Bowen Yang is exiting Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the middle of his eighth season on the iconic sketch comedy show.
His final episode as a cast member will be this Saturday’s episode, hosted by his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande with Cher as musical guest, Variety reports.
Yang, 35, joined SNL for the first time as a member of the writing staff in September 2018, prior to the 44th season of the show. He joined the cast for the 45th season of the show a year later. The comedian teased an exit from SNL during an interview with People back in April.
He stated at the time, “With SNL, like I said, it’s this growing, living thing where new people come in and you do have to sort of make way for them, grow, and keep elevating themselves.” “And that inevitably necessitates me to sort of hang it up at some point,” the author continued, “but I don’t know what the vision is yet.” In 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025, Yang was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on SNL. He was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2019. Yang becomes the latest cast member to leave midseason following Cecily Strong, who left the show in December 2022 during Season 48. The announcement of Yang’s exit follows a major shakeup with several SNL stars revealing their departures from the hit series in September.
In a post on Instagram, Devon Walker addressed his departure after three seasons, writing, “Me and baby broke up.” Walker’s post was followed by the announcement that Ego Nwodim, Emil Wakim, Michael Longfellow and Heidi Gardner will also not be returning to the show.
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