Bowen Yang says he left 'Saturday Night Live' due to 'a lot of uncertainty'

Bowen Yang recently talked about his decision to disassociate himself from Saturday Night Live last year.

Yang appeared on CNN and Variety’s Actors on Actors series on Monday, June 8, where he opened up about why he left Saturday Night Live in December after doing seven seasons.

He told host Rachel Sennott, "I was kind of resolute the season before about leaving. There was a lot of uncertainty about what the show would look like after season 50.”

“I was like, 'I think the show is in a great place without me.' I never felt like I was that central to it, to be honest,” the Las Culturistas podcast host admitted.

Sennott completely disagreed with Yang’s remarks, but he always felt "there was a weird utility to me" on the show.

"I was like, 'Okay, I’ve accepted this.' I never played the dad or the straight-man teacher. I was always there as the seasoning, and I’m like, 'That’s great. I’m so lucky. I can’t believe I have a steady job in comedy. I will cherish it for the rest of my life,'" the Wicked star explained.

"I just felt like it was the right time,” he said of his decision to depart the show.

"And then Lorne [Michaels] called me while I was at the U.S. Open eating Coqodaq chicken, and he was like, 'Listen, you should come back. These are the people I’ve hired. It’s a lot of new kids, and a lot of people left. You should be there to set an example for them, at least in the first half of the season. I’m telling you, it would be very important,’” Yang recalled, referring to the Saturday Night Live creator.

Notably, it was the first time The Wedding Banquet star “felt someone who made so many things possible for me being like, 'I need you.’”

"I’m like, 'I’m not going to turn that down.' I felt good about it, and I was like, 'Let’s make sure to hire these writers.’ Our friend Jack Bensinger is there now. It was my one chance to till the soil,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention that Bowen Yang, who became part of Saturday Night Live as the first Chinese American cast member in 2019, did his final show on December 20, 2025.