Lorne Michaels wanted Bowen Yang to stay on 'Saturday Night Live' — but here’s why the 35-year-old comedian was ready to leave after seven seasons. 'SNL' insiders shared with Page Six a variety of reasons, including Yang being 'overcommitted' outside the show.
“This is honestly what’s behind it. It’s time,” Yang said. “Like, you would do seven seasons and then you would scoot.”“COVID and the current media landscape, the current entertainment ecosystem is so turbulent that people have completely valid reasons for staying longer or in a lot of cases, don’t have the privilege of staying on as long as they would like to,” he continued.
David Harbour unexpectedly quits new movie due to being 'overwhelmed' by 'Stranger Things' wrapThe Emmy nominee added, “I have this very beautiful thing where I get to say that I stayed on exactly as long as I wanted to. Maybe, I’m sure — and I’ve said this before — I was maybe unsure about going back in the summer and I’m so glad I did.”— in which he played a Delta employee finishing his last shift before retirement — could’ve very well been cut from the live show. “Nothing is guaranteed,” Yang explained. “That is, sort of in a nutshell, like, it is perfectly illustrative of what that job is. It was resonant all the way through to the end.”Yang said that he “was sobbing” during the read-through, recalling, “In the sketch, I say, ‘I’ve loved everyone here. I’ve loved every single person who works here.’ Like, I immediately broke down because I was telling the truth.” The “Fire Island” star also got emotional reflecting on the support that he had in Studio 8H for his final episode. “There was like an outpouring. People that I hadn’t heard from. It felt like a really beautiful thing,” he told Rogers, 35, through tears. “Basically everyone who worked there is on the floor showing up. I just looked out and I thought, ‘I’m so lucky that I ever got to work here.’ And I’m so lucky that I get to make this little statement that’s barely veiled, where I’m like, ‘I love you all.’ I’m so lucky.”Elsewhere during the podcast episode, Yang called working on the NBC show “one of the most meaningful experiences I will ever have,” and said that the job taught him “how to work under what seems like an immense amount of pressure.”“I loved working at SNL, and most of all i loved the people,” he began his message. “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.” Yang continued, I”m grateful for every minute of my time there. i learned about myself . i learned about others . i learned that human error can be nothing but correct. i learned that comedy is mostly logistics and that it will usually fail until it doesn’t, which is the besssst.”“They all care deeply about people in the room, any room, enjoying themselves,” Yang said. “I can’t believe i was ever included in that.”Ringleader of $250M Minn. welfare fraud scandal ordered by judge to forfeit Porsche, luxury goodsJennifer Aniston declares her iconic hair is ‘fake’‘Jack Ryan’ Clip From 2019 Goes Viral For Predicting Venezuela Would Be A “Major Threat On The World Stage” Amid 2026 U.S. InvasionRosalind O'Connor/NBC via Getty Images
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Matt Rogers Reflects on Bowen Yang Leaving 'SNL' After Almost 8 YearsDrew Weisholtz is a reporter for TODAY Digital, focusing on pop culture, nostalgia and trending stories. He has seen every episode of “Saved by the Bell” at least 50 times, longs to perfect the crane kick from “The Karate Kid” and performs stand-up comedy, while also cheering on the New York Yankees and New York Giants.
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