Leslie Jones on Beef Jerky, Big League Chew & Making Out at Denny's

0:00In the middle of the night, we was writing a sketch, and I was like, I'm not going to make it. Because, you know, am I allowed to say we smoke weed? Oh, whatever. Say whatever you want. Okay, well, we did. We smoked weed, and I'll be like, I'm not going to make it through the night. And he pulled out a Coca-Cola and poured it over ice, and gee whizzer-ker. I... Really? The best thing? It was the best thing that ever happened to my life. I'm serious. It's like when I discovered lattes. Hi, and welcome to Snacks, the show where we talk to your favorite stars about their craziest snack obsessions.

0:31Today, our guest is none other than the star of Supermarket Sweep. She's been on SNL, and now she's got an amazing new comedy special called I'm Hot. Her name is Leslie Jones. And we'll be right back.

0:46Just like a perfect homemade recipe, every great wardrobe starts with great staples. Tucker Knuck is your destination for elevated classics, from perfectly fitting jeans to timeless tees and button downs you'll wear on repeat. With new arrivals dropping daily, there's always something fresh to discover. Visit TNuck.com.

1:22Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better. Every plan,$15 a month, even unlimited. That's it. Happy ending. Zero tears. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

1:31Leslie Jones:Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. You still like the side profile. Thank you, darling. You look great. None of y 'all would know that I'm 58. You look fantastic. That's right. I'm a vampire slayer, so sometimes I have to take vampires' blood, but it's cool. No, I understand. When you hear you're invited to a show called Snacks, do you get excited? You gotta move the Canada Dry can. Sorry. Oh, you know what?

2:01And I started to say that, but I didn't know if y 'all had a sponsor or something. Well, Pete Holmes probably. Pete Holmes could have gotten us a Canada. He was pretty excited about Canada Dry. Well, it is like the best seltzer ever. Well, somebody send. Canada Dry, send sweet Leslie. a lifetime supply. Because Canada Dry is the bomb. There we go. It's not too sweet. It's the taste that can't be beat. There it is. Canada Dry ginger ale is not too sweet. Anyway. When you're here, you're going to be on a show called Snacks. Yes. Are you excited to talk about food? You know what? It's so weird. I'm excited to talk about anything.

2:42I love that. I have gotten to a part of my life where I feel like I didn't know this about myself that I have so much information to give to people. You didn't know this about yourself? No, I just, because listen, listen, I still sometimes look and go, how did you do this? I've never, I don't think I had ever thought of myself as a very brilliant person. I used to always look at other people and go, okay, they got a plan, they got a plan, you got to have a plan. And I don't know what my plan actually was. So for me to be where I'm at right now for people to ask me and come and talk about snacks I'm like this is awesome like what did you do?

3:28What did you do? Well don't you feel like the most brilliant people never have a plan they just make good steps one step at a time? Well I think that's exact, thank you for putting it in words. That's it I mean and I look at you I'm like you're a force. I heard your new show is called I'm Hot. Or is it I'm Hot? And listen, my writer's going to be so happy. It's a double entendus. Oh, there it is. I didn't say it right still, did I? Double entendus. Yep, that's fine. And what are the two double entendus? The entendus is that I'm hot. Like, I'm, you know, hot and then I'm hot. You're like sweating.

4:10Right. And actually it's a triple entendus because the set is hot. Oh, the set's fire everything is on fire i love that seriously this new set i can't wait and i love life part part two two see see i don't know okay sweet or savory i have no idea sweet you answer sweet or savory both i love both yes you know you have to pick one which is like okay you're gonna make me Let me pick one when they got something like dried mangoes with the little tajin on it. That's sweet and savory, baby. That is sweet and savory. I love both. I'm sorry. Even in my tea, I like that lemon and that honey. Ooh, I like that.

4:55You like a little bitter. It's so freaking good. What's your go-to drop-dead snack? Right now, if everything else was cleared off the planet, one snack. I would have to say some kind of beef jerky. Really? I love jerky. I love my life. what's your flavor every flavor any flavor except for anything spicy i don't like spicy stuff i don't like hot shit hot stuff oh you can curse here tahin okay but you like tahin which is not hot though not too spicy no but it's not no i mean you i forgot you right i'm sorry i'm a white jewish girl give me a break yeah so salt is like spicy to you i mean exactly yeah tahin is not spicy and I hate spicy so I know.

