Bowen Yang discusses his Saturday evening live run and why he left after seven years.
During the January 7 episode of his Las Culturistas podcast, Bowen reflected on the reason he left the comedy show, saying, “This is honestly what’s behind it. It’s time. Like, you would do seven seasons and then run away.”
“COVID and the current media landscape, the current entertainment ecosystem is so turbulent that people have perfectly valid reasons to stay longer or, in many cases, don’t have the privilege to stay as long as they would like,” he added.
“I have a really nice thing where I can say that I stayed exactly as long as I wanted. Maybe, I’m sure – and I’ve said this before – maybe I wasn’t sure about going back in the summer and I’m so glad I did,” he added.
Bowen joined in SNL back in 2018 as a writer and became a cast member the following year.
On December 19, it was announced that the beloved cast member would be leaving the show.
He confirmed it with an Instagram statement the next day, writing, “I loved working at SNL, and most of all, I loved the people. I was there at a time when a lot of things in the world were starting to seem pointless, but working at 30 Rock taught me the value of still showing up when people make it worth it.”
“I’m grateful for every minute of my time there. I learned about myself (bad with wigs). I learned about others (generous, vulnerable, hot). I learned that human error can only be correct. I learned that comedy is mostly logistics and that most of the time it will fail until it doesn’t, which is for the best,” he added.
