Bowen Yang
American comedian, writer and former Saturday Night Live cast member; co-host of the Las Culturistas podcast
Bowen Yang (American comedian, writer and former Saturday Night Live cast member; co-host of the Las Culturistas podcast) has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include Saturday Night Live, Conversion therapy, Television comedy.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
Saturday Night Live
Yang said his nervous system is still adjusting from the SNL schedule of working until done and then sleeping.
“my nervous system is still sort of like resetting from SNL where it just knows a work is done, then it's time to go to bed”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 50:06
Yang said that after leaving SNL he is unlearning habits while also mourning his former life.
“I'm still unlearning so many things in a way that I am grateful for, and I also mourn how my life used to be”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 47:44
Yang recalled having to memorize his Kim Jong-un lines in Korean because his costume glasses lacked his prescription.
“Learned the Korean, was off-book on a foreign language”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 35:10
Yang recounted assuming SNL would never hire an effeminate Asian man, so he made his audition tape without worrying about it.
“And I was like, they'll never, ever fucking hire an effeminate, asian guy like on that show like why would they ever need that”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 23:26
Yang said his main advice for aspiring comedians is being in the right place at the right time, which cannot be known in advance.
“if you can be at the right place at the right time, but there's never any way of knowing”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 18:32
Conversion therapy
Yang said he and his parents have reconciled and that they have apologized.
“I think we've patched it up really nicely. They have apologized. I've always kind of understood where they've come from”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 31:33
Yang attributed his parents' decision to a cultural fear that he would have a harder life, not to religion or politics.
“It's just them thinking like, oh, I don't want my child to have a worse, harder life”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 30:34
Yang said the therapist's slip into the first person revealed the eight weeks of therapy to be phony.
“oh, I've just undone all of this work that we've, this like fake phony work that we've been doing for the past eight weeks”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 28:47
Yang said his parents gave him an ultimatum: stay in Colorado or go to college in New York with his sister if he attended conversion therapy.
“either you stay in state in Colorado, go to Boulder, live with us, Or you can go to college with your sister if you go to conversion therapy”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 26:52
Other remarks
Yang argued that outdoor furniture is a scam that people feel compelled to buy despite its lack of maintainability.
“There's no maintenance on outdoor furniture, but we feel compelled. It is compulsory that we buy it to fill out our outdoor spaces”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 53:41
Yang said he cannot plan his post-SNL career in detail because circumstances are uncertain.
“I feel like I can't plan around like trade winds. I feel like things are just uncertain”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 42:10
Yang compared his relaxed audition to athletes performing best when they stop overthinking and pretend no one is watching.
“It's when you're like, who cares? Figure skaters have this. It's like athletes have this overall where it's like pretend like no one's watching”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 24:27
Television comedy
Yang argued that TV comedies carry an extra burden of presenting optimism, which is especially hard at present.
“comedy shows have this extra thing they have to do where it has to present something optimistic about the world. It's really hard to do that right now”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 43:17
Yang credited network sitcoms with shaping his sense of humor by giving everyone a shared frame of reference.
“It was everybody having the same frame of reference as to what was funny. It was watching you guys”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 37:44
The Comeback
Yang said the new season of The Comeback is funny but bleak because it depicts AI and shrunken writers' rooms.
“this season's about AI and it's about how like the writer's rooms have like two people in them”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 45:04
Improvisational theatre
Yang described his teenage improv at a Denver open mic as constant bombing in front of indifferent audiences, which he valued.
“we bombed constantly in front of people who did not give a shit if we lived”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 37:08
New York University
Yang argued that NYU has become the pedigree for SNL, whereas a decade earlier the show leaned toward Harvard.
“now I feel like, especially at SNL, it's like, oh, NYU is sort of the pedigree. Whereas like, I don't know, 10 years ago, it was more Harvard leaning”
SmartLess: "Bowen Yang" (Jun 1, 2026) · Listen from 16:56
Appearances
"Bowen Yang"SmartLess · Jun 1, 2026 · 58 min
Comedian Bowen Yang talks with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes about his peripatetic childhood, conversion therapy, his path to and departure from Saturday Night Live, and comedy today.
Often appears with
- Jason Bateman · 1 shared episode
- Will Arnett · 1 shared episode
- Sean Hayes · 1 shared episode