Taken from JRE #1937 w/Punkie Johnson:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3HHz5UAE7Ew1RahfFOnegT?si=aac086513b8743e4

That's a thing you have to do with SNL, right?

You have to constantly be coming up with ideas for sketches, huh?

Yeah, a lot of people don't get how, I think, mentally frustrating.

Now, ask me to write a pilot, I'll write you a pilot.

I'll have fun with it, but a sketch is a different world.

It's a different world, it's a different ball game.

It's not it's I mean it's hard mentally It's hard physically.

It's hard It man is hard and I don't know let me tell you something the perks are great I have a whole bunch of fun.

I have fun creating relationships I have fun.

You're also a part of a group that includes Eddie Murphy, yeah, John Belushi Gilda Radner Dan Aykroyd Phil Hartman

Do you write you just sit around and Write things down when they come to you.

Well, it's a very fast right the turnover over there is fast.

So it's like you do the show Saturday Sunday you can rest your mind if you want to but you got to have something cooking and boiling inside of your brain about Sunday night so then Monday we go we pitch we meet the hosts and then we pitch ideas it's me

sleep sleep sleep sleep no liquor I eat whatever I want and I sleep all day

But do you is that when you like prepping do you get ready for Monday?

Sometimes it depends if I have the strength I'll call people and say hey, you know what you got this week I got this idea.

Let's figure out how to flush it out tomorrow, which is a Monday, right?

So Mondays we go to work Just to meet the host and kind of just settle in we meet.

His office is about this big, maybe a little smaller.

And we all sit on the floor like preschoolers.

And Lauren will say, we're gonna start with you, Rosebud.

You are a man that has a vision of exotic coffee shops.

So you open up a coffee shop that's full of strippers and you call it T-Search or some shit.

It could be a real idea, it could be something fake.

Look, I remember we went to work on Black History Day, on Martin Luther King Day, and my pitch was, hey Aubrey, you are the captain of the Holiday Police Department and you come and fine Lorne Michaels for having all the black people at work on Martin Luther King Day.

Because I go in there, I say what everybody wanna say.

And then after that, you leave the pitch and you go, you can either stay and talk, talk in groups and figure out what you're going to do for Tuesday or you leave.

And then Wednesdays you got to wake up at 8, go over your sketches with your writers, fix it.

Maybe you'll go back to Sleep about 10, 30, 11, sleep for 30 minutes, get back up, go to work until 11 p.m., 12 p.m.

If your sketch get picked, you there, because you gotta produce it.

So also at this job, I'm learning how to produce, learning how to direct, learning how to make fast edits, because you gotta pick your set, you gotta pick the clothes that people are gonna wear, you gotta pick the outfits, you gotta pick the wigs, you gotta, if you write the sketch and it get picked, you gotta do it all.

Of course you have help, but you're learning the stuff.

Did you do any of that before you went to SNL?

I went to an acting school called the Actors Boot Camp, but that was that.

Well, I think acting class is probably in some ways a little bit like comedy class.

I think there's good ones in terms of acting class.

There's legitimate, real good places where people learn.

And then there's also acting lessons that are given by people that weren't really good actors.

They didn't really make it as an actor and then they're teaching it.

I know a lot of people that'll teach you something because they've done it.

The comedy classes, They're not being taught by Dave Chappelle, right?

You know, they're being taught by someone who's probably not that good at comedy Which is why they're teaching classes.

I When I did get to SNL a lot of people did go to school.

They went to, like, improv school, Second City, Groundlings, and all of that.

Because the more and more I get to know people over there, I'm like, oh, y'all went to school.

Oh, I came from a little place with black walls called the comedy store.

It's a type of performance school for sure.

So I'm just, and with that, that's me saying to myself, What are you doing?


Speaker 0: The Jerogan Experience.

Speaker 1: That's a thing you have to do with SNL, right? You have to constantly be coming up with ideas for sketches, huh?

Speaker 0: Yeah, a lot of people don't get how, I think, mentally frustrating. Not frustrating, mentally exhausted. Yeah, I get exhausted with SNL a lot. Now, ask me to write a pilot, I'll write you a pilot. I'll have fun with it, but a sketch is a different world.

It's a different world, it's a different ball game.

Speaker 1: It's not my world.

Speaker 0: It's a, you know SNL is a very hard

Speaker 1: job hard job.

Speaker 0: It's not it's I mean it's hard mentally It's hard physically. It's hard It man is hard and I don't know let me tell you something the perks are great I have a whole bunch of fun.

Speaker 1: I'm sure

Speaker 0: I have fun with those people in there. I have fun creating relationships I have fun.

Speaker 1: You're also a part of a group that includes Eddie Murphy, yeah, John Belushi Gilda Radner Dan Aykroyd Phil Hartman

Speaker 0: That feels good. Holy shit.

