Reminds me of when Cecily Strong suddenly announced her departure mid season. Which led to this lovely moment where Austin Butler sang Blue Christmas to her. Still one of my favorite SNL moments....
I liked Bowen overall as a cast member, I preferred him in sketches rather than Weekend Update where I felt like he played the same character in different costumes.
SNL doesn’t really make stars anymore. So maybe he’ll buck the trend have a steady career after this. Pete Davidson is arguably the most famous cast member to come out of this institution in the past ten years and he’s only known for his messy personal life (thank primarily to Ariana Grande if we’re being honest). I would say Yang has never led anything and likely never will, but you could have said the same about Bill Hader when he left.
Wild. Best of luck to Bowen! He was always a solid player but I feel like he never got a good breakout character. He was in almost every sketch yet was still somehow underutilized.
Wild. Best of luck to Bowen! He was always a solid player but I feel like he never got a good breakout character. He was in almost every sketch yet was still somehow underutilized.
I really liked him but at the same time I found it really annoying that the joke seemed to be “here’s a flamboyantly gay character” at least half of the time. But it’s also been at least a year...
I really liked him but at the same time I found it really annoying that the joke seemed to be “here’s a flamboyantly gay character” at least half of the time. But it’s also been at least a year since I last watched the show, so maybe I’m not remembering correctly.
I don't watch SNL as much as I used to either and feel the same way. Bowen was one of my favourite cast members, but a lot of his material was either being flamboyantly gay or being a gay man...
I don't watch SNL as much as I used to either and feel the same way. Bowen was one of my favourite cast members, but a lot of his material was either being flamboyantly gay or being a gay man doing an impression of a straight person. He's really, really good at it though and I'm sure that there's always going to be work for him if he wants it.
I find him very annoying! I want him to ingratiate himself to me personally by playing against type somewhere, but I haven't seen that happen yet. Does anyone know if Bowen Yang has ever tried...
I find him very annoying! I want him to ingratiate himself to me personally by playing against type somewhere, but I haven't seen that happen yet. Does anyone know if Bowen Yang has ever tried sublimating his ego through method acting? Comedians do less method acting but it is an important technique for loudmouths who can't empathize far enough into the material to recognize where the jokes are meant to breathe and stimulate the senses!
I missed that when it came out! Dang, I forgot I wanted to see it but my husband was put off by the humor of it. Let me know if it’s worth hunting down.
I missed that when it came out! Dang, I forgot I wanted to see it but my husband was put off by the humor of it. Let me know if it’s worth hunting down.
SNL is one of the few pure comedy TV shows these days. I haven't seen Bowen Yang in anything other than SNL, so I have no opinion on him as a general-purpose actor. But he's good at SNL's flavor...
SNL is one of the few pure comedy TV shows these days. I haven't seen Bowen Yang in anything other than SNL, so I have no opinion on him as a general-purpose actor. But he's good at SNL's flavor of sketch comedy.
he’s popped up in a lot of things over the years, but i didn’t really know him at the time. his podcast is doing really well, too. it’s a surprisingly relaxed pod, too. kind of nice.
he’s popped up in a lot of things over the years, but i didn’t really know him at the time. his podcast is doing really well, too. it’s a surprisingly relaxed pod, too. kind of nice.
Bowen was probably the most featured cast member in the past two or three years. He was often the star, and he carried a lot of the weight when he wasn't. Excluding Kenan Thompson, this departure...
Bowen was probably the most featured cast member in the past two or three years. He was often the star, and he carried a lot of the weight when he wasn't. Excluding Kenan Thompson, this departure is about as bombastic and impactful as an SNL departure could get right now.
i don’t think we’ve seen as many strong landings since the cast around Hader and co’s time. It feels like everybody from back then is doing really well. the cast now is pretty good but it doesn’t...
i don’t think we’ve seen as many strong landings since the cast around Hader and co’s time. It feels like everybody from back then is doing really well. the cast now is pretty good but it doesn’t have the same star-power feel that previous casts had
Part of it is also that the 00s and early 10s was the last time that a semblance of a monoculture existed and people still saw comedies in theaters and dvds were still big and social media wasn’t...
