Photo: Theo Wargo/Peacock
Bowen Yang will be sitting out tonight’s live Saturday Night Live—but he’s got a good excuse.
The seven-season SNL cast member will be in Los Angeles for the 2025 Academy Museum Gala, where the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will honor him alongside Penélope Cruz, Walter Salles, and Bruce Springsteen.
Yang is being awarded the Vantage Award, given to an emerging artist helping to challenge existing, entrenched narratives around film.
Posting to Instagram, Yang wrote, “Missing the show tonight but it will be sooooo fun.” Referring to tonight’s host and musical guest Sabrina Carpenter, he added, “Sab is amazing.”
While Yang won’t be in the studio tonight, he could still appear in a pretaped short, which are typically shot on Thursdays and Fridays.
It will be only the second episode in his run as an SNL cast member where Yang hasn’t been in in Studio 8H for a live show. (The first was the Paul Rudd Christmas episode in Season 47, when the Omicron variant tore through the cast and crew. He was also shut out of Bill Burr’s episode in Season 46 but appeared on stage for the goodnights.)
While the filmed adaptation of Wicked was in production in 2023, Yang flew back and forth weekly between the film’s set in London and New York to maintain his commitment to the show. He later called it a “mentally fraying” experience—but one he wouldn’t trade for anything.
Saturday Night Live airs tonight at 11:30 p.m. ET / 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock. Join us at LateNighter.com immediately after for the Saturday Night Network’s live after-show, where SNL experts and superfans weigh in on the night’s best and worst moments.