As Bowen Yang’s Star Grows, ‘Saturday Night Live’ Has Never Felt More Like Home

Bowen Yang’s Saturday Night Live Emmy nomination landed on a day that started off quite uneventfully. He had spent the morning journaling and folding laundry.

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“It was a very sweet moment that coexisted with my boring, quotidian lifestyle,” Yang says of the instant he received the news via text from his team. But as he speaks, his life seems far from dull — in addition to SNL , he co-hosts the GLAAD and iHeart­Radio Award-winning podcast Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and later this year will appear as Pfannee in the much-anticipated first installment of the two-part feature Wicked .

The schedule seems grueling, but Yang is quite calm. “I just front-load the week,” he says. Mondays and Tuesdays are for Las Culturistas , then he heads to SNL ’s table read Wednesday. When he was shooting Wicked , he flew to London on Sundays, after SNL , and then returned for the next week’s show by the following Wednesday. Wash, rinse, repeat!

“ SNL ends up being this home base,” he says of all the movement. “I’m not too rattled by the different hats I put on because each hat feels very well-worn at this point. And I probably wouldn’t have this comfort had it not been for working at SNL .”

This year’s Emmys nod is Yang’s fourth overall, his third for acting. But, just as well-worn hats are likely to be well-loved, this one feels more special.

“I feel more grateful this year,” Yang says. “I feel like things were reset with the strikes. There was this really truncated, unresolved feeling to [season 48] when the strikes happened and no one had a chance to say goodbye, and we didn’t reflect on the season. This year we got to look back on two full seasons of stuff, and it’s been a very sentimental, interesting process.”

SNL cut its season 48 short when the writers and actors strikes halted Hollywood production last summer. Upon their return for season 49, Yang knocked it out of the park — the “Bowen’s Straight” pretape with Sydney Sweeney, the George Santos cold open and the “Doctor” sketch with Ryan Gosling were some of his favorites.

As he reviews his own work, though, the comedian can’t help but stop and celebrate that of his peers as well (especially the viral “Beavis and Butt-head” with Gosling and Mikey Day). “I’m going to go so far as to say that me being recognized in this category is a great reflection on the whole cast,” he says. “We’re only as good as the whole ensemble.”

SNL nabbed four nominations for this year’s ceremony, further cementing its place as the most Emmy-nominated program of all time, with 341.

“I’m constantly reminded of how special the show is,” Yang says. “We have all these opportunities to bring a comedic idea to its full creative fulfillment, and we’re so lucky. It’s kind of the only live show left where people tune in as it happens.”

Famous for its stronghold on Saturday nights, the Lorne Michaels-headed series is preparing for its 50th anniversary celebration next year, with many dying for the details of what the big party will look like.

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“What’s funny is, like, even internally, no one really knows,” Yang says. “It’s still this beautiful fantasy in Lorne’s head. We’re going to find out, along with everybody else.”

Whatever the celebration looks like, Yang is confident there will be some sort of “eye toward what’s next,” which also begs the question: After half a century of SNL , where does the world of sketch comedy go next?

“TikTok and all these new kinds of media that are immediately gratifying and consumable are wonderful for people, it has democratized a lot of things,” Yang says. “But it also gives SNL even more of this unique, triangulated identity. It’s more disposable than other television, but it can also be slightly more canonized than a lot of Internet stuff. It’s like the overlap of the Venn diagram between those two things, and it’s very nimble.”

Season 50 will be Yang’s seventh with SNL , his sixth as a castmember after initially coming on board as a writer. The job, perhaps one of the most open to ridicule in the industry, has come with its struggles, but Yang says he’s past that.

“I went through something last year where I really kind of bottomed out with that idea,” he says. “Since then, it’s been this really lovely, holistic view of things, and I’m very proud of what I’ve done on the show.”

Recently, on his podcast, Yang referred to SNL as “the cringiest thing in show business.” But the catch is, the cringe is what keeps him coming back.

“There is this cultural thing making fun of, let’s say, a ‘theater kid,’ but theater kids have ultimately overcome this part of their ego where they know it’s a little bit embarrassing,” Yang says. “There’s this fear of looking stupid that is holding people back [that is] a necessary seasoning in terms of comedy, in terms of working at SNL .”

It’s been a journey since he first began work at 30 Rock. “Going in for my first screen test, it was completely vulnerable,” he says. “I knew nobody was going to laugh — that’s the legend of the SNL screen test, no one laughs — I remember walking away from that first audition, and going, ‘Well, I’m not nervous. I will never be nervous ever again.’”

Hyperbolic? Maybe, but Yang says it’s still true. “My moments of nervousness have just been exclusive to SNL . Anywhere outside of SNL , I’m kind of cool as a cucumber.”

This story first appeared in the Aug. 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe .

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