Part of it is also that the 00s and early 10s was the last time that a semblance of a monoculture existed and people still saw comedies in theaters and dvds were still big and social media wasn’t the dominant form of entertainment.
I think the turning point happened with Kate McKinnon where everyone had her pinned as a break out star. She was getting comparisons to like Amy Poheler or other big female stars from the show. But when she started attempting to branch out in 2016 nothing was connecting. So she ended up sticking with the show for the safety of it. And now she doesn’t really have many high profile projects. The Roses was the last thing I saw her in and it was a small role and she had a previous relationship with the director after she did Bombshell.
Other ones like Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong, who were loved while they were on the show have also done muted projects. Even Schmigadoon which has its fans was not the huge hit I think Apple was expecting with how crazy they marketed the first season.
If we look at Davidson and ignore his erratic and self-destructive behavior. The King of Staten Island was supposed to be his Trainwreck and it didn’t land. Some of that was the pandemic but I don’t think it would have had the same cultural relevance Trainwreck had regardless. And then Bupkis also didn’t really do much and he didn’t do a follow up even though Peacock was open to it.
The time for these types of stars has passed. So to me it’s surprising that they don’t try to milk it for as long as they can, staying on the show for as long as they can stomach it.
Fans of the show, when we see a “breakout” like we’re currently seeing with Ashley Padilla. The context isn’t “she’s going to be a huge star outside of the show.” It’s now “she’s going to shine on the show and she’s gonna be the practical lead cast member.”
Bupkis was great... but I only know two others who watched it all. I think about that sweatshirt every so often and it just cracks me up. Falco was perfect casting. You're right about McKinnon,...
Bupkis was great... but I only know two others who watched it all. I think about that sweatshirt every so often and it just cracks me up. Falco was perfect casting.
You're right about McKinnon, though. She was making the podcast rounds and the few I listened to were terrible.
I think Cecily Strong has the right idea. She's released a memoir and is doing a threatre-run book tour with a lot of SNL alum as guests. Smart way to turn a buck.
I wonder if their contracts still come with a movie or two.
If the cast members were stock, McKinnon would have been a Bull Trap. She didn’t even end her tenure on a good note, she was phoning it in the last three seasons.
If the cast members were stock, McKinnon would have been a Bull Trap. She didn’t even end her tenure on a good note, she was phoning it in the last three seasons.
it's kind of sad. She's great for roles like weird Barbie. I could see her having a decent daytime chat show, actually. That kind that nobody watches but everybody is still aware of it.
it's kind of sad. She's great for roles like weird Barbie. I could see her having a decent daytime chat show, actually. That kind that nobody watches but everybody is still aware of it.
Reminds me of when Cecily Strong suddenly announced her departure mid season. Which led to this lovely moment where Austin Butler sang Blue Christmas to her. Still one of my favorite SNL moments.
I liked Bowen overall as a cast member, I preferred him in sketches rather than Weekend Update where I felt like he played the same character in different costumes.
SNL doesn’t really make stars anymore. So maybe he’ll buck the trend have a steady career after this. Pete Davidson is arguably the most famous cast member to come out of this institution in the past ten years and he’s only known for his messy personal life (thank primarily to Ariana Grande if we’re being honest). I would say Yang has never led anything and likely never will, but you could have said the same about Bill Hader when he left.
Tim Robinson is SNL's greatest export over the last 10 years if you ask me!
In terms or writers I prefer Julio Torres and his show Los Espookys
Wild. Best of luck to Bowen! He was always a solid player but I feel like he never got a good breakout character. He was in almost every sketch yet was still somehow underutilized.
I really liked him but at the same time I found it really annoying that the joke seemed to be “here’s a flamboyantly gay character” at least half of the time. But it’s also been at least a year since I last watched the show, so maybe I’m not remembering correctly.
That was my issue with him for his weekend update characters. The iceberg, baby hippo, jafar. The sketches he wrote could be pretty good though
I don't watch SNL as much as I used to either and feel the same way. Bowen was one of my favourite cast members, but a lot of his material was either being flamboyantly gay or being a gay man doing an impression of a straight person. He's really, really good at it though and I'm sure that there's always going to be work for him if he wants it.
