Embodying Extraness: Leslie Jones’s Black Feminist Comedic Strategy

Abstract: This article takes up Leslie Jones’s 2014 debut performance on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update,” in which she introduced her “#1 Slave Draft Pick” joke. Within the framework of Black Feminist Comedic Performance (BFCP), I analyze Jones’s performance to introduce the concept of “Extraness,” a strategic mode of Black feminist comedic embodiment. I schematize Extraness as performing excessive acts of self-expression, subverting stereotypes, and articulating an affective and phenomenological outsideness. The concept extends beyond mere excess, evolving into a strategic technique for self-actualization and embodied critique as it confounds linear conceptions of time and progress. The article posits Extraness as the reclaiming of the unruliness assigned to Black women’s bodies across time and space. I explore the dynamic relationship between the joke and audience perception, shedding light on the role of Extraness in shaping spectatorship, and highlight the complexity of Extraness, which may agitate some viewers’ sensibilities while fostering a sense of community among others. I contend that Extraness, though challenging for some audiences, remains an essential tool for Black women comedians to confront and reshape narratives about their experiences.