Why Did Punkie Johnson Leave SNL? Explained

When a cast member leaves Saturday night livefans want to know why. I mean, it sounds like a dream job, right? You get to make jokes with celebrities every episode? But sometimes it’s just the right decision for the artist, and we have to respect that.

Punkie Johnson has joined Saturday night live in 2020 as a lead actor and became a main cast member in 2022, but it shocked fans when Johnson announced she would not be returning for Saturday night liveThe show’s 50th season has begun. But when news of Johnson’s departure broke, many fans linked Johnson’s departure to the news that Maya Rudolph was returning to the show to play Kamala Harris in sketches.

Johnson made it clear he had nothing to do with it. Fly on the wall podcast, she spoke to the old SNL David Spade and Dana Carvey, two alumni of the series, spoke about this decision and his desire to leave before the 49th season aired: “I talked to my team. I said, ‘Look, I don’t really know if I belong in this position, so maybe I should step away.

She explained that she wanted to leave, but that her team convinced her to stay for another season and that gave her a confidence boost. But in the end, it wasn’t enough to make her stay. “I think I had three or four sketches (in the) first half. And usually I only have two or three in the whole season, so I’m like, ‘Oh man, I’m killing it. This is my season.'”

But Johnson’s decision to leave came about because writer Ben Silva left the show and Johnson felt she had no one at her disposal. SNL who understood his humor. She said Silva “just knew how to talk Punkie,” and without him, it didn’t work for her. “So if I told him something, he knew how to put it together SNL format for me. If I try to put it in SNL format, this is the hardest part.

Johnson felt out of place

One of the things that makes Saturday night live What’s special is the cast and their relationships, but the show is about more than that. You have to find your comedic side, and Johnson explained that her background in stand-up didn’t necessarily help her when it came to writing sketches.

“I didn’t really feel like I fit in, I didn’t feel like this was my comfort zone. This show is for a different type of person,” she said. “I come from stand-up, so I thought everyone came from stand-up. I started having conversations with people and everyone was like, ‘Oh yeah, we went to school for this.’ I was like, ‘You guys went to school to be here?’”

But don’t worry, this won’t be the last we see of Johnson. She told Spade and Carvey that she’s received a lot of requests for opportunities since leaving the show. “Since I found out I wasn’t going back on the show, my phone and the opportunities have been non-stop,” she said. “It’s crazy.”