"I know about working through cringe" — Bowen Yang on working at Saturday Night Live but says he is "eternally grateful"

Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang revealed that working on the comedy show is like "climbing a cringe mountain." During Wednesday's, July 24, 2024, episode of the Las Culturistas podcast, Yang and co-host Matt Rogers discussed why one must push through feelings like awkwardness and embarrassment to reach their goals.

While discussing the 2024 presidential race, Rogers explained,

"In the grand scheme of things its the just nice to feel that there is a path forward and its nice to feel like on the other side off all this cringe there is gonna be nirvana."

As Matt continued to elaborate, Yang interrupted his co-host to add,

"B*tch... I know about working through cringe, climbing a cringe mountain, I work at Saturday f*cking Night Live, the cringiest thing in show business on every level."

Bowen Yang began working for the live sketch-comedy show in September 2018 (44th season). He initially joined as a staff writer and got promoted to the on-air cast the next season. Since 2018, he has appeared in 76 episodes and written for 21.

---

"Defining thing of my life and career," — Bowen Yang expresses gratitude for being a part of the show

Despite his feelings, Bowen Yang is grateful to be a part of the show. He stated,

"Eternally grateful that I work there, will be the defining thing of my life and career, and yet it is a cringe mountain because to live through working at SNL."

Yang reasons that after people's constant criticism of the show, he has reached a point where he doesn't care.

"People constantly tell you how much it sucks, how bad it is, how it’s not as good as it used to be, for your career — that has to do something to you psychologically where you emerge and go, 'I don’t give a f*ck."

Matt Rogers wondered if his co-hosts felt like that because of their costumes and wigs. Yang promptly asserted, "It's a cringey job." However, Roger disagreed, adding that SNL has been running for 50 years, so people are bound to have opinions. He elaborated that the comedy show is "Capital C commercial culture," and thus everyone has something to say.

The actor-comedian seconded Rogers, stating that "comedy was subjective." Despite his criticism of the show, Bowen Yang is a dedicated cast member. His work on the show has earned him several Primetime Emmy nominations (including this year) for both his writing and as a supporting actor. He also boasts nominations from the Writers Guild of America.

During his recent interview with Vanity Fair, Bowen Yang expressed he found "healthy comfort" working at SNL. Despite feeling privileged to work there, the actor initially got stressed, but now writing and being on-air, "it's part of his charge."

---

Bowen Yang has not publicly shared any other updates on the subject.