Saturday Night time Stay is in the midst of celebrating a milestone season, and as celebrities like Dave Chappelle and Timothée Chalamet forge forward because the Season 50 hosts and musical visitors showing on the 2025 TV schedule, it’s additionally been a great time to look again. SNL50: Past Saturday Night time explores points of NBC’s long-running sketch comedy present from the attitude of present and former writers, solid and crew, and Bowen Yang opened up about his distinctive expertise because the first full-time Asian-American solid member and certainly one of few figuring out as queer.
A part of the SNL50 docuseries (obtainable to stream with a Peacock subscription) dives into the audition course of — a essential evil for hopeful solid members and one which’s so nerve-wracking that Andy Samberg stated he threw up at his. Pete Davidson and others obtained actual about how the producers famously don’t giggle throughout the auditions, and whereas that seems like a horrible situation for a comic to be in, Bowen Yang appeared to seek out the entire SNL course of releasing, as he shared within the documentary:
I believe that’s the proper factor to return in right here with is simply to really feel some, like, liberated sense of ‘That is who I’m. Take it or go away it, like, actually take it or go away it.’ My perspective shall be perhaps, like, that of an Asian particular person or that of a queer particular person, but in addition there are simply as many issues outdoors of that that don’t have anything to do with these issues.
Bowen Yang’s model of comedy has produced some wonderful moments, together with the iconic Titanic iceberg sketch, however he admitted there have been instances since going from a author to a solid member in 2019 that some leaned too onerous on simply his Asian ethnicity and/or queerness. It’s one thing he’s apparently spoken out about, too, as he continued:
There can be conversations I might have with writers who I felt like had been perhaps pigeonholing sure issues about me, and fortunately that was by no means met with any toxicity or pushback. It was at all times, ‘Thanks for telling me. I’m sorry that occurred. It gained’t occur once more.’
Bowen Yang even stated these conversations led to extra “meta” alternatives just like the hilarious Bowen’s Straight scene with Sydney Sweeney. If something, that and the iceberg sketch ought to show that Yang — and the solid members and writers total — typically do their greatest work when considering means outdoors of the field, slightly than proscribing themselves to the specifics of an individual’s id.
Taking a look at Bowen Yang’s work, it’s straightforward to see why he calls SNL the “cringiest factor in present enterprise,” however his skill to actually say, “That is who I’m. Take it or go away it,” has led to an appearing profession that features films like Hearth Island, Bros, Please Do not Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain and — most not too long ago — Depraved, the place he juggled filming with SNL to play Galinda’s good friend Pfannee.
You’ll additionally have the ability to catch him within the sequel Depraved: For Good when it opens on the 2025 film calendar in November, and within the meantime, we’ll hopefully proceed to see all sides of the comic’s character on Saturday Night time Stay. Tune in at 11:30 p.m. ET Saturdays on NBC and streaming on Peacock.