“Saturday Night time Reside” fan favourite Bowen Yang introduced on Instagram that he’s departing the present after tonight’s episode hosted by his “Depraved” co-star Ariana Grande.
“I liked working at SNL, and most of all i liked the individuals,” he wrote.
Yang went on to specific gratitude to the present and everybody concerned.
“i’m grateful for each minute of my time there,” he mentioned.
“thanks to ari for sending me off within the dreamiest method i might think about,” he later added.
The comic joined the present as a author in 2018 throughout its forty fourth season. He was added to the forged in 2019, turning into the present’s first Asian forged member.
He shortly turned one of many present’s breakout stars, showing in a number of sketches per episode. His standard imitations included Rep. George Santos, photographer Fran Lebowitz and “Brat” artist Charli XCX. He additionally cosplayed as viral pygmy hippo Moo Deng and the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
“SNL” airs on NBC, a division of NBCUniversal, which can be the mother or father firm of NBC Information.
In a promo for Saturday’s episode that was posted to social media on Thursday, Yang seems alongside musical artist Cher and host Ariana Grande, with whom he labored on “Depraved.”
“SNL” marked a significant milestone earlier this yr with a star-studded fiftieth anniversary particular, which aired on NBC and Peacock in February.
The long-running Lorne Michaels-helmed sketch comedy present underwent one other routine shake-up lately, with a number of forged members, together with Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Devon Walker, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim, exiting earlier this yr.
Yang, who co-hosts a well-liked podcast referred to as “Las Culturistas” with comic and actor Matt Rogers, mentioned in September that he had spoken to Michaels about presumably leaving, however determined to not.
“I’ve all the time passed by the intuition of, do I’ve extra to do? And I really feel like I do,” Yang mentioned in an interview with Folks journal revealed in September, when requested about Season 51. “Even Lorne and I talked about it, and Lorne was like, ‘You may have extra to do,’ and which means quite a bit, as a result of I even confessed to him. I used to be like, ‘I really feel the viewers is possibly getting sick of me.’ And he was like, ‘That’s not true. There’s extra so that you can do. I want you.’”
At this yr’s Emmys awards, held in September, Michaels addressed the latest forged modifications.
“The present has all the time introduced individuals in from totally different ages and totally different generations, and it’s the way it revives itself,” Michaels instructed Leisure Tonight in an interview on the crimson carpet. “It’s all the time laborious when individuals depart however there’s a time for that and our audiences all the time stayed comparatively younger and extra so now with TikTok, and alter is nice. And the individuals we’re bringing in I’m actually enthusiastic about.”
It is a creating story. Please test again for updates.