5:40You don't like spicy. It's like more of a like a lemony, tangy taste. Yes, yes, yes. I like that sort of note that it gives. Man, you put that on like fruit. I love that. Or pickle. But jerky to me is such a specific snack. Jerky is bomb. If you get the good jerky. Now you're saying if there's no other snack and I get the good jerky. You can have whatever level. The good jerky. I just was in Idlewild. I was in Idlewild, California you'd be surprised that there's a city named Idlewild right? I did not know that. The first thing I thought about was Outkast in a movie. Yes. Thank you. But everybody was like no and no one knew and I was like don't try to act like that there was never a movie called Idlewild with Outkast in there.

6:21Also I feel like a great song came out of it too. It's the After Party. Man I remember stuff. Anyway we get to the town. Nice town. So nice. Best beef jerky I ever had. Really? Yo they had like they went out there and killed that jerky. Wow. And brought it back and they jerked it. Yo So let me explain something to you how good that beef teriyaki jerky was, Father God. Beef teriyaki. That's my favorite, too. It's so good. No, turkey teriyaki good, too, if you found a good place. Teriyaki, period, full stop. I think you can teriyaki anything. I love jerky. I love jerky. Wild. No one has said that to me on this show.

6:54I'm so sorry. No, I love it. Okay. I can survive in the woods. What's your dessert? Ooh, key lime pie. Anything lemony. Key lime pie. I love key lime. But see, I'm older, so I remember key lime when it was a key lime pie. Like, I worked at Denny's, and they had this key lime pie that was like a see-through green. Like, it was like, it looked like candy. And it was, I would work every night, and people would be ordering this. And I was like, this is nasty. Why are people eating this? And one night, they was like, yo, we over-ordered key lime pie. You want one? And I was like, you know what? This is my chance to get to taste this.

7:29And I was like, oh, every night I was still in half a pie. Not stealing Denny's. No. I was getting the stuff that they left. Also, Denny's should be thrilled that Leslie Jones is on here talking about. I did. I worked from 12 to 6. Yeah. 12 to 6. Baby, my favorite hours of the day. Are you kidding me? Tell me, who do you find in Denny's from 12 to 6? Oh, my goodness. Everybody. First of all, you get the strippers. You get the truck drivers. You get the cheaters. Yes. 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. Yes. Because I told you, I am a vampire slayer. So those are my hours. Thanks. And also there was a cook there named Javier that we used to make out in the freezer.

8:09Oh, my God. Stop. Javier was hot. And let me tell you something. Have you ever worked out in a Denny's freezer? No. It's magnificent. There's blue cheese in everything. I just. Wait. Okay. Yo. Mozzarella sticks. Pause for me for one second. First of all, this is a show. About snacks. This is a show that you need to do. Javier was your snack. this is a show you need to do Denny's from 12 to 6 you need to do this as a show and I made my money too man we had fun that sounds amazing it was really fun now that I think about it at that time I wanted money and I didn't know what I wanted with my life but now that I think back to it I was like girl you was having fun I was having fun did you have regulars?

8:56did people come in often? oh yeah you know you have the truck drivers that come in from five to six, you know, because they're starting to shift and stuff. Yeah, and they always sit at the counter. Like, people hate the counter because people would sometimes tip a dollar, dollar, but that stuff add up. Especially if you got five, and they love to sit with me because I would make them laugh. I was literally like Flo. I would have them dying at that counter. Oh, Leslie, thank you for waking me up this morning. And I'd be like, yep. I would do anything to go into Denny's funeral the night and see Leslie Jones and just hang out with you.

9:27It was a fun time, baby. That's so cool. Where was the Denny's? Oh, in Santa Ana, near the Disneyland. And you know what's so funny? Because a customer caught me and Javier making out. Stop. Because they needed their coffee. They didn't want to interrupt us, you could tell. And they was like, hey, can I get some coffee? I was like, be right there. Where's Javier now? Javier, if you're listening. Javier probably got 17 kids somewhere. He probably was lying in when he was with me. I'm sure. Javier got like six or seven girlfriends for real. He should. He deserves it. This is the best ever. This is honestly the best.

10:05I'm so sorry. But I wanted to move on to mid. Let's keep talking about middle of the night stuff. So I did talk to Andy Samberg about SNL and what it was like to eat like late night. Like the SNL food universe and how you would eat crazy stuff. They ate stupid stuff. Like when I first started there, let me tell you how healthy I was when I started there. I got a physical. We all have to get a physical for insurance or whatever. And they were like, oh, my God, you're so, which I was. I was very healthy. I worked out. I didn't, I wasn't eating like a lot of certain things. I had really got on, because I was in California.

