Why did Punkie Johnson leave Saturday Night Live?

Why did Punkie Johnson leave Saturday Night Live before the iconic 50th season premiering this fall? We know that this is a question that has been out there, but it does very much seem like it was her decision.

As a matter of fact, the cast member and comedian confirmed as much in an interview with former cast members David Spade and Dana Carvey on their Fly on the Wall podcast. Within it, she indicated that she had first discussed exiting some time ago, but eventually decided with her team that she not exit without a concrete plan in place.

In the end, Johnson made it clear that a lot of her decision came down to her not feeling like she fit in properly with the rest of this particular world:

“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 … I just thought everybody else came from standup. I started having conversations with people [on the show] and everybody was like, ‘Oh yeah, we went to school for this.’ I’m like, y’all went to school to be here?”

Punkie is far from the only person who has felt this way in the world of SNL over the years, as there have been other comics who always felt like they stuck out amidst the sketch performers. Even Pete Davidson had a lot of challenges, and really his most successful pieces on the show for quite some time were bits from his standup routines. Leslie Jones had some success in sketches and yet still, standup really is more of her calling.

We certainly do hope there are some opportunities to see Johnson in other projects in the future — she certainly has both the skill set and potential to pull that off.

Related – Bowen Yang discusses his stint at Saturday Night Live and finding a groove

Are you still bummed that Punkie Johnson left Saturday Night Live?

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