“Saturday Night Live” star Bowen Yang made his final curtain call over the weekend against the wishes of show creator Lorne Michaels.
“From Roan on down, everyone wanted Bowen to stay,” an SNL source told Page Six. “But he just made up his mind and it was over. You could tell he wasn’t happy.”
Hosted by her Wicked co-star and best friend Ariana Grande, the 35-year-old SNL veteran tearfully performed her final sketch after seven seasons on the show.
Page Six reported in September that Michaels, 81, “threw a ton of money” at the comedian to keep him, even though Yan was scheduled to leave at the beginning of this season.
Mr. Yang was given a standard raise, the people said.
But that money only went so far.
“Bowen was actually only under contract until December, but we all thought he would stay. No one thought he would leave (now),” an SNL source said this week.
The SNL source added that there didn’t appear to be any events that pushed Yang over the past few months, but “we always know when a cast member is done.”
Page Six has reached out to SNL and Yang’s representatives.
“It’s a grueling schedule. Just the (lack of) sleep is tough,” one former cast member told the show’s Page Six.
Industry sources told Page Six that Yang was “overcommitted” to work outside of “SNL.”
She was absent from the Vantage Awards show at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles in October, before taking time off to film roles in two Wicked films. In fact, Grande told Vanity Fair that she personally called Michaels and asked Yang to take time off.
He co-hosts the popular podcast “Las Culturistas” with Matt Rogers and has a number of TV and film projects lined up.
Deadline reported this month that Yang and Rodgers will co-write and co-star in an untitled new comedy from Searchlight.
The two previously co-starred in the 2022 comedy “Fire Island,” about a group of best friends vacationing on Fire Island.
“It was too much to do everything,” an SNL source said of Yang.
Page Six also reports that Yan was reportedly very upset that castmate Heidi Gardner, along with Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow, left the show in August after eight seasons. Ego Nwodim also left before the season premiere.
“Everyone on the show supports him and his decisions,” an SNL source said of Yang.
During both Saturday’s live show and rehearsal, Yang was brought to tears as co-star Marcello Hernandez intensified the audience’s applause.
There was talk behind the scenes that Yang’s final sketch (in which she played a Delta Air Lines lounge attendant on her last shift) might be cut, but it was released as the ultimate sketch of the night.
“I feel really lucky to work here, and I just wanted to enjoy the job a little more, especially the people,” he said in character.
