Bowen Yang Vows to Retire One of SNL’s Favorite Tropes

If Bowen Yang has his way on Saturday Night Live this year, we won’t be seeing him play any more icebergs, drones, or Chinese spy balloons.

Appearing on WTF with Marc Maron this week, the SNL star all but confirmed that he’ll be back for Season 51—though it sounds like he’s finished with one of the show’s go-to tropes for him.

“I can tell you—breaking news—I never want to play a f*cking inanimate object ever again,” Yang told Maron.

“I don’t want to really go for the low-hanging ‘gay male’ fruit,” he added.

“But it’s kind of what, sometimes—I don’t want to blame anybody—but it feels like it’s what people internally want me to do,” Yang explained. “And I try to push back on it as much as I can. If you go and find the weird stuff that’s a little more out there… it’s there. I guess it just doesn’t get the same kind of response.”

Asked how SNL creator Lorne Michaels responds to his push to avoid those tropes, Yang told Maron that Michaels’ priority is simply making the show work.

“I think Lorne just wants it to be a good show for everybody, no matter what,” Yang said. “Every episode, he really wants it to just be the best show. He’s that kind of impresario person.”

During the conversation, Yang also admitted to some ambivalence about his continued presence on SNL. “I can feel the audience getting sick of me. I can feel things just kind of, like, turning,” he said.

Yang joined SNL as a writer in 2018 and became a cast member the following year. Earlier this summer, he received his fourth Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, making him the most-nominated Asian male performer in Emmy history.