Bowen Yang has opened up about how it feels to watch Saturday night live from the sidelines after stepping away from the show midway through its current season, calling the experience “strange, but ultimately fun.”
The comedian and actor, who left the long-running NBC sketch series midway through season 51 in December, has been tuning in from afar as the show returned from its midseason break.
talking to PEOPLEYang revealed that she has been keeping up with the latest episodes while traveling abroad.
“I was in Japan but I was watching,” he said, explaining that he stayed connected through messages from former colleagues.
“I would get texts from old coworkers, they would just say hello and say the train was still running and we were missing each other.”
After seven seasons as part of the cast, Yang admitted that the switch from actor to viewer has taken him a while to get used to.
“It feels very strange,” he said of watching the show as an audience member. “I don’t want to believe it’s totally foreign to me, but obviously it’s an adjustment.”
At the same time, Yang found that walking away gave her an unexpected sense of relief.
“Not knowing what the process from soup to nuts is like all week is a relief,” he explained.
“The emotional burden has been lifted from me. So just watching the sketches every week on these last three shows has been great.”
Yang officially bid farewell to SNL with the December 20 episode, which was hosted by Ariana Grande and featured Cher as the musical guest. His departure came as a surprise to fans, given his long presence on the show.
Joined for the first time Saturday night live as a writer in 2018 during season 44 before being promoted to an on-screen role the following year.
In 2021, Yang made history as the first featured actor in the show’s history to earn a Primetime Emmy nomination, cementing his place as one of the breakout performers of his era.
While his future plans are still unclear, Yang’s reflections suggest that he is enjoying this new perspective, even as he continues to feel connected to the show that shaped much of his career.
