Punkie joined in Season 46 and was promoted this year — as did Andrew Dismukes, who starred in the cold open alongside host Miles Teller — from featured player to repertory status.
James Austin Johnson appeared on “Weekend Update” for the first time and Punkie Johnson was in most of the major sketches this evening, including a spoof of Nicole Kidman’s AMC adverts and Caribbean Queens with Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner
Johnson’s promotion also means that it is only the second time in SNL history that there have been two Black women in the main repertory cast, after Season 42 with Leslie Jones and Sasheer Zamata
The meta cold open addressed the changes in a deft manner with Teller’s Peyton Manning saying that the show is in a “rebuilding’ year and commenting on the new faces and returners such as Bowen Yang – who was expected to “step up” this season