Just two weeks ago, Leslie Jordan sat for what would be his final TV interview with CBS News.
In the clip released Tuesday, the late Emmy winner appears charmed by his late-in-life social media fame and new venture as a country singer – while also appearing reflective of his early days and building a character actor career typecast for doing “that Leslie Jordan thing.”
“Sometimes I get tired of that,” Jordan said, reminiscing on the sassy, biting – and sure, “sissy” – roles and “persona” that kept him working in Hollywood since the mid-’80s.
Standout credits in his early career were playing the inept secretary on “Murphy Brown” before “Will & Grace” made him an Emmy winner. More recent projects include working with Ryan Murphy and Lady Gaga on “American Horror Story” and starring as Phil in “Call Me Kat.”
“It’s, like, they’ll say, I’ll do a take or something, and they go, ‘Well, where – do that Leslie Jordan thing,’” he said of his trademark line delivery. “And I say, ‘OK, OK, that I can do.’ Whatever that is, I don’t know!” Pressed by interviewer Anthony Mason to articulate what the “Leslie Jordan thing” might be, the comedian concluded, “Well, it’s just bright, bubbly.”
The CBS News interview first came together to spotlight Jordan’s rise in social media fame over the course of the pandemic, a period of time that saw him going from 80,000 Instagram followers to 6 million.
“I was just thinking, by gosh, who are these people!?” he recalled. “They wanna hear what I have to say!”
But Mason and his crew were also interested in learning more about Jordan’s latest endeavor as a country music singer. He released a country-gospel album in April 2021 titled “Company’s Comin’,” an effort that stemmed from his Instagram fame.
“I had a Sunday Instagram hymn singing where we would just sing these old hymns that I grew up with, and people started tuning in,” he explained. “And so, somehow from that, we decided to make an album.”
Discussing his efforts in the music industry between takes of filming a music video with country duo LoCash and Blanco Brown, Jordan added that it’s “so unexpected, just to happen, you know, in my 60s.”
“I’m a country music singer now,” he exclaimed. “I love Nashville and the way that Nashville embraced me and to be taken kind of serious. And to have made an album with Dolly Parton, Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile. You know, that’s something.”
Jordan died suddenly Monday morning after an apparent medical event as he was driving in Hollywood, which led to a single-car accident.
Watch the full CBS News video interview, embedded above.
