an Instagram post Saturday<\/a>, Yang wrote: \u201ci 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.\u201d<\/p>\nYang, coming off a huge year or two of projects, departed \u201cSNL\u201d mid-season.<\/p>\n
Grande helped kick off Saturday\u2019s show with a parody of \u201cAll I Want for Christmas is You\u201d about buying gifts for people you barely know during her opening monologue. Yang slid onto the stage to huge cheers and helped her complete the song.<\/p>\n
The friends appeared together often during the show, including a dance class sketch and a pre-recorded \u201cHome Alone\u201d sketch in which the McCallister family meet violent ends from Kevin\u2019s leftover traps.<\/p>\n
Word of Yang\u2019s departure came after a major exodus of cast members last summer ahead Season 51\u2019s start. They included Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and John Higgins.<\/p>\n
The news wasn\u2019t entirely a surprise. Yang had publicly discussed the idea, telling People in September he had mulled it over with the NBC sketch comedy show\u2019s creator Lorne Michaels. He got a vote of confidence from Michaels and decided to stay at that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cLorne was like, \u2018You have more to do,\u2019 and that means a lot, because I even confessed to him. I was like, \u2018I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me.\u2019 And he was like, \u2018That\u2019s not true. There\u2019s more for you to do. I need you,\u2019\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n
Of Michaels, Yang added: \u201cThat man has changed my life, and I owe a lot of my life to that show. And I love working there. The people are the best. I really love each of them so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to \u201cSNL,\u201d Yang co-hosts the pop culture podcast \u201cLas Culturistas\u201d with his friend and fellow comedian Matt Rogers. He was in \u201cWicked\u201d and \u201cWicked: For Good\u201d as Pfannee and co-starred in the remade \u201cThe Wedding Banquet\u201d this year.<\/p>\n
In 2023, he appeared in \u201cDicks: The Musical\u201d and \u201cFire Island\u201d the year before that. He also co-starred in \u201cAwkwafina is Nora from Queens\u201d from 2020 to 2023.<\/p>\n
Yang and Rogers hosted the spoof Las Culturista Culture Awards on Bravo last summer. Yang posted on Instagram that the two will be back for more pop culture comedy on the awards next year.<\/p>\n
Mid-season departures from \u201cSNL\u201d are not unprecedented. Cecily Strong did it in December 2022.<\/p>\n
Among the bits that earned Yang breakout status was his turn as the Titanic iceberg on the recurring \u201cWeekend Update\u201d segment, his favorite place on the show, according to an October interview with Esquire. He also played George Santos, a straight man who hooks up with Gina Gershon and Sydney Sweeney, and a gay Oompa Loompa. And he spoofed Vice President JD Vance.<\/p>\n
Yang made a final \u201cWeekend Update\u201d appearance alongside former \u201cSNL\u201d cast member Aidy Bryant, playing characters who offered viewers tips on what trends are in and which are out for the holidays and 2026.<\/p>\n
Yang, the son of Chinese immigrants, was Esquire\u2019s recent cover star. In an Oct. 28 interview accompanying his cover shoot, he told the magazine: \u201cThere\u2019s an idea that all of what I do is queer and Asian, which I don\u2019t think is true. I get sick of people reducing the work I do on the show to those identifiers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Work, he said, \u201cis not the most meaningful thing for me anymore. The things I like are spending time with friends, working every now and then, not being caged by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yang noted some advice he once received from Kristen Wiig when she hosted \u201cSNL.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was like, \u2018Have fun. It\u2019s the most fun job in the world, and you\u2019ll miss it when it\u2019s done. You won\u2019t realize how much you miss it until you leave.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n