Saturday Night Live’s 45th season has found the show’s first ever full-time Asian cast member in Internet comedian and SNL staff writer Bowen Yang.
Yang joins the cast along with standup comedian Shane Gillis and improv comedian Chloe Fineman. The news comes just weeks after Leslie Jones, a key cast member and writer for the past five years, announced her departure from the show.
Of the three newest cast members, Yang has the strongest internet presence by far, from a Twitter acount with north of 50 thousand followers, a successful comedy culture podcast called Las Culturistas and appearances on popular shows like Broad City and The Outs.
On Twitter, he built a following through a series of lip-synced pop culture speeches and imitations of Cardi B, Tyra Banks, the Short Bagel Guy and many others.
As a writer on SNL, Yang has built a name for himself by appearing in a sketch as Kim Jong Un and writing Sandra Oh’s "Cheques" short:
In addition to being the first full-time Asian member of the cast, Yang is also the show’s second-ever openly gay male cast member.
Saturday Night Live Season 45 premieres September 28, with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Billie Eilish. The rest of the season will feature hosts Eddie Murphy, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Kristen Stewart and more.
via Deadline