"Bowen Yang"

Episode of SmartLess · June 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.

Summary

In this episode of SmartLess, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes opened with banter about Bateman's temporary move to New York, Arnett's many Manhattan apartments and Hayes's SAG Awards appearing on camera before Hayes introduced guest Bowen Yang. Yang described being born in Brisbane, growing up in Montreal, where street performers at the Just for Laughs festival inspired him, and moving to Colorado at nine, as well as his father's path from a mud hut in Inner Mongolia to a doctorate in mining explosives.

Yang said he enrolled at NYU as a pre-med chemistry major largely as cover for pursuing comedy, and recounted doing improv at a Denver theater as a teenager and submitting an SNL audition tape he assumed no one would watch. He gave a detailed account of the eight weeks of conversion therapy his parents sent him to at 17, which ended when the therapist slipped into the first person while telling a story about a sexual encounter with a man. Yang attributed his parents' reaction to cultural concerns rather than religion and said they have since apologized.

The conversation then covered Yang's start as an SNL writer, his first on-camera role as Kim Jong-un in an episode hosted by Sandra Oh, and his farewell sketch with Cher and Ariana Grande set in a Delta lounge. Yang said he cannot plan around "trade winds" and argued that comedies face an added burden of offering optimism at a difficult time. He discussed dating during and after SNL, his nervous system resetting after leaving the show, and ten years of Las Culturistas. The episode closed with Yang's "I don't think so, honey" rant about outdoor furniture and the hosts' reflections on friendship and group texts.

Chapters

0:06
Cold open and New York living
The hosts banter about Bateman picking his teeth, his temporary New York move and Arnett's many Manhattan apartments.
4:41
Awards in the background
The hosts tease Hayes about a SAG Award visible in his frame and discuss office setups.
5:52
Introducing Bowen Yang
Hayes introduces Yang, and the group examines the SNL bust and Academy Museum honor on his shelves.
9:00
Brisbane, Montreal and Colorado
Yang describes his family's moves, his father's career in mining explosives and his early inspiration from Just for Laughs.
15:24
Pre-med at NYU as cover for comedy
Yang explains choosing colleges by their comedy scenes, the NYU comedy scene of his era, and studying chemistry.
21:30
Getting into SNL
Yang discusses signs pointing toward SNL and his low-pressure audition tape, and the hosts compare it to gripping too tight in golf.
25:04
Conversion therapy
Yang recounts his parents discovering he was gay, the eight weeks of conversion therapy and the therapist's revealing slip.
32:26
From writer to cast member
Yang recalls playing Kim Jong-un in a Sandra Oh-hosted episode, learning Korean lines and taking notes from Lorne Michaels in costume.
36:00
Teen improv and comedic influences
Yang describes bombing at a Denver open mic as a teenager and credits network comedies and Will & Grace as influences.
40:27
Farewell sketch and the future of comedy
The group discusses Yang's SNL farewell sketch, his uncertainty about planning his career and the state of TV comedy.
45:28
Dating and life after SNL
Yang talks about vanishing from dates during SNL, adjusting to life after the show and self-motivation, and the hosts compare work habits.
52:18
Projects and 'I don't think so, honey'
Hayes notes Las Culturistas' tenth anniversary and The Cat in the Hat before Yang and Hayes deliver pet-peeve rants.
55:24
Post-interview wrap-up
The hosts praise Yang and joke about Bateman's aversion to dinners and group texts.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 16:56 · New York University
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 18:32 · Saturday Night Live
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 23:26 · Saturday Night Live
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 24:27
Will Arnett
Arnett likened this to the golf concept of gripping too tight and said it applies to life generally.
“literally in golf, they talk about gripping too tight. But there is that notion of gripping too tight in life on any of that stuff”
Listen from 24:45
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 26:52 · Conversion therapy
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 28:47 · Conversion therapy
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 30:34 · Conversion therapy
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 31:33 · Conversion therapy
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 35:10 · Saturday Night Live
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 37:08 · Improvisational theatre
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 37:44 · Television comedy
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 42:10
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 43:17 · Television comedy
Will Arnett
Arnett said he rarely watches comedy these days.
“These days, I don't watch a lot of comedy. I don't know if you guys do. I really just don't”
Listen from 44:16 · Television comedy
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 45:04 · The Comeback
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 47:44 · Saturday Night Live
Linked moment · 50:06Skip to 50:06 using a listen link in the info box.
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 50:06 · Saturday Night Live
Jason Bateman
Bateman described himself as highly disciplined while working and irresponsible when not working.
“when I'm working, I'm very, very disciplined. And when I'm not working, I could not be worse at doing anything responsible”
Listen from 50:31
Bowen Yang
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”
Listen from 53:41
Sean Hayes
Hayes said Yang exemplifies his belief that intelligence and humor often go together.
“he's one of those people that's super intelligent and super funny. And I think the two often go hand in hand”
Listen from 55:43

People

In the conversation

Jason BatemanAmerican actor and director, co-host of SmartLess
Will ArnettCanadian-American actor and comedian, co-host of SmartLess
Sean HayesAmerican actor and comedian, co-host of SmartLess
Bowen YangAmerican comedian, writer and former Saturday Night Live cast member; co-host of the Las Culturistas podcast

Discussed

Sandra OhCanadian-American actress who played Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy and hosted SNL
Lorne MichaelsCreator and executive producer of 'Saturday Night Live'
Colin JostAmerican comedian, writer and longtime Saturday Night Live Weekend Update anchor
CherAmerican singer and actress who appeared in Yang's SNL farewell sketch
Ariana GrandeAmerican singer and actress who appeared in Yang's SNL farewell sketch
Kim Jong-unSupreme leader of North Korea, whom Yang portrayed on SNL
Karen CheeComedy writer who translated Yang's Kim Jong-un lines into Korean
Donald GloverAmerican actor and musician, part of the Derrick Comedy troupe at NYU

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From the publisher

Put a bee in your bonnet— it’s Bowen Yang. We hit the pillars: vibes, therapy, trade-winds, a silver fedora, and learning about Celine Dion. Because- life! On an all-new SmartLess.

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 28, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Comedy Interviews·TV & Film