Just one day after it was reported that longtime Saturday Night Live cast member Bowen Yang was leaving the show after nearly seven seasons, with his last episode airing over the weekend, Yang himself confirmed the news a social media post (The Hollywood Reporter was the first to report the news.). His last ‘SNL” episode was hosted by Ariana Grande and featured Cher as the musical guest.
Yang wrote on Instagram: “i loved working at SNL, and most of all i loved the people. 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 … 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 … thank you to every single person who showed up there: friends and coworkers and audiences and hosts. thank you celeste, sudi, will, alison, julio, fran, drez, bulla, marty, john, ben, jimmy, ceara, deetch, jake, asha, jack, auguste, tucker, kent, streeter, james, alex, jasmine, gary, and billy for writing with me. thank you to every cast member for making me laugh and cry. to liz and don. tom, jodi, louie, eamon. gena, chris, eddie. the crews, the pages. and to audrey, jameson, cassandra and chris for the fastest, funnest quick-changes in all of showbiz. thank you to ari for sending me off in the dreamiest way i could imagine … 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 .. the show doesn’t go on because it’s ready, but ***, i hope i am. 
”
Yang first joined “SNL” as a writer in 2018 for Season 44, and joined the cast as a featured player during Season 45 before being promoted to join the main cast beginning with Season 47. Yang has received five Emmy nominations for his work on SNL — one for writing in 2018 and four for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025.
His exit follows the mass exodus of cast members ahead of Season 51, with Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and John Higgins all departing from the show.
Bowen currently co-hosts the popular “Las Culturistas” podcast with comedian Matt Rogers.
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