Damon Wayans said he deliberately went off script in the live “Mr. Monopoly” sketch because he wanted Lorne Michaels to fire him. Host Griffin Dunne later recalled that Michaels did so just after Wayans left the stage. The incident took place during Wayans’s 1985–1986 season on Saturday Night Live.
What happened in the “Mr. Monopoly” sketch?
Wayans and Randy Quaid played police officers in the live sketch. After dress rehearsal, one of Wayans’s own sketches had been cut, while “Mr. Monopoly” remained in the show. During the broadcast, Wayans changed his character’s performance, using a markedly different, effeminate voice than the role had called for.
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In an interview featured in SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Wayans described his state of mind: “I snapped. I just did not care.” He said he made the change deliberately: “I purposely did that because I wanted [Lorne Michaels] to fire me.” (The Independent; Variety)
Why was Wayans frustrated with SNL?
Wayans had been trying to get his own material on the show and felt some of the roles offered to him leaned on stereotypes he did not want to perform. He brought a sketch called “The Gifted Rapper” to writer Al Franken. Wayans recalled Franken saying he did not understand the rap concept; the experience made Eddie Murphy’s earlier advice to write his own sketches feel prescient.
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Was he fired immediately after the sketch?
Griffin Dunne, who hosted the episode, recalled that the performance seemed strange to him, though the audience laughed. He said: “And then Lorne fired him pretty much as soon as he walked off the stage.” That is Dunne’s recollection of the timing; the reports present the backstage details as participants’ accounts rather than independent verification of every moment.
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Why did going off script lead to his dismissal?
Wayans’s personal explanation was that he wanted Michaels to fire him. Former staff described the production concern as going rogue during a live sketch and taking an unsanctioned turn in material written by someone else. Former SNL writer A. Whitney Brown summarized the norm: “You cannot go rogue. You cannot try to steal a sketch.”
So the episode is not accurately reduced to Wayans being fired simply for playing a character with an effeminate manner. The reported flashpoint was his deliberate, unapproved change to the live performance, amid his frustration with his roles and cut material.
Did Wayans return to SNL?
His dismissal ended his cast stint, but not his relationship with the show. Wayans returned to perform stand-up in that season’s finale and hosted Saturday Night Live in 1995.
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