Agreed. It’s not bad to have that kind of character from time to time, it was just too often in the show.
Woops I thought today was Saturday lol
I find him very annoying! I want him to ingratiate himself to me personally by playing against type somewhere, but I haven't seen that happen yet. Does anyone know if Bowen Yang has ever tried sublimating his ego through method acting? Comedians do less method acting but it is an important technique for loudmouths who can't empathize far enough into the material to recognize where the jokes are meant to breathe and stimulate the senses!
Fire Island has him in a major dramatic role. But I think it was also trying to be funny? Bottom line is that it wasn’t a good movie.
I'll look! I also forgot to watch Dicks: The Musical, which idk let's try it.
I missed that when it came out! Dang, I forgot I wanted to see it but my husband was put off by the humor of it. Let me know if it’s worth hunting down.
FWIW he’s not trained. I believe he studied Chemistry in college, so he’s a comedian first and an actor second.
SNL is one of the few pure comedy TV shows these days. I haven't seen Bowen Yang in anything other than SNL, so I have no opinion on him as a general-purpose actor. But he's good at SNL's flavor of sketch comedy.
he’s popped up in a lot of things over the years, but i didn’t really know him at the time. his podcast is doing really well, too. it’s a surprisingly relaxed pod, too. kind of nice.
Bowen was probably the most featured cast member in the past two or three years. He was often the star, and he carried a lot of the weight when he wasn't. Excluding Kenan Thompson, this departure is about as bombastic and impactful as an SNL departure could get right now.
i don’t think we’ve seen as many strong landings since the cast around Hader and co’s time. It feels like everybody from back then is doing really well. the cast now is pretty good but it doesn’t have the same star-power feel that previous casts had
Part of it is also that the 00s and early 10s was the last time that a semblance of a monoculture existed and people still saw comedies in theaters and dvds were still big and social media wasn’t the dominant form of entertainment.
I think the turning point happened with Kate McKinnon where everyone had her pinned as a break out star. She was getting comparisons to like Amy Poheler or other big female stars from the show. But when she started attempting to branch out in 2016 nothing was connecting. So she ended up sticking with the show for the safety of it. And now she doesn’t really have many high profile projects. The Roses was the last thing I saw her in and it was a small role and she had a previous relationship with the director after she did Bombshell.
Other ones like Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong, who were loved while they were on the show have also done muted projects. Even Schmigadoon which has its fans was not the huge hit I think Apple was expecting with how crazy they marketed the first season.
If we look at Davidson and ignore his erratic and self-destructive behavior. The King of Staten Island was supposed to be his Trainwreck and it didn’t land. Some of that was the pandemic but I don’t think it would have had the same cultural relevance Trainwreck had regardless. And then Bupkis also didn’t really do much and he didn’t do a follow up even though Peacock was open to it.
The time for these types of stars has passed. So to me it’s surprising that they don’t try to milk it for as long as they can, staying on the show for as long as they can stomach it.
Fans of the show, when we see a “breakout” like we’re currently seeing with Ashley Padilla. The context isn’t “she’s going to be a huge star outside of the show.” It’s now “she’s going to shine on the show and she’s gonna be the practical lead cast member.”
Bupkis was great... but I only know two others who watched it all. I think about that sweatshirt every so often and it just cracks me up. Falco was perfect casting.
You're right about McKinnon, though. She was making the podcast rounds and the few I listened to were terrible.
I think Cecily Strong has the right idea. She's released a memoir and is doing a threatre-run book tour with a lot of SNL alum as guests. Smart way to turn a buck.
I wonder if their contracts still come with a movie or two.
If the cast members were stock, McKinnon would have been a Bull Trap. She didn’t even end her tenure on a good note, she was phoning it in the last three seasons.
it's kind of sad. She's great for roles like weird Barbie. I could see her having a decent daytime chat show, actually. That kind that nobody watches but everybody is still aware of it.