Punkie Johnson Has Left Saturday Evening Stay Earlier than Season 50

This fall, “Saturday Evening Stay” will likely be embarking on its fiftieth season, a serious milestone for the late night time sketch sequence that may embody an enormous celebration within the type of a fiftieth anniversary primetime particular in February 2025. Whereas it was believed that all the solid members nonetheless hanging across the present on the finish of season 49 would return for the landmark season 50, a minimum of one solid member not too long ago revealed that they will not be again in spite of everything.

In accordance with LateNighter, solid member Punkie Johnson won’t be again for season 50 at “SNL.” Johnson made the announcement somewhat unceremoniously throughout a stand-up comedy present at Brooklyn’s Union Corridor on the night of July 31, and several other viewers members posted about her feedback on social media afterwards. LateNighter took the initiative to achieve out to Johnson on the morning of August 1, and he or she confirmed her departure from the sequence, the place she’s been a repertory solid member since 2022, after becoming a member of the present as a featured participant for season 46 in 2021.

One Twitter consumer attending the present wrote, “Punkie is leaving SNL, she mentioned this was high quality to share on-line, so I suppose twitter is the primary to know. It undoubtedly wasn’t a joke both, like, she’s really gone, and he or she’s very completely satisfied about it.” Nevertheless, throughout the present, Johnson additionally talked about some troubling particulars as to why she ended up leaving the present, and it sounds very typical of the popularity of “SNL” behind the scenes.

In a follow-up put up on Twitter, the identical consumer added, “She additionally mentioned the problems kind of began when she was instructed to lose her dreads and cease getting buff…” That is somewhat irritating, particularly when Johnson grew to become the primary overtly queer Black girl to hitch the “SNL” solid. However the present has lengthy had a development of bringing in solid members of assorted racial backgrounds with out with the ability to efficiently make the most of their various and distinctive cultural views.

“SNL” usually pushes comedians of shade into sure archetypes or makes use of them as token minority casting as a result of they want a various solid to supply the sight of one thing apart from white. That is to not say that sure solid members have not discovered nice success on “SNL,” however most of the time, they do not get a good shake on the highlight. That is why Vera Drew’s indie comedy “The Individuals’s Joker” focuses on a narrative that is mainly about comedy establishments like “SNL” and the Upright Residents Brigade (the place quite a lot of “SNL” solid members minimize their enamel) destroying comedy goals for anybody that does not match right into a sure sort for the display screen.

Coincidentally sufficient, I caught a stand-up comedy present this summer time with “SNL” solid members James Austin Johnson, Andrew Dismukes, and Devon Walker. Throughout Walker’s set, the comic briefly riffed on his time at “SNL” and talked about how troublesome it was for him, even going as far as to say that the most effective recommendation he may supply for being profitable at “SNL” was to be white. So this isn’t a singular expertise.

Whereas Punkie Johnson by no means actually acquired an opportunity to ship any trademark recurring characters, she nonetheless had loads of standout moments on the present. Considered one of my favorites, which you’ll be able to watch above, gave her a somewhat endearing look alongside Mikey Day on the Weekend Replace desk. That is the place quite a lot of stand-ups get the chance to actually come out of their shell and present who they’re on stage, and on this case, we acquired to see that Johnson is hilariously clueless about popular culture whereas speaking in regards to the 2023 Oscars nominees. Truthfully, I want we acquired to see this bit pop up on the desk a pair extra occasions earlier than she left. 

Nevertheless, my favourite efficiency from Johnson may need been on this sketch:

On this sketch, that includes surprisingly nice host Dangerous Bunny, Johnson performs a bit supporting character on the set of a Spanish-language cleaning soap opera, however she completely can’t communicate the language. The way in which Johnson incoherently rambles off precise Spanish is so rattling humorous, and the best way she meanders by the scene is hilarious. Johnson could not have landed any recurring characters or impressions on the present, however she was not with out her personal moments of nice laughter.

If Johnson is not returning for season 50, it makes me surprise if she’ll make an look on the fiftieth anniversary celebration. Certainly all former solid members are invited, and there is in all probability a superb one-liner to be written about quitting the present earlier than the large celebration. We’ll simply have to attend and see what occurs in 2025.