https://latenighter.com/news/punkie-johnson-leaving-saturday-night-live/

According to LateNighter, Johnson, who joined Saturday Night Live with Season 46 in 2020, announced her exit (https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/1ehphtl/punkie_johnson_is_leaving_saturday_night_live/) at a comedy show last night. SNL has yet to confirm her exit. Johnson's announcement comes hours after Maya Rudolph was confirmed to reprise her Kamala Harris role this fall on SNL. Johnson played the vice president once this past season.

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Punkie Johnson Explains Why she “Didn’t Really Feel Like I Fit” on SNL
by Glenn Garner
August 21, 2024


After four seasons on "Saturday Night Live", Punkie Johnson has revealed the reason for her sudden exit ahead of its milestone 50th season.

The comedian recently explained to fellow SNL alums Dana Carvey and David Spade that she “didn’t really feel like I fit” on the NBC sketch comedy show since her first season as a featured player in 2020, and she now plans to focus on stand-up comedy.




“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 said on the pair’s Fly on the Wall podcast episode of her initial conversation with her team, who urged that she not quit without a plan.

She ended up sticking around for another season. “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,'” said Johnson.




Johnson also said that when writer Ben Silva exited the show, she re-evaluated, as they shared a bond. Silva “just knew how to speak Punkie,” she explained. “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.”

“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,” said Johnson, adding: “I just thought everybody else came from standup. 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?”




Meanwhile, Johnson is excited for what’s to come.

“Ever since word got out that I’m not going back to the show, my phone and opportunities have not stopped. It’s crazy,” she said.

https://deadline.com/2024/08/snl-punkie-johnson-didnt-really-feel-like-i-fit-1236046573/

Punkie Johnson says her SNL exit after four seasons "was like a firing and a quitting all at the same time" (https://latenighter.com/news/punkie-johnson-snl-fired-and-quit-interview/)

In an interview with the podcast Saturday Night Network (https://latenighter.com/podcasts/live-snl-stories-punkie-johnson-interview/), Johnson said she felt the writing was on the wall when the writer she worked closely with, Ben Silva, exited eight episodes into what turned out to be her final season. “Ben knew how to talk Punkie,” Johnson said. After Season 49, Johnson said she and the show had an amicable parting. “It was mutual,” Johnson said. “It was like a firing and a quitting all at the same time.”