Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Watch Leslie Jones trash talk Game of Thrones’ Varys to his face

Constance Grady
Constance Grady is a senior correspondent on the Culture team for Vox, where since 2016 she has covered books, publishing, gender, celebrity analysis, and theater.

In 1988, Mystery Science Theater 3000 premiered and taught America that few things are funnier than watching comedians riff on bad movies, establishing the proud tradition that lives on today in both the latest iteration of MST3K and RiffTrax.

The great advance of the 21st century was to establish that it’s even funnier to watch comedians riff on movies and TV shows that they earnestly and unabashedly love. It helps if you love the show too, but honestly, it usually works either way.

That’s what made it so fun last year when Seth Meyers invited Leslie Jones to watch Game of Thrones with him: Jones is a serious and enthusiastic Game of Thrones fan — “This is the most where you are like a young, nerdy white 12-year-old,” Meyers opines — and also a genuinely funny person. Watching her gleefully scream at a show she loves and explain why what just happened is incredibly awesome is a joyful experience.

At first, this year’s edition of what Meyers has dubbed “Game of Jones” followed the format established last year: Meyers fired up the latest episode, “The Spoils of War,” and then played straight man to Jones’s superfan wild card, watching in mingled awe and amusement as she explained that Bronn is the guy “who knows where all the one-dollar cigarettes is” and that she would definitely have sex with Littlefinger, but she would have to keep her eyes open the whole time.

Bran’s I-am-a-bird-face, according to Jones, is identical to the look on a guy’s face after you confront him about ghosting on you. “So you’ve dated multiple three-eyed ravens?” Meyers clarified.

All of them’s three-eyed ravens,” Jones said emphatically. “I think one of them was a crow, though.”

But halfway through Meyers and Jones’s viewing party came a new twist: Just as Jones was explaining to Meyers that Varys is extremely shady (“like the girlfriend you don’t know if you can trust, because one minute she’s supporting you and got your back, but the next minute you hear about some bullshit she said to somebody else about you”), Game of Thrones actor Conleth Hill strolled into the room in full Varys costume, prompting Jones to scream, jump to her feet, and hug him passionately.

For the rest of the episode, Hill joined Meyers and Jones on the couch, munching on popcorn and discussing whether or not Theon is a coward. “All eunuchs stick together,” Hill said in Theon’s defense.

And when Daenerys and her dragons attacked in the episode’s climactic battle, all three were as one in their delighted, open-mouthed awe.

Jones still doesn’t trust Varys, though. “I just feel like there’s some kind of part where you’re going to get mad and do stuff behind [Dany’s] back,” she told Hill firmly, “and I don’t really appreciate that.”

More in Culture

Advice
What trainers actually think about the 12-3-30 workoutWhat trainers actually think about the 12-3-30 workout
Advice

Have we finally unlocked exercise’s biggest secret? Or is this yet another lie perpetrated Big Treadmill?

By Alex Abad-Santos
Technology
The case for AI realismThe case for AI realism
Technology

AI isn’t going to be the end of the world — no matter what this documentary sometimes argues.

By Shayna Korol
Podcasts
How fan fiction went mainstreamHow fan fiction went mainstream
Podcast
Podcasts

The community that underpins Heated Rivalry, explained.

By Danielle Hewitt and Noel King
Culture
Why Easter never became a big secular holiday like ChristmasWhy Easter never became a big secular holiday like Christmas
Culture

Hint: The Puritans were involved.

By Tara Isabella Burton
Culture
The sticky, sugary history of PeepsThe sticky, sugary history of Peeps
Culture

A few things you might not know about Easter’s favorite candy.

By Tanya Pai
The Highlight
The return of resistance craftingThe return of resistance crafting
The Highlight

Want to fight fascism? Join a knitting circle.

By Anna North