“Damon Wayans is opening up about his reason for “purposefully” getting himself fired from Saturday Night Live following his short run on the NBC show in the ’80s. The actor and comedian appeared on the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, where he looked back at his time on the sketch comedy series as well as”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
The actor and comedian appeared on the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, where he looked back at his time on the sketch comedy series as well as his departure. He was a castmember on SNL during season 11 in 1985.
Wayans said he had already been working on characters ahead of his audition, as he felt he was “born to be on Saturday Night Live.” He also recalled getting some advice from Eddie Murphy (who was also on SNL in the early ’80s) while appearing in Beverly Hills Cop in 1984.
“Eddie’s advice to me was, ‘Write your own sketches. Otherwise, they’re gonna give you some Black people shit to do, and you ain’t gonna like it,” Wayans said.
Once he was cast, Wayans said he quickly realized, “Everything Eddie said came true.” He recalled trying to pitch characters and sketches to SNL writers, “but they would shoot my ideas down.” He added, “They started writing me in their sketches.”
Wayans said they would also give him stereotypical or offensive roles, but he recalled pushing back at times: “I’m like, ‘Hell no.’ I said, ‘Listen, my mother’s gonna watch this show. I can’t do this. I won’t do this.’”
But Wayans’ frustrations eventually reached a breaking point during a sketch titled “Mr. Monopoly.” He recalled it being chosen over one of his skits, which was cut for time once again.
That’s when he made the last-minute decision to lean into a different stereotype for the live sketch, which ultimately got him fired.
“Damon starts doing his lines like a very effeminate gay guy,” Jon Lovitz, former SNL writer and castmember, recalled. Griffin Dunne, who was the guest host for the episode, added, “I thought it was weird, but people still laughed. And then Lorne fired him pretty much as he walked off the stage.”
Wayans admitted, “I snapped. I just did not care. … I purposefully did that because I wanted him [SNL creator Lorne Michaels] to fire me.”
In an old interview clip featured in the docuseries, Michaels explained, “Having not fired anybody for the first five years, it was really, really hard. But it had to be done.”
Wayans basically “broke the ultimate [SNL] golden rule, which is no surprises,” according to Live From New York author James Andrew Miller. Former writer A. Whitney Brown added, “You cannot go rogue. You cannot try to steal a sketch.”
After his stint on the NBC sketch comedy series, the comedian went on to find success in several comedy movies such as Mo’ Money and Major Payne, among others. He also later starred on the sketch show In Living Color, which ran from 1990-94.
Wayans returned to host SNL in 1995, nine years after he was fired.