Bowen Yang hopes his days of playing JD Vance on “Saturday Night Live” can soon end.
During a recent appearance on “The Daily Show,” Yang, who first portrayed the vice president in an October 2024 episode, said that he has begged “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels to have somebody else play the role of Vance on the prolific late-night sketch show.
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“Lorne asked me [to play JD Vance] and, I said, ‘Please, please, please don’t make me do this,’” Yang told “Daily Show” pundit Desi Lydic. “I really do my best with him, but every time I have to play him, I go to Lorne and I say, ‘You can do a buyback, You don’t have to stick with me.’”
The “Wicked” actor continued, “Please reach out to Zach Galifianakis. Please reach out to Taran Killam. But no, that’s my charge.”
Part of the reason why it is so “challenging” to play Vance, according to Yang, is his very specific midwest accent. Yang said he worked with an accent coach to help him nail down the Ohio-state twang.
“You know what, I worked with an accent coach,” Yang said. “We had to find the middle between Appalachian and Ohio. We really had to find the right [voice]. I was like, ‘I don’t want to screw this up.’”
Yang first debuted as Vance in a star-studded sketch filled with “SNL” alumni. Appearing alongside Yang were Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris, Dana Carvey as Joe Biden and Andy Samberg as Douglas Emhoff. The sketch also featured Jim Gaffigan as Tim Walz and James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump.
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The post ‘Please Reach Out to Zach Galifianakis’ appeared first on Variety.
