Year of The Yang: Bowen Yang and the Unsinkable Joy of Queer Comedy

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Jun 8

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The following interview and photo set appeared in WUSSY vol.09.
To see the full feature, order your copy at the link here.

“Is that top from LOEWE’s Studio Ghibli collab?” Bowen Yang asks me as he takes a seat across from me at Primrose Cafe in Clinton Hill. I nod as he unzips his floor length puffer parka and reveals the same sweater.

“Shut the fuck up!” I squeal as the waiter comes to our table and asks us what we’d like. In unison, we say, “an oat milk cappuccino with an almond croissant, please.” We cannot believe the coincidence.

“Great choice,” replies our waiter. As we all lock eyes and start to lean in for a three way kiss, Yang appears on my Zoom window with a generous smile and hello.

Although it’s not the ideal setting for my fantasy first chat with Yang, his warmth and gratitude immediately break down the virtual walls. The two of us start by talking about our Lunar New Year dinners, and I slowly reveal myself as a longtime fan. I had to stop myself from asking if he remembered when I went up to him at the queer Asian dance party, ‘Bubble T’, at Elsewhere in New York where I enthusiastically thanked him for opening doors for queer Asians who want to work in comedy like myself.

Followers of Yang know him for his intellectual, coquettish presence on social media, his comedic variety shows across New York, and via his acclaimed podcast, Las Culturistas that he hosts with fellow comedian Matt Rogers. The two met at NYU (connecting over their mutual love of Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass'') and soon became a dynamic duo who’ve gained a cult following in the New York comedy scene. Yang went on to book roles on Broad City, High Maintenance, and Jon Glaser Loves Gear. Now, America knows Yang for his recurring role on Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens and weekly viral moments on Saturday Night Live where he currently resides as a beloved cast member after a season as a writer. Whether it be showing off his Chromatica jockstrap on Instagram or getting Eiffel Towered by Kristen Wiig and Dua Lipa on national TV, he keeps the gays and the girls fed.

That being said, Yang’s work faces unwarranted online noise and critique mixed in with the praise and love that lights Gay Twitter aflame. When I ask if he can reflect on the positive online sentiment and reactions or if he has to keep it separate, he responds, “I suffer from a disease where I pay too much attention to it, and it’s actually like I hit a breaking point. I posted this unhinged thing on my Insta-stories and on Twitter last night, where I was just like oh wait, it was me releasing the valve in a way that I had to...I care too much, but anyone would.”

On the stories and tweet thread, Yang shared his candid feelings about the negativity he’s received from his presence on SNL. “It’s so strange for me to do the most innocuous, unremarkable thing on the show and have a bunch of curdled motherfuckers flatten it exclusively along lines of race or queerness. It’s so strange and dissociative when people tell me I should consider not being gay and/or Asian every now and then in the interest of ‘range.’”

Queerness isn’t even new to SNL. Queers have been in the writers’ room and on the mainstage for decades. From legendary sketches like “Gays In Space” to anything Kate McKinnon touches, there is a queer sensibility. What is new is the intersection of queerness and Asian identity that Yang brings to the mix. Because of this, Yang faces criticism from viewers that his white, straight counterparts would never face. No one would ever tweet how some cast member is always white and straight in every sketch, because that is the comedy default.

Yet amid the homophobia and racism, Yang prevails, and his thoughtful care gives us hilarious performances of characters and impressions that transcend his identity. Not only because he can, but because the references of famous Asians, let alone queer Asians, in pop culture are few. He has given us an impeccable Fran Lebowitz and Elton John, in addition to the beloved Weekend Update trade daddy character, Chen Biao. His talent is evident because he has to dig deeper and look closer at reference material and not rely on a similar look.

