Bowen Yang Reveals Honest Reason He Left 'Saturday Night Live' After 7 Seasons

Bowen Yang opened up about his emotional decision to part from Saturday Night Live after over seven seasons.

During an edition of Variety’s Actors on Actors series alongside Rachel Sennott, the comedian, 35, reflected on why he left the late-night series mid-season after so many years.

“I feel like I was kind of resolute the season before about leaving. There was just a lot of uncertainty about what the show would look like after Season 50. I was like, ‘I think the show is in a great place without me,’” he admitted. “I never felt like I was that central to it, to be honest…I feel like there was a weird utility to me. I’ve accepted this. I just never played the dad or the straight-man teacher. I was always kind of there as the seasoning.”

Criticism aside, Yang expressed his gratitude over having a “steady job in comedy” that he will “cherish” for the “rest of his life.”

“I just felt like it was the right time,” he continued. “I was looking at the rest of the cast. James Austin Johnson, slay. Andrew Dismukes, slay. Ashley Padilla, slay. Jane Wickline, slay. All these people, great. We’re in great hands.”

SNL creator Lorne Michaels called Yang while he was at the U.S. Open and told him to come back with the “new kids” so he can “set an example” for the first half of the season.

“Lorne Michaels, he’s really good at this. He’s really good at just closing it. He was just like, ‘I’m telling you, it would be very important,’” he recalled. “It was, kind of, the first time I felt like in my bones, someone who built this thing that made so many things possible for me and so many people being like, ‘I need you.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not going to turn that down.’”

Fans took to social media to applaud Yang for his courage in departing SNL.

“Bowen Yang leaving SNL is not a departure. That is a comedic assassin deciding the sketch show was no longer big enough for the empire he is building,” one X user wrote. “Variety's Actors on Actors is the exact room where careers get validated and Yang sitting there discussing his exit means he is not just leaving. He is graduating with honors from the only institution that still matters in comedy.”

Another added, “Bowen’s honesty here is refreshing.”

Yang announced in December 2025 that he would be leaving SNL, although he initially did not explain his reasoning.

“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,” he wrote on Instagram at the time.