Light up the candles: We’ve got a new SNL milestone to celebrate.
Tonight’s Saturday Night Live marks Bowen Yang’s 100th episode on the legendary sketch show.
That’s according to Jon Schneider and Mike Murray of The Saturday Night Network, LateNighter’s podcast partner.
First hired to SNL’s writing staff in September 2018, Yang joined the cast a year later as a featured player on the show for its 45th season.
Yang’s first sketch appearance came at the top of that season’s first episode, on September 28th, 2019, in a cold open that imagined then-President Trump on the phone with various friends and family. Yang played Kim Jong-un.
Congratulations to Bowen Yang, who celebrates his 100th SNL episode tonight. Here's his first-ever sketch appearance from September 28th, 2019. Full story: https://t.co/jXM2IfVURG pic.twitter.com/UdYlgYrndU
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) October 20, 2024
Yang made his SNL debut the same night as Chloe Fineman, who celebrated her 100th episode last week. (Yang was absent for one episode in Season 47 due to a Covid outbreak at the show, which is why Fineman’s anniversary precedes his.)
Over his five-plus seasons on Saturday Night Live, Yang has become one of the show’s most celebrated cast members, earning three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, most recently this past September.
Known for his wry yet absurdist comic sensibility, some of his memorable characters haven’t even been human—including The Spotted Laternfly, The Chinese Spy Balloon, The Iceberg That Sank the Titanic, Moo Deng, and George Santos (we kid).
The SNL cast member has also logged a number of TV roles outside the show over the years, appearing in Girls5Eva, The Other Two, and Awkwafina is Nora From Queens. His film roles include Fire Island and Bros, both released in 2022, and he plays Pfannee in the upcoming movie adaptation of Wicked, opposite SNL fave Ariana Grande.
Our hearty congratulations to Bowen Yang. Here’s to another 100!
