“I didn’t know Lorne was actually gonna let me do that, like, grab him,” Jones said of a 2017 sketch.

Leslie Jones shares SNL moment that had everyone crying with laughter: ‘Even Lorne is dying’

"I didn't know Lorne was actually gonna let me do that, like, grab him," Jones said of a 2017 sketch.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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November 7, 2025 10:30 a.m. ET

Leslie Jones in Los Angeles on July 15, 2025. Credit:

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

Leslie Jones once cracked up everyone at *Saturday Night Live*, including the top dog of the show.

The *Ghostbusters* actress discussed a sketch that made *SNL* head honcho Lorne Michaels unexpectedly lose it during an interview with the *Good One* podcast.

The sketch in question was the 2017 pre-taped segment "Leslie Wants to Play Trump," in which, well, she wanted to play Trump.

"My favorite," she said of the sketch. "That came from me actually wanting to play Trump, 'cause Alec Baldwin was supposed to be leaving or something like that. And I was like, 'It would be great if I played Trump. That would piss him off.'"

Leslie Jones and Lorne Michaels in New York City on May 17, 2018.

Mychal Watts/Getty

Jones said that she lobbied her boss to play the president. "I was like, 'Lorne, yeah, I wanna be Trump!'" she remembered. "And he was like, 'No.' And I was like, 'Oh, Imma be f---in' Trump.' And then they wrote it."

The segment was a meta sketch about Jones, playing herself, trying to convince her *SNL* compatriots that she should portray Trump on the show once Baldwin ended his tenure. Midway through the sketch, Jones enters Michaels' office in a Trump costume — complete with an orange wig — and says, "Lornie, baby, I have a huge idea, bigly."

In the sketch, Michaels (playing himself) tells Jones that it's "not gonna happen," prompting her to berate the longtime producer and shove him against the window of his office.

"People keep casting me as somebody who always yells," Jones yells. "I'm trying to show you I've got range! I'm trying to show you something different!"

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On the podcast, Jones said that nobody — including Michaels — could hold it together while they filmed her fight with the boss.

"We're crying. Everybody is crying. Even Lorne is dying!" she recalled. "I didn't know Lorne was actually gonna let me do that, like, grab him. So every time I would grab him, and then they'd say 'Cut,' I'd be like, 'Oh, I'm sorry, Lorne. I wasn't trying to wrinkle up your sweater.'"

Leslie Jones as Leslie Jones as Donald Trump on 'Saturday Night Live'.

Jones emphasized how unusual it is for the cast to faze Michaels. "Everything can be going crazy, and Lorne can just be like [straight-faced]," she said while making an expressionless face to mimic her former boss.

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The comedian also revealed which of her former castmates did the best impressions of Michaels.

"I know that everybody imitates Lorne, but for me, Bill Hader is the best impressionist of Lorne, because he does Lorne in different situations," she opined. "So he does Lorne in the shower. I promise, if you ever see him, write it down, and say, 'Leslie says her favorite imitation is you doing Lorne in the shower' and have him f---in' do it. It will make you cry. He's always going, 'Ah, Beep beep, beep beep.'"**

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Source: “EW TV”