Former ‘SNL’ star Punkie Johnson explains abrupt exit: ‘That show is for a different type of person’
She walked away.
Comedian and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Punkie Johnson, 39, who made history as the show’s first openly queer black woman, is opening up about why she left.
While talking to fellow “SNL” alums David Spade and Dana Carvey on their “Fly on the Wall” podcast, Johnson addressed her decision to leave the show ahead of its landmark 50th 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 told Spade and Carvey of a conversation she had last year.
She added, “But I told them super, super late, like right after I found out I got to go back. And it was like, ‘Well Punkie, you need a plan. You can’t just quit your job.’”
Johnson was on “SNL” for four seasons, joining the show in 2020 and exiting after Season 49 wrapped this spring.
“It wasn’t even a dream, because I never thought that I would get there. That’s how surprised I was,” Johnson told NBC News in 2021 of becoming a cast member.
“I’m just this little lesbian chick from New Orleans who is just enjoying life doing comedy and thinking that’s it.”
She also does stand-up and has appeared on series such as “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” “Space Force” and “Adam Ruins Everything.”
After talking to her team, she decided to stick around for Season 49, and at first, the situation was going well.
“I think I got like three or four sketches on the first half [of the season],” she said. “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.’”
However, after writer Ben Silva left, Johnson started questioning the job again.
“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,” Johnson said of Silva.
The comedian explained that she felt out of place.
“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 said on the podcast.
Johnson added, “I came from stand-up, so I just thought everybody else came from stand-up. 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?’”
In an Instagram video posted earlier this month confirming her departure, Johnson said, “It’s no bad blood, it’s no bridges burned, it’s no hard feelings. Bro, I love my people! I didn’t think none of this was going to be a big deal.”
