Bowen Yang has been tuning into Saturday Night Live following his surprise exit from the sketch comedy show in December 2025.
While speaking to People magazine in February 2026, Yang said that he "was watching" the first episode of season 51's second half, which aired on January 17.
"I was getting texts from old coworkers, just saying hi and that the train was still running and a mutual missing of each other," said Yang, who wrote forSNL for a year before starring on the series.
The Las Culturistas podcast co-host then explained that watching SNL following his exit “feels very strange” because he no longer has a sense of levity about the show's sketches.
“To not know what the process is from soup to nuts with the whole week is alleviating. The emotional baggage of it has been lifted for me. So just watching the sketches every week these past three shows have been great,” said the Wicked star while speaking to People.
In addition, he said this new chapter away from SNL is "bizarre, but ultimately fun."
"I don't want to believe that it's totally bizarre to me, but it's obviously an adjustment,” said Yang during the interview.
He also said that he does occasionally feel pangs of wanting to be back on the sketch comedy show.
“Now I'm getting [feelings] like, ‘Oh, it would've been fun to do a sketch with Teyana Taylor or Alexander Skarsgård,” said Yang.
Yang addressed his departure from SNL in a December 20 Instagram upload. In the caption of the post, Yang said he enjoyed "working at SNL" for seven years and "loved" his castmates.
"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," wrote Yang in the caption. "i’m grateful for every minute of my time there. 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."
In addition, Yang expressed gratitude for his friends, co-workers, fans, and the different SNL hosts he's worked with over his seven seasons on the show. In addition, he thanked the show's creator and executive producer, Lorne Michaels.
"thank you to lorne for the job. for the standard. and for bringing everyone at work together. they all care deeply about people in the room, any room, enjoying themselves. i can’t believe i was ever included in that," stated Yang in his Instagram post.
Bowen Yang Said 'SNL' Helped Balance Fame
In a December 2025 interview with Esquire, Yang shared that he believed starring on SNL helped him balance out fame. He explained that he believes "fame makes you a little bit too passive in life."
"I think you expect things to come to you. I think you expect things to happen and to work at a place like SNL is, I think the perfect counterweight to that because you have to be a self-starter," said Yang during his Esquire interview.
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