10:40You know California helps you get on that diet. Oh, yeah. Man, when I got to SNL, man, I'm telling you, everything, all my levels were great. A year later, the doctor literally looked at me and said, are you trying to commit suicide? because first of all, I had never had a Coca-Cola in the middle of the night on ice. Oh, my God. Keena, we were in the middle of the night. We was writing a sketch, and I was like, I'm not going to make it because, you know, am I allowed to say we smoke weed? Oh, whatever. Say whatever you want. Okay, well, we did. We smoked weed, and I'll be like, I'm not going to make it through the night.

11:16And he pulled out a Coca-Cola and poured it over ice, and gee whiz-er-ker. I Really? The best thing? It was the best thing that ever happened to my life I'm serious, it's like when I discovered lattes What happened then? You were just drinking Cokes in the middle of the night every night? And then when I started buying it that was the problem and at the time too I had a Snapple addiction Oh god See first of all, I don't know if y 'all ever tasted Snapple bananas It tastes like baby food It's so good It's so good and it was bad for you. It's bad. Listen, I'm not trying to, you know, shit on companies.

11:55All good. But you gotta, you know, it's a lot of sugars, a lot of, you know, stuff. And by the end of the year, my doctor was like, yo, you gotta stop everything. Wait, so Andy was also saying like steaks in the middle of the night. He was going out for steak, like restaurant. Now, tell me what your food was like. They did dumb stuff like... Oh, here we go. Tell me. It's just like... How do I put this? You know, there's so many things that people think about SNL. And, you know, there's a lot of levels of it, too. I don't like to say pretentious because pretentious is a little mean. But it's just...

12:34Yep. You just know. It's just stuff that you go... Fancy. No, you just go, okay. Got it. You're going off the stakes. Okay. In the middle of the night when you know you got to have a sketch written by the morning time. Oh, so you're like buckling down. Like, this is what I had to learn because Kenan taught me this. You leave by 12 o 'clock. We have writers. He was like, you tell your writer who you get the person that's going to write the sketch with you. You do all you need to do. 12 o 'clock, you leave. Yep. Because the writers let them write the show. And that's a real hard thing to learn when you first start.

13:13Yeah. Because you're like, you want to be part of the process. You want to be, you know, make sure that they catch your essence. But if you're working with a writer that knows you, then it's going to happen. So you got to trust the process. And Lord have mercy how many times. They can go out for steaks, honestly, because we changed that sketch six, seven times. So it's just a different thing where people change. Like, it's a different thing. Like, they go out for steaks, we order pizza. Yeah. Or we order something crazy. Me and Keena always would try to order something crazy. Would you order? Tell me.

13:48Craziest thing you and Keena never ordered. Man, I think we ordered, like, it was Chick-fil-A something. Something Chick-fil-A. I know it was. And I didn't like Chick-fil-A, but I would eat Chick-fil-A in the middle of the night. In the middle of the night, you're delirious. You can't do it. At 2 o 'clock when they say it's time to take a break, you know, and that's when I would, the first year I was there, I would stay. You know, because I was considered a writer at the first year I came. I mean, I think about how it must literally change the way you live your life, though, right? Oh, no, you don't have a life.

14:19And you know what? What's the weirdest transfer? It's just like I am. I wouldn't. OK, because I don't like to say anyone is normal. No one is normal. Everybody is a specific piece of art made by God. For me, that's what I really believe that we're here to be ourselves. and whatever ourselves offer to the equation is what the equation needs. I love that. So I was just like a regular person coming into this situation. So I wanted to wash my own clothes. I wanted to do my own grocery shopping. And I didn't realize that, you know, how much time as I had on my hands before SNL. You know what I'm saying?

15:02Being able to go to two or three grocery stores to pick what it is I want to eat. and, you know, cook my food. And one day, you know, do my laundry, clean the house up. I didn't realize how much time I had before SNL. And I'm telling you, the day I got an assistant was the day that I had to call Che and Colin's assistant, Lindsay. I will never forget this. And I'm in the middle of the floor of my apartment crying because I am exhausted. I just tried to cook all of my food that I never end up eating anyway. And I was like, I don't know what to do. I can't get this done. And she just was like, it's time for an assistant.

