Why Damon Wayans Was Fired From SNL During His First Season

Years before he broke out on In Living Color, Damon Wayans had a brief stint on Saturday Night Live, before being fired surprisingly quickly. While Wayans has been a recognizable face in movies and on TV for a long time at this point, back when he joined SNL in 1985, he was only a standup comedian and actor just beginning to rise. Coincidentally, Wayans joining SNL occurred during one of the most infamous seasons in SNL history, that being season 11.

Saturday Night Live season 11 saw creator Lorne Michaels return as showrunner after five years away, and bring in an entirely new cast, a good chunk of which were more actors than comedians. This famously included future movie stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall, among others. Wayans was only a featured player during season 11, not a full-fledged cast member, but had things gone a bit differently, he definitely would’ve been promoted. Wayans always had talent, which he would of course later showcase.

When it came to Saturday Night Live though, Wayans and the show’s power structure just didn’t mix. He appeared in only eleven episodes during his time with the NBC sketch show, would usually see his ideas rejected, and was given small roles that didn’t serve to showcase his abilities. By the Saturday Night Live episode that aired on March 15, 1986, Wayans had had enough, and took matters into his own hands. It was this decision that led to his removal from the show.

Wayans was cast in a sketch called “Mr. Monopoly” that aired that night. It featured a pair of cops, one played by Wayans (who would later star in Lethal Weapon), interrogating a suspect about a murder, before the suspect’s lawyer showed up, the titular Mr. Monopoly. Instead of investing in real estate, the board game mascot was now using “get out of jail free” cards to help crooks get off. Randy Quaid, Jon Lovitz, and host Griffin Dunne played in the sketch alongside Wayans, who felt it wasn’t funny, and didn’t want to do it. So, live on air, Wayans went off script, playing his supposedly conventional cop character as a flamboyant gay stereotype. The sketch is not one of Saturday Night Live’s best skits, and Wayans hamming it up a bit is arguably the most entertaining part.

Still, Saturday Night Live boss Michaels was furious, firing him right after the show for going into business for himself. Not that Wayans would end up alone, as nearly the entire season 11 cast was let go before season 12 due to terrible ratings. Interestingly, Michaels actually didn’t hold a long-term grudge against Wayans, inviting him back to perform a stand-up comedy set during the season finale that year. Wayans would of course go on to become a household name in 1990 as part of his brother Keenen Ivory Wayans’ hit sketch show In Living Color, creating characters like Homey the Clown, and working alongside fellow breakout comedy star Jim Carrey. Amusingly enough, Wayans’ Blaine Edwards character in the Men on Film sketches is quite similar to his SNL flamboyant cop.

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