Bowen Yang, 35, officially left Studio 8H at the end of 2025 after seven seasons on Saturday Night Live, departing the show in the middle of its 51st season right before the December holiday break.
The “Wicked” star opened up on the Jan. 7 episode of his “Las Culturistas” podcast with Matt Rogers about his decision to leave “Saturday Night Live,” saying “This is honestly what’s behind it: It’s time.”
Yang noted “You would do seven seasons, and then you would scoot,” explaining that “COVID and the current media landscape, the current entertainment ecosystem, is so turbulent that people have completely valid reasons for staying longer, or, in a lot of cases, don’t have the privilege of staying on as long as they would like to. I have this very beautiful thing where I get to say that I stayed on exactly as long as I wanted to.”
The comedian had nearly quit earlier.
Yang revealed he was “unsure about going back” for another season over the summer hiatus, but he’s “so glad” he returned for the fall.
During a June 8 interview on Variety and CNN’s “Actors on Actors” series, Yang said “I never felt like I was that central to it, to be honest. I feel like there was a weird utility to me. I never played the dad or the straight-man teacher. I was always there as the seasoning.”
But after coming to terms with the belief that SNL would be in “a great place” without him, the 35-year-old got a call from creator Lorne Michaels to return for half of the 51st season in order to “set an example” for the show’s newest cast members.
Yang felt audiences had typecast him.
He explained on the podcast that people had “over-determinations” on what he was, saying “Oh, that’s just the gay Asian guy on SNL. Any time I would try to work outside of that, it got completely ignored or it still got collapsed to, ‘Oh, he’s being gay and Asian as always.'”
Yang felt he came in as a pre-painted character rather than a blank canvas, which led to a lot of people believing that he was predictable and one-note.
On his podcast, Yang added “I think range is a myth and it’s all about palatability, whether you’re getting taxed on it or you are subsidised.”
Yang confirmed his exit on Dec. 20 ahead of the show’s Christmas episode, which allowed the SNL winter finale to serve as a send-off for him.
The episode included a meta sketch where Yang played an airport employee on his last shift, with his character getting emotional about saying goodbye to his job and the people he has worked with, and he was joined by musical guest Cher and host Ariana Grande, his “Wicked” costar.
Yang reflected on what broke him during the sketch, saying “The thing I love most about this place is the people. Look how hard they work. I’m between Ariana Grande and Cher, and I look out, and it’s basically every single person who works at that show.”
In his Instagram announcement, Yang wrote “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready, but s–t, I hope i am” and “I loved working at SNL, and most of all I loved the people.”
Yang’s Instagram caption read “I loved working at SNL, and most of all I loved the people. 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.”
Now Yang’s focus shifts to film and podcast work.
Yang and Rogers — co-hosts of the popular podcast Las Culturistas, as well as the Las Culturistas Culture Awards — are co-writing and will co-star in an untitled new comedy for Searchlight, with the film inspired by “Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain?”, a multi-part episode of the podcast Search Engine, about two Americans who fly across an ocean to try to get into Berghain, the most exclusive nightclub in the world.
Yang and Rogers reunite with Searchlight after starring in Fire Island, their critically acclaimed 2022 queer rom-com from Andrew Ahn which went straight to Hulu.
The New York University graduate has a voice role in the upcoming Cat in the Hat movie.
The Cat in the Hat is an upcoming American animated fantasy comedy film, releasing November 6, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, starring Bill Hader and Bowen Yang among others.