"You're a Specific Piece of Art"

Comedian Leslie Jones, 58, tells Tom Papa that life has finally gotten easier. "When you start getting in your later 50s, it starts becoming just a little easier," she says, recalling Felicia Rashad telling her that after 55, decisions stopped being hard. "We've been built to enjoy this part of our life." But the path to that ease, she insists, cannot be rushed—and young people trying to skip the journey will arrive at the end unsatisfied.

The Cycles of Life and the Danger of Rushing

Jones lays out a framework she wishes someone had given her earlier. "Your brain don't develop until you're 25 anyway, so you a dumbass anyway," she says. "Stop trying to be smart." The twenties are for enjoying life, the thirties for cleaning up the mess, the forties for knowing what you're doing, and the fifties for the harvest. "Everybody's always trying to rush to get to the fucking end. There is an end, sir. And when you get to it, you're gonna be so unsatisfied because you had no journey."

She emphasizes that change is inevitable and resisting it is futile. "If you don't get into change, you're gonna be stagnant water. It's just wall and that water is just going to keep hitting it." The choice, she says, is whether to enjoy the change or be in pain going through it.

The Craft of Comedy Cannot Be Shortcut