Damon Wayans Details How He ‘Purposely’ Got Himself Fired From ‘SNL’

Damon Wayans is one of the greatest comics of his generation. But many may not be aware that he’s one of the most famous alums of Saturday Night Live to be fired off the sketch show.

Appearing on the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Wayans said she received some advice from Eddie Murphy before becoming a part of the cast of season 11.

“I felt like I was born to be on Saturday Night Live,” Wayans explained. “His advice to me was, ‘Write your own sketches. Otherwise, they’re going to give you some Black people sh*t to do, and you ain’t gon’ like it.”

While on the show, Wayans said the staff writers never liked his ideas.

“I could feel something was wrong and that’s why I was like, ‘Hey, give me the ball,” he said. “I know what this needs.”

After penning a sketch titled “The Gifted Rapper” where he played a gift wrapper that could rhyme, former head writer Al Franken didn’t understand it. 

“He read the sketch and was like, ‘I just don’t get the rap thing.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah but 50 million other people do,’” Wayans recalled.

Just as Murphy predicted, Wayans said he asked to portray stereotypical characters.

“Everything Eddie said came true,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Hell nah! My mother’s gonna watch this show. I can’t do this. I won’t do this.”

When the sketch “Mr. Monopoly” was chosen over one of his own, it sent Wayans over the edge. During the live sketch, he delivered his lines in an entirely different voice stunning the cast and writers.

“I snapped. I just did not care,” Wayans said.

“Damon starts doing his lines like a very effeminate gay guy,” former SNL cast member Jon Lovitz recalled.

“I purposely did that because I wanted [Lorne Michaels] to fire me,” Wayans admitted. He was fired by Michaels as soon as he walked off stage.

“Having not fired anybody for the first five years, it was really, really hard. But it had to be done,” Michaels added.

According to James Andrew Miller, the author of  “Live From New York”, Wayans “broke the ultimate golden rule, which is no surprises.” His career seemed to be over from that moment.

But Wayans would have the last laugh. Eventually, he starred in In Living Color, Waynehead, My Wife and Kids, and Lethal Weapon on TV. In film, he’s starred in Mo Money, The Last Boy Scout, Major Payne, and Bulletproof. Currently, he is starring in the CBS sitcom Poppa’s House.

Following his termination from SNL, Michaelas invited Wayans back to perform a standup routine later that season.

“Lorne is a very forgiving man, and I think he just wanted to let me know he believed in me,” Wayans said.