For more than 50 years now, SNL has brought in a slew of hosts and musical guests to spar opposite comedians and bring in laughs on Saturday nights. However, it’s a very specific type of comedy that normally makes the network airwaves, and quick jokes and cultural references are at the heart of those laughs. As a seasoned Not Ready For Primetime Player, Bowen Yang knows this, and is mostly good with the status quo, but he did open up about wanting to break stereotypes on the show as he continues his Saturday Night Live career.
In a wide-ranging WTF interview that also discussed Shane Gillis’ SNL firing and more, Yang and Marc Maron had a lot to say about comedy, including an extremely philosophical conversation about getting laughs. During this, Maron argued the point that getting people to “laugh” in a way that “requires them to work a little” is significantly harder but also significantly more gratifying to him.
Yang admitted that his work on Saturday Night Live isn’t really about that though, noting the “quick little” cadence of jokes is what has been a hallmark of the late night series for, well, forever.
I feel like you’re also clarifying for me that I might be going about this the wrong way at SNL. Where it’s just about what’s immediately gratifying, both to the audience and to you as a writer. Because you’re like, ‘OK, we’ve only got two days to do this. Let’s just like load her up with quick little jokes.’
Mostly, it seems Yang is down to clown with this, and hasn’t really thought about the idea of whether high concept comedy could work on SNL much. Yet, the longtime comedian did also reveal his feelings on the “low-hanging” fruit the writers on the show often stick him with, and how he handles those conversations.
I can tell you: breaking news, I never want to play a fucking inanimate object ever again. I don’t want to really go for like the low-hanging, gay male fruit. It’s kind of like, sometimes, I don’t want to blame anybody, but it’s kind of like what people internally want me to do. And I try to push back on it as much as you can.
Listen, he’s a “Weekend Update” favorite and one who has been made to play characters like the iceberg that ran into the Titanic (though he’s also admitted he helped write that viral SNL sketch) and a Chinese balloon that was shot down. As he’s gained more equity on the show, he says he’s tried to cut back on pitches like these, as well as “low-hanging” jokes about being a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
Comedy is subjective and the taste of the masses doesn’t always align well with what people who think about comedy all day every day are into. It would be like asking a Russian literature expert what they think of Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight books. In order to be good at starring on the show – which is a feat in and of itself, as many have been fired from SNL – you have to be OK with Lorne killing your darlings and doing broader stuff.
As Bowen Yang told Maron, even when the show tries to go more out there (cough *Kyle Mooney’s best sketches* cough), it doesn’t always hit as hard as Bowen dressing as international symbol Moo Deng.
If you go and find the weird stuff that’s a little more out there and like a little bit more risk-taking, it’s there. I guess it just doesn’t get the same kind of like response.
Intriguingly, it might be time for Bowen Yang to get out there and explore some fruit that’s higher up in those branches soon. The rumor mill had him pegged to be exiting through the gift shop in Season 51, but that was not the cast. SNL let go cast members including Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, and Michael Longfellow and kept longstanding players many assumed would exit like Yang, Colin Jost and Michael Che.
Yang joined the show in 2018 and landed repertory status in Season 47, but his career has boomed with roles in The Wedding Banquet and the new flick Wicked: For Good, as well as his work with his podcast and other opportunities. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear the news he’ll be moving on at some point sooner or later, but I’ll take whatever I can get in the meantime, inanimate object or no.