Bowen Yang recently got deeper into his exit from Saturday Night Live, and shared that he would've left a lot sooner had it not been for a phone call from Lorne Michaels. As the sketch comedy is on hiatus ahead of returning to the 2026 TV schedule in the fall, Yang explained his mid-season exit was part of mentoring the next batch of young stars.
The comedian appeared alongside Rachel Sennott on Variety's Actors On Actors series. Sennott asked Bowen Yang to go into his exit on SNL, and he obliged, talking about the circumstances surrounding the situation and that he did plan on leaving before his midseason exit in Season 51:
I was kind of resolute the season before, about leaving. There was a lot of uncertainty about what the show would look like after Season 50. I was like, 'I think the show is in a great place without me.' I never felt like I was that central to it, to be honest. Well, I feel like there was a weird utility to me. I was like, 'OK, 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.
Bowen Yang has talked a lot about being pushed into roles where he played a gay male stereotype or even an inanimate object. Sure, he was in his feelings about leaving, but it seems clear from these comments that he felt like he'd gotten all he could get out of Saturday Night Live, and it was time to move on.
Yang needed a reason to stay, and it came to him with a call from Lorne Michaels. As he explained, Lorne wanted him to stay on for just a while longer so he could mentor a bunch of incoming writers and cast members. He got into it below:
Lorne [Michaels] called me while I was at the U.S. Open eating Coqodaq chicken, and he was like, 'Listen, you should come back. These are the people I’ve hired. It’s a lot of new kids, and a lot of people left. You should be there to set an example for them, at least in the first half of the season. I’m telling you, it would be very important.' It was the first time I felt someone who made so many things possible for me being like, 'I need you.' And I’m like, 'I’m not going to turn that down.' I felt good about it, and I was like, 'Let’s make sure to hire these writers.' Our friend Jack Bensinger is there now. It was my one chance to till the soil.
The comedian was given a chance to leave his mark on Saturday Night Live, and he ran with it. Bowen Yang has already complimented the cast on how they've done after his departure. And now, in hindsight, I have to wonder if that was a sly way of crediting himself for the people he helped train for the moment.
Since leaving Saturday Night Live, he's found continued success with his Las Culturistas Podcast, and remains working on other projects and movies in the meantime. I'm eager to see his continued success, and wonder if we'll eventually get to see him return to SNL at one point as a host. Maybe then he won't have to play an inanimate object!
SNL is rolling strong into Season 52, with some newcomers like Jeremy Culhane already making a big splash with the audience. It feels like the late-night sketch comedy series is the strongest it's been in years, and credit to Bowen Yang and many others for bringing it back into the limelight and making late-night television relevant at a time that time slot needs any win it can get.
Expect to see Saturday Night Live back on NBC's schedule in the fall, and check out previous episodes over on Peacock. As for Bowen Yang, we've got an eye on the things he's up to, and can't wait to see what he'll be doing over the next year and beyond.
