Punkie Johnson Finally Reveals Why She Left 'SNL'

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | August 23, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | August 23, 2024 |

SNL is a dream job. It’s the kind of gig that seems impossible to get. You’ve got to make the right moves, know the right people, and work your ass off to get there. The show is synonymous with comedy. Thanks to what’s left of cable (but mostly YouTube) the show still reaches a large audience. Careers are made in the halls of 30 Rock. Performers can experience meteoric rises in fame and popularity just by being silly onscreen. But, sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.

Plenty of performers have had terrible times working on Saturday Night Live. Some have seen their careers take a massive hit because of a slip-up on the show. There have been cast members who only last a year or two (if that) and quietly disappear from the zeitgeist. Let’s also not forget the culture of abuse that has been fostered behind those hollowed halls. Not everyone has a positive experience at SNL, but at least Punkie Johnson did.

Punkie joined the cast in 2020 and stood out quickly. She’s a natural talent with a big personality and the ability to work a crowd. Her Weekend Update segments were always a delight, and when she was actually in sketches (more on that in a moment), she did a bang-up job. Punkie was also incredibly popular, both for her work on and off the show, so when it was announced that she’d be leaving before the 50th season, it was news.

Johnson’s exit coincided with news that Maya Rudolph had been invited back to the show to play Vice President Kamala Harris. Many people assumed that Punkie left because she was not offered that role. While she hasn’t denied that, during a recent interview with David Spade and Dana Carvey on the Fly On The Wall podcast, Johnson explained her decision. In short, she felt it was time to move on.

There had been talk of Punkie leaving the show prior to her official exit. The comedian wanted to leave the show before the 49th season. “I talked to my team. I was like, ‘Look, I don’t really know if I belong at this job, so maybe I should step away,’” Johnson explained to Carvey and Spade. It wouldn’t happen yet though, as her team convinced her to stay one more year. “You need a plan. You can’t just quit your job.” A fair point to say the least.

This last season started positively, as Punkie notes. “I think I got like three or four sketches [in the] first half. And usually, I only get maybe two or three on the entire season, so I’m like, ‘Oh man, I’m killing it. Like, this is my season.’” Unfortunately, that didn’t stick. Writer Ben Silva left the show halfway through the season, leaving Johnson without the writer who understood her best. As she explained, Silva “just knew how to speak Punkie,” a huge benefit on the show. “So if I was telling him something, he knew how to put it in SNL format for me. If I try to put it in SNL format, that’s the hard part.”

Being able to write for yourself on SNL is necessary but also difficult. Plenty of performers have had to rely on writers who not only understood their voice but could make it pop in rehearsal. At the end of the day, Johnson still didn’t feel at home on the show. “I didn’t really feel like I fit, like I didn’t feel like that was my zone. That show is for a different type of person,” she told her fellow SNL alums. “I came from stand-up, so I just thought everybody else came from stand-up,” she continued. “I started having conversations with people and everybody was like, ‘Oh yeah, we went to school for this.’ I’m like, y’all went to school to be here?”

Luckily, Johnson is not the type who seems like she will disappear; Far from it. “Ever since word got out that I’m not going back to the show, my phone and opportunities have not stopped,” she mentioned. “It’s crazy.” Damn right, it is. Johnson will be missed on SNL. Still, it feels like she’s making a move that she is not only at peace with, it’s already paying off.