Remember: Bowen Yang is still eligible for an Emmy.
On Monday, NBC’s long-running late-night comedy series “Saturday Night Live” held its Emmy Awards event at the Television Academy’s Wolf Theater at the Saban Media Center in Los Angeles. Yang was one of a 12-person cast panel that included Tommy Brennan, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Marcello Hernandez, James Austin Johnson, Ben Marshall, Ashley Padilla, Cam Patterson, Sarah Sherman, Veronica Slokowska, and Kenan Thompson.
“Yes, everyone, I am eligible for FYC!” Yang reminded the audience while the variety show hosted this conversation in partnership with NBCUniversal.
During the show’s 51-season run, several cast members left the show, and Yang joined the group, each of which was accompanied by a host and a musical guest. They include Dana Carvey (host Luke Perry and musician Mick Jagger), Norm Macdonald (host Julianne Moore and the Backstreet Boys), Amy Poehler (host Hugh Laurie and Kanye West), and Cecily Strong (host Austin Butler and Lizzo). Yang’s exit episode featured host Ariana Grande and musical guest Cher.
“It was really crazy. Those two are comedians, so I feel like we can all agree,” Yang said. “Cher is a literal sketch comedian. Ariana went through her entire development on Nickelodeon. I can’t believe it was a coincidence.”
Yang earned his fourth acting nomination for “SNL” in 2025, making him the most nominated Asian male performer in Emmy history. He was hired as a staff writer for SNL in 2018, and in 2021 became the first featured SNL star to be nominated for an Emmy Award in the acting category.
He’s not the only one to leave his mark on Lorne Michaels’ program.
Thompson, who won an Emmy Award in 2018 for co-writing the SNL song “Come Back, Barack,” is the show’s longest-tenured cast member, with 23 years of service, which he calls “surreal.”
“We have some of the greatest comedy minds in the world sitting in the front row,” he told the crowd. “The show is recreated every week, and we have no choice but to follow suit. The rotation and influx of talent, both writers and cast, creates new ideas, friendships, and collaborations that push the show through time. I’m a witness to how the machine works. It’s not rocket science. They just hire the best and most capable.”
One of Hernandez’s newest characters is Mr. Fronzi, a male teacher modeled after one of his real-life female teachers. “I think it’s up to the person making fun to decide whether that’s a bad thing or not,” he said with a laugh. “I tried to be manly and do something a little different so she wouldn’t feel bad. When I told her I was doing that, she called me and said, ‘Marcello, don’t forget to limp.'”
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Padilla honed his skills with the Groundlings Main Stage Company and was a standout in this season’s viral “Confessions of a Mother” sketch. In it, she played a mother preparing a birthday dinner with her husband (guest host and “Pillion” star Alexander Skarsgård) and four children (Brennan, Dismukes, Sherman, and Wickline). She explains her process like a true performer. “I mainly focus on what’s funny to me and what makes me laugh. The rest is not up to me.”
The panel discussion also included a game of competition for the best words and prompts, which resulted in cast members and members who weren’t present yelling at each other. Michael Che, Jost, Mikey Day, Jeremy Culhane, and Jane Wickline were absent from the event.
Coach Hernandez followed Day in absentia, calling him “an agent of chaos. He’s been there for a long time, he doesn’t care, he attacks you in the face the wrong way, he ignores the cards, he just says everything.”
“I think there’s a screw loose,” Johnson joked about Culhane, a freshman cast member.
Ensembles aren’t the only thing getting attention at the Emmys. The series is competing for a spot in the Outstanding Variety Series category, which was merged earlier this year. Emmy rules guarantee one spot to scripted variety shows, the ones with the fewest entries. The only entries classified as scripted variety this year are “Saturday Night Live,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “It’s Florida, Man,” and BYUtv’s “Studio C,” which rejoined the field this year.
The long-running comedy created by Lorne Michaels hasn’t missed a show nomination since 2007, through each iteration in the variety and sketch categories. When these shows are judged side by side, the new division looks strange.
As the panel wrapped up to commemorate the final “SNL” Emmy FYC event in which Young attended as a cast member, Young paid tribute to the 30 Rock ensemble and staff.
“I was in awe and thought, ‘Oh my God, these people are doing this without a safety net,'” Yang said before becoming emotional. “They’re doing something incredibly difficult every week, and they’re doing it at a pace that allows you and me to see how much their skills are improving. I’d like everyone to think about how difficult it is to do this, especially now when there’s such a shortage of comedy. Thank you to everyone who came to my TED talk!”
