Bowen Yang to depart Saturday Night Live mid-season

Bowen Yang, coming off a huge year or two of projects, will depart Saturday Night Live mid-season after tonight's episode hosted by his Wicked pal, 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 favourite, with five Emmy nominations over the years.

An SNL representative wouldn’t comment Friday on Yang’s departure from the New York City-based show. 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.”

Mid-season departures from SNL have happened before. Cecily Strong did it in December 2022.

Yang, 35, appeared with Grande and musical guest Cher in promos for Saturday’s show, going giddy with Grande after a face slap from the iconic If I Could Turn Back Time singer, who won a best-actress Oscar in 1988 for her role in Moonstruck.

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.

Previously, Yang publicly discussed the idea of leaving, telling People magazine in September that he had mulled it over with Lorne Michaels, Toronto-born creator of the NBC sketch comedy show. Yang got a vote of confidence from Michaels and decided to stay at that time.

Yang co-hosts the pop culture podcast Las Culturistas with his friend and fellow comedian Matt Rogers. Yang was in Wicked and Wicked: For Good and co-starred in The Wedding Banquet this year.

The son of Chinese immigrants, Yang was born in Australia and raised in Canada. He holds American and Canadian citizenships.

Yang was Esquire’s recent cover star. In an Oct. 28 interview accompanying his cover shoot, he told the magazine: “There’s an idea that all of what I do is queer and Asian, which I don’t think is true. I get sick of people reducing the work I do on the show to those identifiers.”

Work, he said, “is not the most meaningful thing for me anymore. The things I like are spending time with friends, working every now and then, not being caged by it.”