Bowen Yang spoke about his decision to leave Saturday Night Live and his final appearance on the show on this week’s episode of the podcast Las Culturistas, which he co-hosts with friend and fellow comedian Matt Rogers.
Speaking about his colleagues on the late-night sketch show, he said: “The entertainment ecosystem right now is so chaotic that people either don’t have a perfectly valid reason to stay as long as they want, or in many cases don’t have the privilege of staying as long as they would like. To me, there’s something very nice about being able to say I stayed as long as I wanted.”
“I may have been on the fence about coming back in the summer, but I’m so glad I did,” Yang continued, referring to his unconventional decision to leave midway through Season 51.
He also took time to respond to criticism he regularly saw online during his tenure on “SNL.”
“I feel like the whole time I was there I was really stuck in the idea that there was no scope for what I could do,” Yang said. When Rogers said that was a lazy insult, Yang said he understood, saying, “I knew I was never going to play a father. I was never going to play a generic role in a sketch. This is a sketch show, and each one is about four minutes long. They’re short and necessarily folded, so I’m playing based on the archetype.”
“These archetypes also have a relationship to the common, and there’s a generalism in that it’s a whiteness and a canvas to build on. I’ve come pre-stretched, pre-dyed. People have been overdetermined about what I am. Oh, that’s the gay Asian guy on SNL.’ So whenever I tried to work outside of that, it was either completely ignored or it still fell apart because it was like, ‘Oh, he’s gay.’” And as always, it’s Asian. ” (Yang was the first Asian cast member in “SNL” history.)
“You really did a lot of things. I don’t think people necessarily know they’re being homophobic when they say things like that,” Yang agreed, adding, “I think scope is a myth and I think it’s all a matter of preference, whether it’s taxed or subsidized.”
“Will they knock out Pete Davidson at range?” Rodgers said. Or can he get away with it because it’s cool and in the male gaze? ”
The surprising news of Yang’s departure from SNL broke on December 19, the day before her final episode on the show.
Yang’s final episode was hosted by her “Wicked” co-star Ariana Grande. During her opening monologue, the two shared the stage and sang a musical parody of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Throughout the rest of the Christmas-themed episode, Yang appeared in sketches with Grande and his castmates. He played a version of Kieran Culkin’s Yoko Ono character from Home Alone to promote his holiday album, playing an eager dance student in a class taught by Grande and her SNL co-star Marcello Hernandez.
During Weekend Update, former cast member Aidy Bryant made a surprise return to the show, joining Yang one last time as fan-favorite duo the Trend Forecasters.
The show ended with a sketch of Yang playing a bartender at the JFK Delta Lounge. As he served eggnog to tourists, he reflected on his last day at work. Other cast members also come and go on set, with Grande and musical guest Cher joining Jan as they bid their final farewells as they finish a rendition of Charles Brown’s “Welcome Home for Christmas.” The tears in Yang’s eyes seemed real.
Yang joined SNL as a writer for season 44 in 2018 and became a featured cast member in season 45. She was promoted to the main cast at the start of season 47. During his tenure, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Comedy Actor four times.
