NEW YORK — Bowen Yang, coming off a huge year or two of projects, will depart ‘’SNL’’ mid-season after Saturday’s episode hosted by his ‘’Wicked’’ buddy Ariana Grande.
He joined the show as a writer in 2018, became a featured player the following season and was promoted to the main cast two seasons after that. Yang was a fan favorite with five Emmy nominations over the years.
A ‘’Saturday Night Live’’ representative wouldn’t comment Friday on Yang’s departure. His representatives didn’t respond to email requests for comment.
In an Instagram post Saturday, Yang wrote: ‘’i loved working at SNL, and most of all i loved the people. 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.’’
The 35-year-old Yang appeared with Grande and musical guest Cher in promos for Saturday’s show, going giddy with Grande after a face slap from Cher.
Word of Yang’s departure came after a major exodus of cast members last summer ahead of the Oct. 4 start of Season 51. They included Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and John Higgins.
The news wasn’t entirely a surprise. Yang had publicly discussed the idea, telling People in September he had mulled it over with the NBC sketch comedy show’s creator Lorne Michaels. He got a vote of confidence from Michaels and decided to stay at that time.
‘’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,’’’ Yang said.
