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NEED TO KNOW
Bowen Yang had a seven-season run on Saturday Night Live
His final sketch aired on the show's Dec. 20 broadcast
He addressed his departure on the latest episode of Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Bowen Yangis looking back at his time onSaturday Night Livewith a smile.
The comedian signed off fromSNLafter a seven-season run with anemotional final sketchfeaturingAriana GrandeandCheron the show's Dec. 20th broadcast.
Afive-time Emmy nominee, Yang becameSNL's first Chinese American cast memberwhen he joined in 2019 and one of its first openly gay stars.
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Three weeks after his final appearance on the show, Yang addressed his departure on the Wednesday, Jan. 7 edition of theLas Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yangpodcast titled "Exit Interview (The Cathartic Episode)."
"This is honestly what's behind it: It's time. You would do seven seasons, and then you would scoot," he said.
Esther Kuhn/NBC via Getty
"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. "I have this very beautiful thing where I get to say that I stayed on exactly as long as I wanted to."
Back in April 2025, Yang told PEOPLE thathe was sure he would leave the show "at some point"but didn't know "what the vision is yet."
"I was maybe unsure about going back in the summer, and I'm so glad I did," Yang said on the podcast.
Saturday Night Live/YouTube
Yang alsoreflected on his final sketch, in which he played a Delta One Lounge employee working his last shift, and revealed he was unsure whether the segment would air.
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"I was like 'there's a million reasons why I could get cut. Nothing is guaranteed,' " he recalled. "Like that is sort of in a nutshell, like it kind of is perfectly like illustrative of what that job is, and it like was resonant all the way through to the end. And I feel, really this word is meaningless, I think maybe now, but like so grateful."
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