Devon Walker Says Toxic ‘SNL’ Could Use ‘A Sprinkle of Humanity’

Due to the real or perceived “comedy kingmaker” power of Lorne Michaels, exiting Saturday Night Live cast members tend to be careful about burning bridges as they head out the door. “So grateful for my time on the show,” goes the usual goodbye post. “I enjoyed every minute, and I can’t wait for the next opportunity.”

Devon Walker, on the other hand, doesn’t seem worried about upsetting the comedy powers-that-be. He was the first of the recent cast members to announce a departure, and while he said, “sometimes (SNL) was really cool,” he also let the world know that “sometimes it was toxic as hell.”

Toxic as hell? Details, man, we want details! And Walker got into it yesterday with Variety, explaining just what he meant by that damning description. For one thing, he explained, the show is unkind when it comes to communicating with comics about their futures.

“What ends up happening over the summer is oftentimes people are left hanging with big life decisions — people trying to start families or buy homes — and there’s no word from the show about whether they have their job,” Walker said. “The show won’t tell them all summer and then will ultimately end up firing them when there’s been months of them trying to work their situation out. That wasn’t my situation, but I’ve known of situations where that’s happened. If there’s one thing I hope for the future of the show, it’s that a sprinkle of humanity could be added into it.” 

Walker gets it. In some ways, SNL is like an NFL team during summer training camp, with players getting cut right before the season starts. “But people have lives,” he explained, “and people deserve to know the status of their job at a reasonable juncture. Most people are told they’re coming back to work in a week.”

It’s a fair complaint. There’s no real reason for Michaels and SNL to keep its cast twisting in the wind over the summer — other than Michaels is on a boat with Paul Simon somewhere and doesn’t want to be bothered with personnel matters until he’s tanned, rested and ready. 

Walker was less forthcoming about his other criticisms, but hinted he might reveal more in the future. “There are things that went down on the show that I wouldn’t talk about for free,” he said, suggesting an upcoming deal for a book or podcast. “There are a lot of things I’m still trying to find the right avenue to go into detail about.”

But anyone curious about what constitutes “toxic” at SNL wouldn’t have to look far. “If you read about the show, if you’re knowledgeable about it at all, you can certainly pick up on things that are toxic about it,” Walker says. “The show hasn’t changed much in all the years they’ve been doing it.”

Part of that SNL history is Black performers feeling isolated or reduced to stereotypical roles. Has anything changed? “Here’s what I’ll say about that: Do your research,” Walker advised. “Do your research and come to your own conclusion. I don’t think it should be hard to find wherever you land on that.”