A little over 12 hours ahead of his Saturday Night Live swan song, Bowen Yang shared some heartfelt words about his seven-plus years on the iconic sketch comedy series.
His missive ran alongside a slideshow of photos and video clips, including his SNL headshot on the production office wall; a BTS snap of his “Weekend Update” debut as the iceberg that sunk the Titanic; a candid of Grande; and a selfie taken outside the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
LateNighter was among the first to report on Friday that Yang will wrap his SNL run this weekend, with the show’s Christmas episode/final 2025 outing, hosted by his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande and featuring musical guest Cher.
“I loved working at SNL, and most of all i loved the people,” Yang shared Saturday morning on Instagram (see below). Having started out as a writer in September 2018, during the second year of Donald Trump’s first presidency, “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.”
“I’m grateful for every minute of my time there,” Yang continued. “I learned about myself (bad with wigs). i learned about others (generous, vulnerable, hot). i learned that human error can be nothing but correct. i learned that comedy is mostly logistics and that it will usually fail until it doesn’t, which is the besssst.”
Yang, who has been a featured player since Season 44, went on to issue dozens of thank yous to fellow castmates, present and past, as well as the series’ crew and the NBC pages. He then wrote to his Wicked films co-star, “thank you to ari for sending me off in the dreamiest way i could imagine.”
In closing, Yang thanked SNL creator Lorne Michaels “for the job. for the standard. and for bringing everyone at work together,: adding: “they all care deeply about people in the room, any room, enjoying themselves. i can’t believe i was ever included in that.
“The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready,” he said in closing, evoking a famous Michaels quote, “but shiiiiit, i hope i am.”
Read Bill Carter’s thoughts on Bowen Yang’s SNL legacy.
