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Bowen Yang is addressing the reason he decided to leave Saturday Night Live midway through season 51.
While speaking with Rachel Sennott for Variety & CNN Actors on Actors in a new interview published Monday, the comedian said he felt sure that he was going to leave the iconic sketch comedy show at the end of season 50, in part because he felt like the “seasoning” in the show’s iconic skits.
“There was a lot of uncertainty about what the show would look like after season 50,” Yang, 35, recalled. “I was like, ‘I think the show is in a great place without me.’ I never like I was that central to it, to be honest.”
He said: “I feel like there was a weird utility to me. I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve accepted this.’ I never played the dad or the straight-man teacher. I was always there as the seasoning, and I’m like, ‘That’s great. I’m so lucky. I can’t believe I have a steady job in comedy. I will cherish it for the rest of my life.’ And I just felt like it was the right time.”
However, Yang said he decided to delay his exit when SNL creator Lorne Michaels, who he said was “really good at closings,” called him.
Bowen Yang is speaking about his decision to leave ‘Saturday Night Live’ (AP)
Michaels, who has helmed the late night staple since its start in 1975, told Yang that he had hired a lot of “new kids” — referring to season 51 newcomers Veronika Slowikowska, Ben Marshall, Jeremy Culhane, Kam Patterson and Tommy Brennan — and asked Yang to “set an example” for them by showing them the ropes and staying another few months.
“It was the first time I felt someone who made so many things possible for me being like, ‘I need you,’” Yang explained. “And I’m like, ‘I’m not going to turn that down.’”
The Fire Island actor has previously reflected on playing into a stereotype on SNL on his podcast, Las Culturistas, in January. He said at the time: “People had their over-determinations on what I was, which was: ‘Oh, that’s just the gay Asian guy on SNL.’ So anytime 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 was on the show for seven seasons, throughout which he was nominated for five Emmy Awards for his acting and writing during his time on the show, making him the most-nominated Asian male performer in Emmy history.
He joined the show as a writer in 2018 and went on to become a featured player the following year. Yang announced his exit from the show mid-season in December 2025, with his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande hosting the episode and Cher as the musical guest.