“The turning point for me was doing an Andrew Yang impression and having it go over so poorly, specifically amongst Andrew Yang supporters,” he says. “I was just like oh god I need to rethink this...I tried to approach that in a very mechanical way and then it didn’t read. So my takeaway from that was okay, it needs to always be informed by what’s fun about the person or what levers you pull or what things you dial up and down about the person. For Fran, it was the mannerisms, the epigrams, the way New York used to be…”

It’s not lost on Yang that we’re still in the best time for queers in comedy too. “I’ve arrived at a time when queer comedy or queer perspective on comedy is a widely shared reference point among people. I’m a beneficiary of that timing. I’ve lucked out in a way,” he says. And that’s evident in the sketches that have been greenlit to our gay delight. In particular, sketches that Yang and Julio Torres, former SNL writer and queer comedian, collaborated on together. Sketches like “The Actress” starring Emma Stone and Ty Mitchell (yes, that Ty Mitchell), where Stone portrays an actress searching for her backstory as the wife who walks in on her stepson and husband mid-coitus in a gay porn or “Sara Lee” where Harry Styles plays a gay social media coordinator for the bread brand, but lets his horny comments and captions about “getting railed to death” derail his duties. The week the “Sara Lee” sketch came out Grindr profile headlines changed overnight to “🍆 🍆 🍆 💦 🚂 👻”

That’s not to say getting these overtly queer sketches in the show is easy. Each sketch has to be presented to the host and given a stamp of approval. Bowen reveals, “For [Emma Stone and Harry Styles] specifically, I remember that part of the process very clearly and I remember being like wow there’s a lot hanging on this interaction of pitching it to them and convincing them that it’s a good idea. For Sara Lee, it was already a pre-written sketch that Julio and I had written for John Mulaney in the prior season….then they announced Harry as host. Then we were like oh, wait, he would be perfect for this… so Harry and I sit down and I tell him about the idea… and he is like let’s do it... I truly was white knuckling it until the camera started rolling on it because I was with Julio that night and I kept saying to him I can’t believe this is going to make it on tv..” Yang notes that with “The Actress,” “Apparently Emma really fought for it in the room and she was like I’m really proud of this and if it doesn’t make it to air I will be heartbroken is like the gist of what she said to the producers and then it made it.”

Yang’s hard work and charisma is undeniably the reason why he’s had major roles in sketches as well. He plays opposite RuPaul in “Coal Miners Face-Off,” a Dynasty parody. In the “U.S.O. Performance,” he and Kristen Wiig perform a duet together to a Whitney Houston inspired bop. With Regina King in “70s Green Room,” Yang and King’s fast-paced banter compliments their undeniable chemistry. We’ve come to expect these intimate scenes where his talent shines. When asked what he attributes to these moments and connections, he humbly notes that “the big sort of goal every week, the mandate, is to make the host look good. And I feel like that’s what I try to organize around. I don’t always succeed.”

In a previous interview on NPR’s It’s Been A Minute, Yang explained that the goal of his tenure at SNL was to facilitate a better place for the next person. His mere presence has already accomplished that, but when I ask how he is continuing to do so, he states, “I am internally setting some sort of expectation about what the next person can do to voice a concern. SNL is this place where everyone is in constant communication with each other and you’re encouraged to voice a concern if you’re not happy with something....I’ve had conversations with people there where they’ve been like ‘Oh wow, I didn’t realize that was a thing that is part of your sort of like existing here as a queer cast member or as an Asian cast member. I never realized that.’”

“Hopefully I’m creating some general discourse around how you take care of a queer [person]...I think this is a learning experience for everybody and so that hopefully by the time the next intersexually queer person comes along, and that’s already happened with Punkie Johnson, but by the next time that person comes along or more people come along, that you sort of have some framework around knowing how to check in on this person’s well-being and creative expression and freedom.”

Through mainstream success and his goals at SNL, Yang has paved a new path for queer comedians, Asian comedians, and queer Asian comedians. While it is frustrating that he is receiving any social media backlash about his work in the mainstream, we’re lucky it’s Yang who is at the forefront of this new representation. Mentioning Yang in any setting where queers and/or Asians are present makes everyone melt with admiration and gratitude. Every time I see him on SNL deliver a fantastic impression or intimate moment with an A-List host, it still makes me giddy. I never thought I’d see a queer Asian cast member on that stage. I know when I get to my first writers’ room, it’s going to be a little bit easier because of Yang. There will be one less explanation I’ll need to give about a joke, premise, or why I deserve to have a seat at the table. My hopes feel more like a possibility because of Bowen Yang. He is a strong metal ox that’s creating a fruitful future for the rest of us.

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Photos by Justin J Wee (@djdumpling)
Bowen Yang in an outfit designed by Sam Branman (@tenyardsclothing) commissioned by drag queen Baby Love (@babylovebk)

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