Bowen Yang admitted he once questioned whether fans were growing tired of him on Saturday Night Live, but creator Lorne Michaels reassured him otherwise.
“I’ve always gone by the instinct of, do I have more to do? And I feel like I do,” Yang told PEOPLE on Friday while attending the One House Toast to the Emmys celebration.
“Even Lorne and I talked about it and Lorne was like, ‘You have more to do,’ and that means a lot because I even confessed to him. I was like, ‘I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me.’ And he was like, ‘That’s not true. There’s more for you to do. I need you.’”
For Yang, 34, those words carried weight.
“I have to honour that,” he said, adding that Michaels “has changed my life, and I owe a lot of my life to that show. And I love working there, the people are the best. I really love each of them so much.”
As he heads into his sixth season, the Wicked star explained he no longer sets expectations in advance.
“I let that go and I think it served me well,” he said.
“I like having no road map. If there’s any place to do that, it’s SNL, where it’s week to week. Sometimes you’re up for the challenge. Sometimes you show up even if you aren’t, and that’s kind of what makes interesting things happen.”
Still, the upcoming season will look very different. Yang admitted he feels emotional saying goodbye to co-stars who are moving on but understands it’s part of the process.
“What I’ve always thought, what I think everybody knows, is that SNL is this boot camp and that implies that there is a next phase you train for something else,” he said.
“It’s always a transitional place, and I think it is always a launching pad.”
The comedian pointed to Kenan Thompson as an example of someone who stayed and used the show to expand his career, adding, “I think that’s going to be true for all of the people who aren’t coming back. I’m so excited to see what they do. I’m excited for the new cast.”
Season 51 is already shaping up to be one of the most transformative in years.
Ego Nwodim recently announced she is leaving after seven seasons, writing on Instagram, “The hardest part of a great party is knowing when to say goodnight. But after seven unforgettable seasons, I have decided to leave SNL.”
She thanked Lorne, her castmates, and the crew for their support, adding she would carry the memories and laughter with her always.
Her exit comes after several other departures, including Heidi Gardner after eight years, as well as Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, and Devon Walker.
Michaels, 80, previously teased that big changes were coming to “shake things up” ahead of the new season, which premieres October 4.
