Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang opened up to People magazine about his place on the legendary sketch comedy show amid a series of increasingly shocking cast exits in recent weeks.
Speaking to the magazine at a pre-Emmys celebration where he was being honored, Yang said of his decision to stay at Studio 8H, “I’ve always gone by the instinct of: Do I have more to do? And I feel like I do.”
“Even Lorne and I talked about it,” Yang continued, invoking the show’s creator, 80-year-old Lorne Michaels. “Lorne was like, ‘You have more to do,’ and that means a lot. Because I even confessed to him: I was like, ‘I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me.’ And he was like, ‘That’s not true. There’s more for you to do. I need you.’”
“I have to honor that,” said the 34-year-old, who will compete for an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy on Sunday. “That 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.”
Yang was hired as a writer at SNL in 2018 and promoted to a cast member one year later. In 2021, he made TV history when he became the show’s first featured player to be nominated for an acting Emmy when he received his first of four (and counting) nods for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Yang was promoted to repertory player status in 2021, and has since starred in hit films like Fire Island and Wicked. Yang also co-hosts the popular Las Culturistas podcast.
Yang’s comments about his decision to stay for Saturday Night Live‘s upcoming 51st season come after a series of shocking cast exits and announcements. Devon Walker, Emil Wakim, Michael Longfellow, Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim are all leaving the show ahead of the start of its 51st season in October, with several stars, including Longfellow, making it clear that they were fired before they felt ready to leave.
Walker, who said the show could be “toxic as hell,” also decried the “lack of humanity” in how cast reshufflings are conducted, telling Variety, “What ends up happening over the summer is oftentimes people are left hanging with big life decisions” as they wait to hear whether they’ll be invited back for the next season. “A sprinkle of humanity could be added into it,” Walker noted.
Five new cast members were announced amid the shakeups, including Ben Marshall of the writing and digital short trio Please Don’t Destroy. In addition, it was confirmed that Colin Jost and Michael Che will remain on the “Weekend Update” desk.
Other returning cast members include Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Marcello Hernandez, Chloe Fineman, Mikey Day, and Kenan Thompson, who will be entering his 22nd season on the show, making him SNL‘s longest tenured cast member.
The post ‘SNL’ Star Shares Reason for Staying Amid Cast Exodus appeared first on The Daily Beast.
