Bowen Yang signed off from his seven-year Saturday Night Live run with an emotional final sketch featuring his friend Ariana Grande and musical guest Cher.
Yang played a Delta One Lounge employee working his last shift on Christmas Eve, in parallel to his own final outing on the show Saturday night (20 December).
Seconds into the scene, Yang fought back tears as his character told Delta Lounge customers that he would be leaving his beloved festive egg-nog stand. The show’s celebrity host, Ariana Grande, played his elderly wife who comes to visit him at work on his final day.
Yang broke down in tears as he sang about his job while performing the 1960 song “Please Come Home for Christmas” by Charles Brown, as a duet with Grande.
“I just feel so lucky that I ever got to work here, and I just wanted to enjoy it for a little bit longer,” said Yang to Grande. “Especially the people. I’ve loved every single person who works here, because they’ve done so much for me, especially my boss.”
Cher, who performed Christmas songs including “Run Rudolph Run” on the programme, then appeared onstage as Yang’s boss, the “CEO of Eggnog at Delta.”
Yang said to her, “Before I go, do you have any feedback for me?” to which Cher replied: “Well, everyone thought you were a little bit too gay. But you know what? You’re perfect for me.”
The trio embraced each other as they continued the song. Grande held back tears as she gripped Yang’s hand.
He finally said: “This place will always be home, but ah, it’s time to go,” as he received a kiss from Grande.
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Yang joined SNL as a writer in 2018 before being promoted to the cast the following year. Some of his most memorable sketches have included him parodying the viral baby hippo Moo Deng, posing as an overzealous spin instructor and impersonating British pop star Charli XCX.
In 2021, he became the first SNL featured player to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Ahead of his final show, Yang told fans in an Instagram post that working on the show taught him the “value of showing up” when “many things in the world started to seem futile.”
“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.”
Yang also thanked his Wicked co-star, Grande, for being the host of his last episode as he wrote, “thank you to ari for sending me off in the dreamiest way I could imagine.”
The comedian, who hosts the Las Culturistas podcast with Matt Rogers, has gained significant acclaim outside of SNL in recent years, appearing in Wicked and this year’s sequel Wicked: For Good. He also starred in the romantic comedy The Wedding Banquet.
Yang’s departure from SNL coming midway through a season is unusual but not unprecedented, with the likes of Cecily Strong, Molly Shannon, Dana Carvey and Eddie Murphy also leaving midseason in past years.
In an interview with People in September, Yang said he felt he had “more to do” at the show but also worried the audience was “getting sick” of him.
The cast had a major shakeup before the new season began on October 4: cast members Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow departed from the programme. New additions to the cast included Ben Marshall, Veronika Slowikowska, Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane and Kam Patterson.
