-Welcome to the show, Bowen.
-Hi! Thank you for having me. -I'm so happy you're here.
-I'm very happy to be here, wow.
-And this is -- this is a workday for you.
-It's a workday. -This is the Monday pitch day.
And when I first met you, when I hosted,
you were a writer on the show. -Yes.
-And then you became a cast member.
You had auditioned before you became a writer.
-Yeah, a few times. -And what did you --
What were your audition pieces?
-So I never thought it would happen,
so I just had fun with it.
So I would do just like really -- just silly people.
I did my soul cycle instructor,
I did the choking poster guy.
-Uh-huh. [ Laughter ]
-And then they would ask you to do impressions every time.
-Yeah. -I had to go back in
a few times, and then I -- at a certain point
I just ran out of Asian public figures.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-So then I really, like, scraped the bottom of the barrel
and I did, like, Michiko Kakutani.
Do people know who she is? [ Light laughter ]
-A "New York Times" book reviewer.
-Thank you. -Yeah.
-Thank you, Seth. -And was like -- I mean,
ripe for the taking.
-So ripe. She -- -And I mean,
for years Lorne would be like, "We don't have --"
-"Where's Michiko?"
Who's going to use the word "limn" in a sketch?
[ Light laughter ] Um, she --
So the thing about her is that she was never --
she's never really been photographed, and no one knows
what she sounds like.
-Perfect for an impression. [ Laughter ]
-But, it gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted.
-Yeah, there you go. -So it was great. It was fun.
-One of your first characters you did on the show was,
I guess, the minister of trade, yes?
-Yeah. -The Trade Daddy.
-Trade Daddy. Yeah. Chen Biao. [ Cheers and applause ]
-How did this -- how did this come to pass?
-This was -- this was part of my, I think -- one of my --
in one of my auditions, I did him right as the trade war
was starting, and I was like, "It feels topical,
but, like, how do you make this funny?"
And then really the only way to do that is
just to make him catty and mean. -Yeah.
-So that's just who he is. -It paid off.
You -- you also -- this was before
you were a full cast member. -Yes.
-You played Kim Jong-Un. -Yes.
-And -- [ Laughter ]
-K.J.U., K.J.U.
-K.J.U. He loves it, right? -He loves it.
-He loves it, right? Yeah.
[ Light laughter ]
And you -- but this is fantastic.
Because again, this was before you were a full cast member,
so you also had a sketch that you'd written in the show
independent of this.
-I was going through, like, a super-long dry spell.
When you first start out as a writer,
you're just getting your bearings.
And you don't really get stuff on, and that's fine.
It's part of, like, the crucible you have to walk through.
But then that show, I --
I helped write two pretaped sketches
and I was helping on her monologue.
And it was the busiest, busiest --
I haven't had as busy of a week as that since.
Like, even as a cast member. And we did this.
I was in my Kim Jong-Un, and then had to run
under the bleachers during dress rehearsal.
So, when you're writing a sketch, you have to go
sit next to Lorne, under the audience,
and he's watching and he's giving you notes.
He's like, "Maybe we could cut to Kenan sooner," or something.
And then -- [ Laughter ]
But I was still in the full K.J.U. -- fit.
And then just, like, sat next to him while he was, like,
giving me feedback and I was like, "Yeah, uh-huh."
-But that's the only way Lorne respects you
is if you dress like a dictator. -Absolutely.
[ Laughter ] Absolutely.
-He's like, "You could do -- or not."
"Or not. Just depending on -- yep.
It's up to you today." -Exactly.
[ Laughter ]
-You -- also, that was -- Sandra Oh hosting was --
-Yes.
-...just exciting in its own right.
But she was a big deal for you, yeah?
-She was a big deal for me.
I remember seeing her in "The Princess Diaries"
and thinking, "Who is that woman?"
And then I stumbled on an episode of "Arli$$"
and I was like, "Okay, this is not
age-appropriate for me as a child."
[ Laughter ] And then --
And then, like, watched "Grey's Anatomy" and thought,
"Oh, I'm gonna be a doctor."
-Just because of Sandra Oh playing one on TV?
-Just because of -- absolutely.
-Yeah. -And then, really,
it's an example of bad representation,
because it tricks Asian people
into going into the medical field.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah.
-When they should be doing something else.
[ Laughter ] -Now I do want to point out,
like, people you grew up around had some ideas that this
was going to happen. This is really cool.
Your superlative was "Most likely to be a cast member
on 'Saturday Night Live.'" [ Laughter and applause ]
-That's kinda crazy. That's wild.
-That's really -- -It's weird.
-So... -It's weird.
-Like, if I'm doing the math right,
you had a 10-year reunion.
Did you get to go? -I did not go,
because our student body class president
is nowhere to be found. -Oh, no.
-So, I hope he's doing okay.
Zach Glenn, if you're doing okay,
please let us know?
[ Laughter ]
But no, it never came together.
But I would have loved to go. -Well, it's really --
It's really sweet... -Yeah.
-...that they -- the fact -- like, you have to see them again
collectively, because they will feel so right.
-Sure. -Like, no one --
-Got it.
-...no one who writes superlative --
Like, at Donald Trump's high school, it wasn't like,
"Most likely to be impeached," you know?
-Sure, sure, absolutely.
They should all be agents or something.
-They should all be agents now.
You -- so you were born in Australia --
grew up in Colorado, born in Australia.
-Yes. And then Montreal was in between.
So my dad and my mom met in China,
then they moved to Brisbane.
Was born there with my sister, and then we moved to Montreal,
and then we moved to Denver.
So I've lived in all these places that used to be
owned by England. -Yeah.
-I'm a little Commonwealth baby. Yeah.
[ Laughter ] -So your parents are Chinese.
Are they -- were they excited when they heard
you were on "SNL"?
-They knew that I liked the show.
They knew it was a big deal for me when I got hired as a writer.
But then, they asked me --
They did not know what the show was.
And, so, they were like, "Does this mean
you have to move to Hollywood now?"
Or something. They don't know that it's here.
-So they didn't know the first detail about the show.
-Exactly. -Yeah.
-Truly the first piece of information that's given out
on the show is that it's in New York, and they didn't know.
-Have they been able to come and see it?
-They have. They came a couple times.
They came last year for my birthday
during Liev Schreiber's show. -Oh, that's good.
-And they really liked Lil Wayne.
[ Laughter ]
My dad was like, "He's really good.
[ Laughter ]
He's got bars." And then --
And then they came for the premiere this season,
too, which was so great. -Oh, that's great.
-Yeah. -Hey, I'm so happy
you're on the show, and I'm so happy to have you here today.
It's just absolutely fantastic talking to you.
-Thanks so much, Seth. This is so great.
-Bowen Yang, everybody.