Bowen Yang to leave 'Saturday Night Live' this week

In news we first saw on Deadline, Yang’s final episode will be tomorrow night, in an episode with host Ariana Grande and musical guest Cher. Almost seems like Bowen personally orchestrated those guests. He has been one of the most memeable members of the cast since joining. His Titanic iceberg on Weekend Update remains a favorite, as does his straight man who hooks up with Gina Gershon and Sydney Sweeney, gay Oompa Loompa and George Santos. He also became the first featured player to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy, in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category.

But with renown comes opportunity, and Yang has quickly become one of the more in-demand comedic forces in Hollywood. In addition to roles in Bros and Fire Island, Yang played Pfannee in Wicked and Wicked: For Good. He hosts the Las Culturistas podcast with Matt Rogers, which has been turned into a Bravo awards show. Whatever comes next for Mr. Yang, we can assume it’ll be great.

Bowen Yang’s finale Saturday Night Live will air Saturday, December 20, at the usual 11:30pm timeslot on NBC.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.