I know people around here don't like him, but Bowen Yang has publicly announced he is not ready to leave the show, and he is now one of its biggest stars.

I am legitimately baffled by his success. I can't even get my head around it. I don't think I've ever found anything he's done even remotely funny - maybe the Oscars bit where he wore Wicked wardrobe while the four others wore evening wear. But that was basically a sight gag. He usually seems aggressively unfunny to me . Every gag feels like a middle finger to the audience -- Andy Kauffman without doing a "bit". And yet, he's apparently beloved. I don't get the appeal at all. His whole shtick seemed totally out of place and distracting in Wicked, but they left it in anyways, sticking out like a sore thumb.

I am not a huge Yang fan but heard him on the WTF Marc Maron podcast and he seemed more likeable.

So, Michaels is not retiring? I thought he was stepping down after the 50th season. There was so much talk about who would replace him. Like Tina Fey. And yes, I know it was just talk. But even she commented about it. The show definitely needs a major overhaul. I don't think it should start with the cast. Most are fine. IMO, it's time for Michaels to go. And they desperately need new writers.

The problem with Bowen Yang is similar to Jane Wickline.

Being gay is not a talent. Just being yourself as cross-gender or effeminate or trans doesnt make you hilarious. In fact it's quite the opposite for most of the gay people in America living in rural areas who spend their whole lives hiding it. So their 'schtick' which I guess in Bowen Yang's case is just 'giving queer bitchiness' doesnt always translate as something entertaining, at least not to me or my friends who live queer bitchiness every day.

I have a feeling Bowen Yang will be a lifer like Keenan.

The sense I get is that Lorne/production is kind of indecisive and capricious and a lot of who stays and who goes comes down to the last minute. This isn't a scripted series, so there isn't any need to lock down contracts early, and anyone can leave at any time and be replaced easily.

I can see a lot of begging, bargaining, and groveling going on behind the scenes.

I hated the movie Mrs Doubtfire, but it seems to be considered a modern comedy classic.

SNL has had just a handful cast members over decades, who were publicly out as not heterosexual. And of that small number, fewer had their public persona tied to their gay or non-binary status.

Kate McKinnon let her being a lesbian be a barely concealed subtext in some sketches and characters she played. She created a relationship with the audience so that they knew (IYKYK) her sexual orientation was often driving the POV of her comedy.

Bowen Yang does the same thing. What you call the schtick of queer bitchiness that Yang brings to so much of his work on SNL may be tiresome to you and others, but it is the first time that SNL has allowed a gay man in the cast to be openly gay on the show.

Garrett Morris was the first Black cast member, but Eddie Murphy was the first "openly Black" cast member, if you get what I mean.

I do not doubt that the people who find Yang funny, really do find him funny, but I think his popularity is much owed to his being viewed as a breakthrough in representation for the show.

I'd bet there is no "begging, bargaining, and groveling going on behind the scenes."

Cast members seem to understand the circumstances of their employment, and very rarely is anyone not given the opportunity to prove themselves.

Also, I find it hard to believe that the cast members, who are not making a mark, are not self-aware of this. They know how much they are getting on the show and in what capacity, and they certainly talk to people who watch it.

Maybe taking the summer before announcing the next season's cast gives all the cast members a chance to be away from the show and consider if they want to come back.

Maybe, for the show they'll get along fine. But if I were a cast member, I would really like to know if next month will I be a regular on the most-watched scripted program in the US, or will I be unemployed?

Im surprised to have to come around to liking Bowen. I did not find him funny in the least when he joined but he has grown on me. The skit shared somewhere here about Sydney Sweeney being obsessed and wanting to sleep with him was epic.

And that's sort of how show business works, right? You might work steadily in 2024, but then 2025 comes along and you have very few acting jobs, and you have no idea what 2026 holds. It can be boom and bust. Amber Benson and Marc Blucas were on Buffy for two years, and then their characters were removed from the show, just like that.

As far as SNL goes, I guess this is the reality of the production of the show: one year contracts that either get renewed or not.

These are show business professionals, so

I'll still take Bowen Yang at his word that he is not yet ready to leave SNL, but this happened:

You called it.
‘SNL’: Devon Walker Exiting After 3 Years https://deadline.com/2025/08/devon-w...nl-1236497237/

Terry Sweeney was the first openly gay cast member on "SNL". On the show's dreadful 11th season. However, I thought he was quite good. His take on Joan Rivers, Joan Collins, and Nancy Reagan were hilarious. My favorite was a sketch where Nancy Reagan hires a personal trainer (played by Tony Danza). He swears at one point and she said to him "I'm the first lady, don't you ever talk dirty in front of me". Then she cups her chest right under her breasts and says with a lustful look "That is, unless I ask you to".

Sweeney was an openly gay actor at a time when coming out was bold and controversial, so kudos to him.

But on SNL, he almost exclusively played women or exaggeratedly stereotypical gay men, which I don't think anyone would consider a breakthrough in the show's representation of what it means to be an out, gay man. Of course, 35 years passed between Sweeney's year and Yang's start, so A LOT changed with gay representation on TV. But I think it is rather shocking that it took the liberal-leaning SNL so long to get on board with having a gay cast member and not mocking or belittling him for it.

Not much sooner, but Kate McKinnon was openly gay, playing gay characters without mocking, in the good old days before anyone had heard of Bowen Yang.

When I heard Sweeny mentioned I thought it was Julia Sweeney since she played Pat.

Off subject but Kate McKinnon and Bill Hader were probably the last two superstar talents on SNL and they had some good people after but not as good as those two.

Yes, and she was a woman, which was the clear distinction I drew in my earlier post.

Devon Walker responds

It is not a death sentence and Jenny Slate, Rob Riggle, Sarah Silverman, and Shane Gillis had success after getting fired.


https://nypost.com/2025/08/25/entert...toxic-as-hell/

Hader was in the same cast at the same time as Wiig and Sudeikis. If you mention one, then you need to include the other two. And I think Samberg and Davidson would probably qualify as superstars as much as McKinnon.

I found this article while Googling Terry Sweeney in any Nancy Reagan "SNL" clips.

https://www.out.com/print/2022/3/22/...ts-being-first