15:41And I was like, I don't want an assistant. She's not going to be able to do what I do. Yeah. And she said, that's good. Yeah. She was like, you need an assistant. And it changed your life. It changed my life. So your assistant, would she cook? No, no, no. But she made sure that I had to cook. You know what I'm saying? Because the money I would spend on cooking and grocery shopping, it was actually cheaper to pay someone to cook for me. Well, you're wasting all that food. And I wasn't cooking anything that I actually was going to eat ever again. It's really weird. It's really weird. I really, I brought this up before and I actually have a newfound respect to, for not just the SNL lifestyle, but the standup comedian lifestyle of, and we've had quite a few people on here talk about how you have to train for stamina.

16:29You have to feed yourself and take care of yourself because it's a long haul. And then it's crazy because I was a comic and sometimes we had to have early stuff. It was very hard transferring to all of that. Just all of that. I just remember being in a grocery store one time trying to shop. It was 12 o 'clock at night and this guy saw me and he was like, hey, I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan. Can I get a picture? And I was just like, come on, man. Not how I'm looking right now. You're not going to take a picture with me? I'm a fan. and I was like is that some kind of password or something like and I took the picture with him but then in my head I was like oh wow this is gonna be like this is gonna be your life and I just was like you know especially in New York New York loves me because of the SNL stuff which is I love them back but it's it's New Yorkers though I will say are better at the way that they handle they're pretty respectful right they're pretty good at it now there's other places that you like I'm going to end up running down the street because I don't think they understand that they're like it's just you know well you're going to get chased down with jerky now after this one oh my god I hope so and I hope the best listen I don't eat elk stuff no don't give me no elk don't do that don't no you would not you would not believe Idaho had whale jerky they had what sealed jerky.

17:57They had, they had, they had, I don't, I'm not, I'm not jerking it like that. But listen, let me explain. Let me explain. Now, if it's a disaster type of thing that's going on, like we're fighting for zombies and I eat some jerky. As long as it's not humans, I'm not eating no human jerky now. I mean, I don't know. You said you were a vampire. You came on the show and said you were a vampire. That don't mean that I take, no, I said I'm a vampire slayer. Completely different. Completely different. All right. All right. All right. I need to know. I have two more questions. Major questions. One, do we have to keep beating Bobby Flay?

18:32Like, why do we have to keep beating him at things? Because he's such a jerk. He's just like constantly being neat. He's so cute. Aren't we done? Aren't we done beating him? He's so cute and he can cook and he's witty. I just want his face to be beaten. Every time I see Bobby, I'm going, I'm going to beat you, Bobby Flay. I'm going to beat you, Bobby. And then he proved me wrong, because, like, I know you know the story, but he came to SNL to cook for us one night. And I was excited. I was like, yo, Bobby Flay coming to cook for us? Oh, it's about to be bomb, right? And me and Kenan, we prepared ourselves.

19:08We went out there. We put, man, piled our plate, got in the corner. Man, the first shrimp, I was like, if you don't get you some salt and pepper, Flay, I went off on him. I was like, this is nasty. This is not good. Stop. And so he invited me on Beat Bobby Flay, and he made me tell that story. And let me tell you something. Bobby Flay cooked this. I don't, I think it was, it was the, it was so good and tangy and yummy. Did you have to, did you actually have to cook against Bobby Flay? No, no, no. You just were there to taste. It's like, who can beat Bobby Flay? I was like, beat Bobby Flay or something like that.

19:43It's like a cook. The cook wanted to. Oh, the cook. So I wasn't sure if you were saying you were the cook who had to beat Bobby Flay. No, no, no. I'm not cooking. cooked for you. He would be me. Yeah, I'm not that good of a cook. I mean, I feel like... I can't cook. I can be in, you know, back going, you need to put some salt in that. I can do that. I honestly feel like you have... The fact that you made Bobby Flay feel so insecure that he had to have you come on the show is pretty amazing. I had one of the best jokes, too, because their challenge was jerk chicken. And while he was cooking, I was like, Are you cooking jerk chicken or are you just a jerk cooking chicken?

20:25And what did he say? Did he laugh? He just died. Oh, good. He just went. Okay. You're so wrong. That's how you beat Bobby Flay. I love him. And then you were on Supermarket Sweep. What are you? I was the host of Supermarket Sweep. Yeah. So what if you had to, like, what would be your Supermarket Sweep technique? If you had to win it, what'd you do? Oh, you go straight to the meat. Go straight to the meat. Get all the meat. Get all the turkeys. get a couple of challenges and people don't understand the small things like the medicine coffee it's like a lot of stuff that's really high detergent all that you just go for the high things and try to get one of the challenges.

