Saturday Night Live: Leslie Jones heading to Winter Olympics
Today, NBC confirmed that the network is sending the Saturday Night Live cast member and Olympics super-fan over to South Korea in order to help with the network’s coverage of the event. That probably means that you’ll get to see some more comedic segments and a LOT of patriotism in the process.
In a statement, Jim Bell, NBC’s own President of Olympics Production and Programming, had the following to say:
“Experiencing the Olympics through the lens of Leslie is unlike anything else … Her passion for Team USA is contagious, and her adventures in South Korea should be fascinating.”
Leslie’s love of the Olympics first started to get public attention during the summer of 2016, when she live-tweeted a number of the events and posted video with some of her commentary. This led to her eventually being invited to Brazil to take part in some of the network’s coverage. She was thoroughly entertaining, and as a result of that it makes perfect sense that NBC would want to bring her back again. (Personally, we propose that NBC should just bring back Leslie for every Olympics from here until the end of time.)
While we know that the network employs a number of Olympic experts who can go over to the Games and share commentary on the sports for neophytes, Leslie is the voice of the fan. She’s enthusiastic and we really got the sense in Rio that some of the athletes loved having her around. These men and women are often people who don’t get all that much time in the spotlight, and with that they likely appreciate that she is there to help make them feel all the more special and significant. She offers up something that you often don’t get from any other commentary.
Granted, with Leslie we just wonder how in the world she’s going to find time to sleep with everything she’s got going on! In addition to the Winter Games, this weekend is the fourth new episode of Saturday Night Live in the last four weeks.
Related – Read our most-recent SNL episode review right now
Are you excited to see Leslie Jones heading off to the Winter Olympics? Be sure to share right now in the comments! Meanwhile, you can also like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you want some other insight regarding the series. (Photo: NBC.)