Bowen Yang is addressing his upcoming departure from Saturday Night Live after seven years as a member of the cast.
“I loved working at SNL, and most of all I loved the people,” Yang, 35, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, December 20, hours before the live Christmas episode — his final show. “I was there at a time when many things in the world started to seem futile, but working at 30 Rock taught me the value in showing up anyway when people make it worthwhile.”
He continued, “I’m grateful for every minute of my time there. I learned about myself (bad with wigs). I learned about others (generous, vulnerable, hot). I learned that human error can be nothing but correct. I learned that comedy is mostly logistics and that it will usually fail until it doesn’t, which is the besssst.”
Yang joined SNL in 2018 as a writer, making his onscreen debut the following year during season 45.
“Thank you to every single person who showed up there: friends and coworkers and audiences and hosts,” the “Las Culturistas” podcast host wrote on Saturday. “Thank you Celeste, Sudi, Will, Alison, Julio, Fran, Drez, Bulla, Marty, John, Ben, Jimmy, Ceara, Deetch, Jake, Asha, Jack, Auguste, Tucker, Kent, Streeter, James, Alex, Jasmine, Gary, and Billy for writing with me. Thank you to every cast member for making me laugh and cry.”
Yang further thanked the entire SNL crew and wardrobe team for the “fastest, funnest quick-changes in all of showbiz.”
“Thank you to Lorne [Michaels] for the job, for the standard and for bringing everyone at work together,” the comedian added, referring to the longtime SNL showrunner. “They all care deeply about people in the room, any room, enjoying themselves. I can’t believe I was ever included in that.”
Saturday’s live broadcast, hosted by Ariana Grande with musical guest Cher, will be Yang’s last as a part of the SNL comedy troupe.
“Thank you to Ari for sending me off in the dreamiest way I could imagine,” Yang concluded. “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready, but s***, I hope I am.”
Yang and Grande, 32, became fast friends ever since costarring in the Wicked movie musicals.
“I’ve learned so many things from Ariana Grande. I’ve learned about overcoming things,” Yang told Esquire earlier this month. “I lost a sense of myself while we were shooting Wicked because it was just the back-to-back work of doing SNL and then going to London for Wicked and then doing SNL again and going to London. It really unmoored me, and Ari very gently brought me back to shore.”
Yang plays a Shiz University classmate of Grande’s Glinda in 2024’s Wicked and the recently released Wicked: For Good.
While speaking with Esquire, Yang further revealed how his real-life friendships were infinitely more important than his career.
“Work is not the most meaningful thing for me anymore,” he told the outlet. “The things I like are spending time with friends, working every now and then, not being caged by it.”
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET.