21:03Do you think you could win? Oh that's why I was the host I mean for sure So good. Such a fun show Oh it was a very fun show It was a very fun show I hate that it went away. I just remember the turkeys. Everybody always grabbed the big turkeys. But you have a limit, though. I think you can only grab five. It does fill up the cart, though. Yeah, but if you're smart, then you have a person that's going to have the change of the cart really good. You have the technique. You can do it. Oh, yeah. And I would kill the person. Like I told you, the way that I made that show, the way that I got that show, is our audition for the show.

21:44What was your audition? So I went with this girl. I'm not going to say her name. She know who she is. So we went for the audition. And I had trained her. I had trained her because I knew how to beat Supermarket Sweep. I had trained her. Every time she come home, bam, we hitting the videotapes. She would watch at least four shows. You see how the question. So we went to the audition. And I'm talking about, baby, we were rocking it. We were rocking it. I had told her the night before, make sure you have this day off cause we're gonna go early make sure you have this day off right she's like oh no no no problem no problem so we get to a certain point cause we're literally we're doing so good the host was even like yo y 'all gonna be so good on this show and we was just like we gonna win this 5000 yeah back then 5000 is a lot yeah so she looks at me and go when do you think we be finished because I gotta go to work no girl girl I almost it was so hard for me to hold my hand from backhand slapping her like pow pow you're not gonna mess this up with me but she was like no we gotta I was like girl no do you not see that we're in the championship round we gotta wait cause they was like they would come in and call certain people and she was like well if they don't call us I gotta go I said if you go I will never talk to you again I said what is wrong with you we're about to win this what are you doing what are you doing I'm talking about we will rock I and then she's like I'm sorry we gotta go when I say I couldn't even rob her when I say I call her everything except for the child of God I was walking to the bus stop because I would I refuse to get in the car with her I said you ain't shit you ain't gonna never be shit you can't even I was going I was just and I just remember because I had asked the lady can we come back and she was like nah if you leave you know and I remember sitting on that bus stop going oh she ruined me I could have been on Supermarket you could have been on it I was so devastated and I remember being having been able to get the chance to host it and I was like did you tell them that story yeah that's the reason I think I got it I mean Oh, the pain.

24:14I still feel the pain. Where's that friend now? Somewhere with... In hell. Somewhere with... I'm definitely not in the supermarket. Somewhere with the guy from Denny's, Javier, whatever his name is. I don't know where she is. I don't know. I'm glad you're not still mad about it. I'm not. I know. I can tell. Jesus forgives and I do too. I know. I get it. Your face looks like it. And we'll be right back.

24:42Am I crazy? It's a whole new Married at First Sight on Peacock. Thank God I woke up in love. With new experts. My name is Dr. Lisa. My name is Paul Brunson. More couples. This could be the start of a very successful marriage. And more surprises. Or maybe not. Everything is just not enough.

24:59Leslie Jones:You're a little bit crazy. I don't know what's going to happen. I want my fairy tale ending. Married at First Sight, now streaming. New episodes Thursdays, only on Peacock. um all right i i have a few more things for you first of all i heard that you are a fan of of big league two and i so i have some here but also i get i'm so glad that you did that because i knew let me let me explain me and gum though please so my dad i did i wasn't allowed to have gum okay because because i eat it i don't chew it so my dad was like you eat gum you don't chew it because I was swallowing. It was delicious. So I didn't know that you're not supposed to swallow gum.

25:41It's delicious. Why would I not swallow something that is so delicious? So my dad was restricting me from having gum. So then I got my second assistant, and she was like, because I was like eating some gum one day, and she came back. She was like, what did you do with that gum? And I was like, oh, I swallowed it. And she was like, I remember the gas. the gas she was like oh you swallowed it are you crazy you're not supposed to swallow gum and i was like oh and so she restricted me from gum so whenever i would have gum she would come and give me a piece and then i would eat it because i would ask for like three because i like the big water yeah me too and the stuff and she was like she would come back spit it out and i'd be like yo i even when she quit so my third assistant no my assistant now fernanda she'll sometimes text Christine and say, text her and tell her not to swallow that gum.

26:35Because it's just... But I don't do it no more, because now I know that it goes to the boo-boo and it's hard. So, I'm sorry. I was just going to say, I don't know... What I do now is I just chew it, and then I spit it out. What's nice about Big League Chew is that you can get a big wad. I agree with you. That's what they make it for, son. Big League Chew is for the pictures. What's your flavor? All of them. Grape, this is grape. All of them. Blue Raz. and curveball cotton candy. I don't know. You pick and let's try it. I'm not going to do blue raspberry because it's like you groan and walk around with blue shit in your mouth.