Bowen Yang Says His First ‘SNL’ Screen Test Was a ‘Disaster’ After Lorne Michaels Interaction: ‘I Pandered to His Canadianness’
Bowen Yang’s initial screen test for “Saturday Night Live” did not go well following an interaction with creator Lorne Michaels, according to the comedian.
During a recent interview on “Hot Ones,” Yang recalled his screen test in 2017 for the late-night sketch comedy series.
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“The final step in that process is you have a one-on-one meeting with Lorne. It was him and another producer, Erik Kenward,” he said. “The first thing out of my mouth was, ‘I’m Canadian, too. I grew up in Montreal. I grew up in Quebec’ — and immediately it was done, it was a vibe killer. I didn’t get the job because I had pandered to his Canadianness, and it was a disaster.”
Yang was eventually hired in 2018 as a staff writer for “SNL” and, one year later, he was promoted to an on-air featured player. In 2021, he made history as the first “SNL” featured player to receive an Emmy nomination in an acting category.
When Yang joined the show, then-“SNL” cast member Aidy Bryant shared some advice with him on how to engage with Michaels.
“Aidy Bryant was the one who told me, ‘You can be, like, friends with him now,’” Yang recalled. “That kind of gave me the encouragement I needed to go up to him and be like, ‘Oh, we can relate to each other on a human-to-human level,’ which I never thought would happen with him.”
Yang appeared on “Hot Ones” to promote Universal’s “Wicked,” starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum. In the Jon M. Chu-directed musical movie, Yang plays Pfannee, a loyal confidante to Glinda (Grande). The film marks the first installment of two big-screen adaptations of the Broadway musical.
“Wicked” is theaters now.
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