Speaker 1: I mean that's a crazy legacy. Chris Rock.

Speaker 0: I walked through that building. Norm Macdonald. Like it's the palm trees every day.

Speaker 1: Yeah. That's wild.

Speaker 0: Every day I'm like what the

Speaker 1: fuck are you doing here bitch? Wild.

Speaker 0: Still in my third year.

Speaker 1: How do you write? Do you write in front of a computer? Do you write you just sit around and Write things down when they come to you. What do you do?

Speaker 0: Well, it's a very fast right the turnover over there is fast. So it's like you do the show Saturday Sunday you can rest your mind if you want to but you got to have something cooking and boiling inside of your brain about Sunday night so then Monday we go we pitch we meet the hosts and then we pitch ideas it's me

Speaker 1: so what's a Sunday for you like

Speaker 0: sleep sleep sleep sleep no liquor I eat whatever I want and I sleep all day

Speaker 1: But do you is that when you like prepping do you get ready for Monday?

Speaker 0: Sometimes it depends if I have the strength I'll call people and say hey, you know what you got this week I got this idea. Let's figure out how to flush it out tomorrow, which is a Monday, right? So Mondays we go to work Just to meet the host and kind of just settle in we meet. Hello. How you doing?

Like if it was you? Hey Lauren, I say Joe Rogan everybody. We're all going his office. His office is about this big, maybe a little smaller. And we all sit on the floor like preschoolers.

We got our legs crossed. And Lauren will say, we're gonna start with you, Rosebud. And Rosebud will pitch her idea to you. How you doing, Joe? She'll say something.

You are a man that has a vision of exotic coffee shops. So you open up a coffee shop that's full of strippers and you call it T-Search or some shit. Like just something stupid. It could be a real idea, it could be something fake. I always pitch something stupid.

Look, I remember we went to work on Black History Day, on Martin Luther King Day, and my pitch was, hey Aubrey, you are the captain of the Holiday Police Department and you come and fine Lorne Michaels for having all the black people at work on Martin Luther King Day. The office was busting out laughing. Because I go in there, I say what everybody wanna say. Because I don't give

Speaker 1: a fuck, you know what

Speaker 0: I'm saying? I just be having fun. And then after that, you leave the pitch and you go, you can either stay and talk, talk in groups and figure out what you're going to do for Tuesday or you leave. I leave or I stay, blah, blah, blah. And then Tuesday you write all day.

We get to the office 2, 03:00. We don't leave till 2, 03:00. And then Wednesdays you got to wake up at 8, go over your sketches with your writers, fix it. Maybe you'll go back to Sleep about 10, 30, 11, sleep for 30 minutes, get back up, go to work until 11 p.m., 12 p.m. If your sketch get picked, you there, because you gotta produce it.

So also at this job, I'm learning how to produce, learning how to direct, learning how to make fast edits, because you gotta pick your set, you gotta pick the clothes that people are gonna wear, you gotta pick the outfits, you gotta pick the wigs, you gotta, if you write the sketch and it get picked, you gotta do it all. Of course you have help, but you're learning the stuff.

Speaker 1: Did you do any of that before you went to SNL? No. No theater, no nothing?

Speaker 0: I went to an acting school called the Actors Boot Camp, but that was that. That's neither here nor there. Yeah.

Speaker 1: Well, I think acting class is probably in some ways a little bit like comedy class. I think there's good ones in terms of acting class. There's legitimate, real good places where people learn. They really do. And then there's also acting lessons that are given by people that weren't really good actors.

They didn't really make it as an actor and then they're teaching it.

Speaker 0: I know a lot of people that'll teach you something because they've done it.

Speaker 1: That's the problem with comedy, right? The comedy classes, They're not being taught by Dave Chappelle, right? You know, they're being taught by someone who's probably not that good at comedy Which is why they're teaching classes.

Speaker 0: Yeah, that's true a lot of

Speaker 1: that, but it does get

Speaker 0: you on

Speaker 1: stage though That's the benefit of it.

Speaker 0: I When I did get to SNL a lot of people did go to school.

Speaker 1: They did? They went to acting school?

Speaker 0: They went to, like, improv school, Second City, Groundlings, and all of that. Because the more and more I get to know people over there, I'm like, oh, y'all went to school. Yeah. Oh, I came from a little place with black walls called the comedy store. I don't know nothing about this.

Speaker 1: It's a type of school though.

Speaker 0: You know?

Speaker 1: It's a type of performance school for sure.

Speaker 0: That's what I'm saying. So I'm just, and with that, that's me saying to myself, What are you doing?

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Punkie Johnson on Reveals What Working at SNL is Actually Like