Punkie Johnson explains why she left 'Saturday Night Live,' jokes she drove Lorne Michaels 'crazy' (original) (raw)

Comedian Punkie Johnson has revealed why she left Saturday Night Live ahead of the sketch series' monumental season 50 premiere.

In a new interview on SNL alums Dana Carvey and David Spade's Fly on the Wall podcast, the 39-year-old stand-up comic explained that she never fully settled into the show's structure, and that she'd long felt an internal struggle over whether or not to remain on the show's primary cast.

"It's a big decision. I feel like with me and SNL, it was a neutral thing. By February of last season, I was like, nope, I'm done," Johnson recalled. "The season before that, I questioned it, I talked to my team, like, 'I don't really know if I belong at this job, so maybe I should step away.' I told them super, super late, right after I found out I'd get to go back. They're like, 'Punkie, you need a plan, you can't just quit your job!'"

Punkie Johnson as Ice Spice on 'Saturday Night Live'.

Colin Cauldwell/NBC

Johnson also said that she felt lost after the departure of a writer she'd worked closely with on personal sketches for the series, and that her background in stand-up comedy on stage might've worked against her when it came to being comfortable with the program's rigid run-of-show.

"I never grew up in sketch, I never went to a sketch school, I didn't really feel like I fit, like that was my zone. That show is for a different type of person," Johnson admitted. "I'm crazy, more out-the-box, I'm all over the place. That [show] is a structure."

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

After news broke earlier this month that Johnson wouldn't return for the show's 50th season, the actress said she sent legendary creator Lorne Michaels a sweet note.

"I texted Lorne like, 'Look, you know I love you, I appreciate everything,'" she remembered. "There are only four men in this business who believed in me and made a way for me, and Lorne is one of them."

Still, Johnson joked that she drove Michaels "crazy" on the set of the show, and regularly played pranks on him — like the time she asked him to buy her a gift on his birthday.

"I think I drove him crazy, to the point where he just started ignoring me," Johnson said. "He's just like, 'Get out of my face.' I'd mess with him."

Looking ahead, Johnson, who first joined SNL in 2020, said she's working on a movie and comedy special with Michaels, and that she still has fond affection for the show that launched her to national stardom.

"My relationship with the show is still strong, we just mutually understood that it wasn't my zone," she concluded.

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for SNL for comment.

Saturday Night Live returns for season 50 on Saturday, Sept. 28 on NBC.