As I noted in a previous piece, I like to check out Saturday Night Live (SNL) to see what political event they are lampooning. However, over the past few years, it has moved to seeing what sketches Bowen Yang has done.

Having seen him in sketches with Kate McKinnon (my SNL fave who has moved from being a regular cast member to a guest star), I started to notice his ability to steal scenes and quickly became a fan of his work.

As everyone needs a good laugh now and then, I thought I’d share some of my favourite Bowen Yang characters and sketches. But before we get into that, I think some background is required first as he is somewhat of a trailblazer on SNL.

Bowen Yang was first hired as a writer for SNL in 2018, before the start of its 44th season, and was quickly promoted to an on-air cast member a year later.

He is the first Chinese-American cast member, the fourth-ever cast member of Asian descent and the third openly gay male. Terry Sweeney (cast member from 1985 to 1986) and John Milhiser (2013 to 2014) were the first and second openly gay male cast members. Danitra Vance (1985 to 1986), Kate McKinnon (2012 to 2022), Punkie Johnson (2020 to present) and Molly Kearney (2022 to present) are the four other out LGBTQ+ cast members.

Yang has said that he loved SNL growing up but “had trouble imagining himself on the show, because he’d never seen people who looked like him associated with the series”. He also made history in 2021 by becoming the first SNL featured player to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.

Yang’s appearances are delightfully weird with some of his characters being deliciously snarky and bitchy. I chose some of my favourites and leaned into some that covered queer characters.

Chinese Trade Minister Chen Biao

Appearing on a number of occasions, this character has been a part of the ‘Weekend Updates’ news segment, representing China on a number of topics including the Olympics, Covid, the US-China Trade war and TikTok. The character is wonderfully snarky. I picked the TikTok sketch as it is topical at the moment, but the others are worth a watch too.

The Iceberg that sank the Titanic

In this one-off skit, also on the ‘Weekend Update’ segment, Yang appears as the Iceberg that sank the Titanic (but the iceberg doesn’t want to talk about it). It is a delightfully bizarre appearance that mainly works due to Yang’s performance.

One of Two Trend Forecasters

Another character that appears multiple times, and again on ‘Weekend Update’, Yang stars alongside Aidy Bryant as both play trend forecasters. Again, it is the performance of Yang, and in this case, Bryant too, that makes the segment. I also love the fact that both actors are cracking each other up and are clearly friends.

I picked the final one (to date) which marked Aidy Bryant’s last episode as a regular cast member. I’m hoping it gets revisited if she ever comes back as a guest.

Simu & Bowen

When actor Simu Liu appeared as a host on SNL (the fourth actor of Chinese descent to do so), he and Bowen did a sketch about their Asian firsts. Beginning as a congratulatory conversation, it quickly becomes a hilarious competition.

Troye Sivan Sleep Demon

In this sketch, Bowen plays a nurse treating a woman with sleep paralysis (Sarah Sherman). She is being haunted by queer favourite Troye Sivan (ironically played by Sivan’s celeb crush Timothée Chalamet, as well as boygenius). It has some fun pokes at fame and gay culture, and Sivan himself was pretty happy about it too, considering it a career highlight.

George Santos Expelled Cold Open

Another character regularly played by Yang is now disgraced queer politician George Santos. SNL and Yang play up Santos’ infamous propensity to lie about almost everything and anything. What is funny is that it isn’t that much of an exaggeration.

I highly recommend the Bad Gays podcast episode on George Santos, and similarly, the Extra Bad Gays episode which explores his expulsion from Congress and whether it had homophobic undertones. His expulsion is the topic of this sketch, which really shows off Yang’s talents.

We’re Trying

Bowen Yang and guest host Adam Driver are a gay couple that reveal that they are trying for a baby. They aren’t taking the usual routes.

Bowen’s Straight

In this mock behind-the-scenes sketch, cast member Sydney Sweeney has a crush on Bowen Yang. It is revealed that Bowen is straight and only plays gay “as it is a shortcut to laughs.” Bowen is great as the horrible straight dude.

Ok, I think I should stop before I go on forever! Check out the above or search “Bowen Yang SNL” on YouTube for more than a few laughs. You can also check out his podcast Las Culturistas which he co-hosts with fellow queer comedian Matt Rogers.