‘SNL’ stars talk harsh reality of being fired
Cast members of 'Saturday Night Live' attended a farewell show in New York City
Cast members of Saturday Night Live attended a farewell show in New York City in honor of the ones leaving the show.
The cast from season 50 attended the event, including Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim and John Higgins, as well as former members Chloe Troast, Molly Kearney and Punkie Johnson.
Troast, Kearney and Johnson left SNL after season 49, with Johnson also hosting the event.
Johnson and Troast opened up to People about the harsh reality of being fired, as the latter explained, "Even before the show, they were the ones that were a guiding light, and so then that's what I looked to after. And I feel like without that, I don't know where I would be one year out, to be honest.”
The former agreed, stating that "you can't leave SNL and then go do the same things you was doing before."
"It just put the pressure on you because everybody always like, 'Yo, what's next? What's next?' So you feel like you have to go do the next big thing," she added.
Johnson admitted to having to come to terms with the fact that it would take her some time to figure things out, "I had to figure out how to understand the difference between, all right, cool, you did something really great. And now it's okay for you to just go through the motions and just no rush and figure out what's next for you. It's okay for you to figure that out."
Describing the long time series, she mused, "It's very hard to understand a place like that. They just throw you in the water — you better know how to swim. They don't give you no life jacket."
