Bowen Yang’s Best ‘Saturday Night Live’ Moments

When Sydney Sweeney hosted SNL during season 49, she quickly learned in a pretaped sketch that Yang isn’t gay, but actually straight. Just kidding, but it was a campy bit that saw Yang take on the heteronormative role, as his co-stars joked that he “just plays gay on the show because it’s a shortcut to laughs.” Sweeney has a crush on Yang in the sketch, and is shocked to find out that he’s “straight.”

“Bowen, I didn’t know you were straight,” she told him at one point. “Oh yeah, I’m full hetero,” he replied, which led them to share an intimate moment. But, before Sweeney and Yang hooked up, she asked him, “Wait! Do we need protection?” And Yang replied, “It’s fine. I’m on Prep.” 

Another Weekend Update segment from season 46, Yang addressed the prevalence of anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S. amid the pandemic. He is notably the first Asian American cast member on SNL, and while he shared a few “action items” to combat hate (which jokingly included ways to “amplify these Asian voices who want more Paneras in North Brooklyn,” among others), Yang also addressed the problem in a serious manner in the segment.

Yang shared the story of Xiao Zhen Xie, a 75-year-old woman who was attacked in San Francisco. A GoFundMe was set up to raise almost a million dollars for her, which she vowed to donate back to her community. 

“What can I say to help how insanely bad things are?” he asked. “If someone’s personality is, ‘punch an Asian grandma,’ it’s not a dialogue. I have an Asian grandma, you want to punch her? There ain’t no common ground, mama.”

Yang later recited a Mandarin phrase that means “cheer up,” explaining that he uses it as a motivator amid dark times. He pronounced, “I don’t know what’s helpful to say to everyone, but that’s what I say to myself. Fuel up. Do more. It’s the year of the metal ox, which basically means a car. So everyone, get in, buckle up! It’s no pee breaks! We ride at dawn, grandmas!”

Yang impersonated expelled congressman George Santos a number of times throughout his SNL run, though one of his most memorable times portraying the character came a mere two days after Santos was expelled from Congress in real-time. During an episode on Dec. 2, 2023, Yang’s Santos addressed reporters following his expulsion, where he performed a spoof of “Candle in the Wind.”

“This entire country has been bullying me just because I am a proud gay thief,” Yang’s Santos initially says. “But what else is new? America hates to see a Latina queen winning since the day I was elected. It’s been a witch hunt, but if I’m guilty of anything, it’s for loving too much/fraud.”

Yang’s Santos dedicated the number as a “tribute to myself,” singing, “Goodbye Congress Queen. Oh, they never knew me at all because I lied about everything in my life, and I took a tragic fall… It seems to me like I’ve lived my life like an evil Forrest Gump. I’m the guy who lied even too much for Donald Trump.”

Yang poked fun at the absurdity that can sometimes be a SoulCycle class in this 2019 skit. In his first year as a featured player (he was a writer for the 44th installment before moving onscreen), the instructors attempted to inspire the class members by sharing a wide array of peculiar stories. It was a standout moment for Yang during his first season on SNL, cementing him as a featured player to stay.

Taking advantage of the massive success of Charli XCX’s Brat phenomenon, Yang impersonated the Grammy Award winner in a September 2024 bit. Hosting her very own talk show, called The Talk Talk Show (a play on the title of one of her tracks), Yang’s Charli explained what it meant to be “Brat,” the term that left everyone wondering what it meant to after the real-life singer tweeted “Kamala IS brat” amid the beginning of her 2024 presidential campaign. 

A few weeks later, Charli made her SNL hosting debut, though Yang’s segment about the British star exemplified his pop culture savviness, which has served him extremely well throughout his career and boosted his star quality outside of the sketch comedy series. (Yang leaving SNL = Brat.)

In this sketch, Yang portrayed the beloved viral baby pygmy hippo, Moo Deng, though he really wasn’t impersonating the animal at all. Instead, it was Chappell Roan that Yang was somewhat impersonating, who at the time was speaking out against the pressures she’d experienced from a quick rise to fame.

“For the past 10 weeks, I have been going nonstop. Running around, eating lettuce, trying to bite the water from a hose,” Yang’s Moo Deng said.  “Reminder, women owe you nothing. When I’m in my enclosure tripping over stuff, biting my trainer’s knee, I am at work. Do not yell my name or expect a photo just because I’m your parasocial bestie or because you appreciate my talent.”

Jost pointed out the parallels between Yang’s Moo Deng and Roan, noting, “I have to say, Moo Deng, your our life sounds a lot like Chappell Roan’s lately. Do you know Chappell Roan?” 

“I’m 10 weeks old, Colin. Of course, I know Chappell Roan. And by the way, leave her alone. Let her take as much time as she needs for her mental health,” he said. “This is what society does. It puts young women on pedestals only to knock them down with shellfish.”