight the tension between being oneself and conforming to institutional expectations.
Death as Liberator: Leslie repeatedly credits her brother’s death with giving her the courage to speak her truth, especially when negotiating with Lorne.
Comedy as Resistance: The slave joke functions both as a hilarious set piece and as a pointed commentary on race, beauty standards, and modern dating. The subsequent backlash underscores how Black women’s comedy is often policed differently than men’s.
The “Kimbo Slice” Metaphor: The chapter title refers to Leslie’s joke placement of herself as a “number one slave draft pick.” It symbolizes her unapologetic self‑positioning as strong, valuable, and undeniable.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is the turning point in Leslie’s memoir. It documents the exact moment she transitions from a hard‑working road comic to a nationally recognized performer on two of the biggest stages in comedy: SNL and a major motion picture. It also illustrates the systemic challenges Black women face in the entertainment industry—from auditioning with limited institutional backing to defending their material against racialized criticism. Leslie’s raw honesty about the writing room’s learning curve and her calculated “hard to get” gambit offer a masterclass in career strategy.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Leslie wear jeans and a T‑shirt to her SNL audition, and how does this choice reflect her philosophy?
Leslie dresses in her everyday clothes because she wants SNL to see the real her. She believes that being a “fancy hammer” is not required—she can “hit the fuck out of a nail” without dressing up. This reflects her core philosophy of authenticity over performance of respectability, a stance she maintains throughout her career.

2. How does the backlash to the “slave draft pick” joke reveal different expectations for Black female comedians compared to Black male comedians?
Leslie notes that when Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, or rappers like Jay‑Z and Kanye West cover similar racial material, they are called brilliant. When she does it, she is called an embarrassment. She directly contrasts the reaction to Key and Peele’s “Auction Block” sketch, implying that gender, not just race, shapes the criticism. Roxane Gay’s defense—seeing pain and rage beneath the joke—supports Leslie’s view that the joke’s deeper meaning was overlooked.

3. What does Leslie mean when she says she needed to “humble herself to the process” at SNL, and how does she eventually succeed by doing the opposite?
Initially Leslie tries to write sketches the SNL way and fails. She realizes she is “a passenger on a train, not the train.” Yet instead of simply humbling herself further, she leans into her own voice: she insists on performing the slave joke word for word as she does in clubs, and later she strategically withholds her energy to make SNL miss her. Her success comes not from erasing her identity but from refusing to be shelved—a paradoxical blend of humility and defiant self‑confidence.