SmartLess - "Bowen Yang"

Episode Date: June 1, 2026

Put a bee in your bonnet— it’s Bowen Yang. We hit the pillars: vibes, therapy, trade-winds, a silver fedora, and learning about Celine Dion. Because- life! On an all-new SmartLess. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So I booted up today and here's what I noticed. Okay. You know, you just start talking and you hope an interesting thought comes into your head. That's where I find myself right now. So I booted up. What I noticed was. You thought talking about booting up was going to get you going? Yeah, it was just going to trigger something for the cold open.

Anything ever funny ever happened for you guys when you boot up? Look at this. Oh, Sean's wearing a boot. Oh, he's still wearing his walking boot. Now we're into a free cell association, and it's improv and yes and and to an all-new smart list. Smart. I apologize for picking my teeth. I just got through a bunch of really leafy vegetables.

Okay. So I might have to excuse myself mid-record here. You think? Well, I mean, I don't know. Well, no. Why don't you get some floss? I've got the little pick right here. I apologize.

You're having to watch. You and whoever the surprise guest is, I apologize. You can't bear it until after? No, if I have something stuck between my teeth, everything stops. Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of the same way. I can't. It's like a bee is stuck in my car. I got to pull over. You've got a B in your butt.

Yeah, you've got to be in your butt. Hey, there's a good saying. You should start that. You got to be in your bottom. J.B. Now, how's your new setup? J.B.'s in New York now. How's your setup? Pretty good?

It's good. I'm just, I'm in the hotel for a week, and then I get the keys on Friday. So then I'll go over to the, a partamante and um and you'll be there for three four months yes yeah wow isn't it wild and i just got back oh wow i know why i should be playing i should be staying at your place yeah by the way why don't you oh too late you dick you could a real safe invite now that i'm obligated to a fucking long-term lease you know you could have done you done that but it was it's been too small for you i'm gonna be there i'm gonna be there i'm gonna be there i'm gonna be there well i don't be there

Because life. Because they're right. Laf. Yeah, maybe, yeah, so I guess that's why I couldn't stay at your place. You've got a nice new fancy spot here, don't you? I don't have, I don't have keys yet. Why? Because you're making it fancy here?

You're in the middle of making it fancy here? No, no, no, no. It's a long, it's complicated. But I'm very excited. We're excited for you. I'm super jealous. You know how long I've wanted to live here. I know.

I know. Why don't you just get a little tiny something? Your second? How many times have you had a place in Manhattan, Will? Oh, God. Like a place, not like a hotel, but a... Yeah, you and Amy used to live there. I lived there for over 20 years, full-time.

Yeah, but that was just one spot, right? I mean, different spots have you had here. Different, oh, my God, countless. I had so many. You have more or less than a dozen apartments. How many do you count them? More or less than a dozen apartments in Manhattan. Probably around a dozen.

Oh, really? Yeah, something like that. Close to it. That sounds like I'm so jealous. You, Sean? In New York? Sean is your first? Is that your first?

It's the first place I've owned, yeah, for now six years. But back in the day, used to move around a lot. You know, like you'd live with roommates for a year and then somebody would bail and so you'd have to move cross town. I used to be able to move in a taxi, one taxi cab ride. Just a couple duffel bags, for real. And stuff like a mattress, like a futon mattress in the trunk and then like go cross town. And then I move back cross town and whatever. Oh, this is sad.

Those are sad moves. I think fondly back, I used to live on 21st Street for years, and I remember having, I lived in this, basically a studio, this is such a boring story, but I'm going to do it anyway, and fold up Futon mattress, I didn't even have the frame, so in the day I'd roll it up in the corner. Just a couch. On the floor, just a swollen yoga mat.

Yeah, and then I'd have that, and then I had like two pairs of jeans and two T-shirts and whatever. It was so, it was so simple. Yeah. And there was just, there was nothing, there was nothing. It was just, I gotta say it was incredible. But isn't, isn't one of the greatest things about getting older is you don't move around like that.

Like that's, it's just exhaust. You don't realize when you're younger, how exhausting is to keep moving and moving and moving. I still, I still, I still remember. Well, you also become attached to more, you get attached to more stuff as you get older too, right? Or do you get rid of it? You're like, fuck, where's all this stuff? Hey, Sean, is it, is that a new placement for the SAG Award, of which I bet you have many? Yeah, we don't need to see your fucking awards in the background.

Nobody counts four SAG Awards. Oh, shit. Why would you count that? Yeah, but that's a new spot right over your shoulder. No, I don't know who put it there. I swear I don't. Okay, Scottie. I'm taking it out after.

Well, let's find out with a mystery of who put the SAG Award in frame. But have you noticed that people do that on their Zooms? They put the awards in the background. Why is that? I'm more, I'm still bothered about that TV behind you, because it never gets viewed because it's in the worst. Well, sometimes, sometimes if... Never.

Well, no, sometimes if... This is my office, and so... I know where it is. Yeah, if we could see the fax machine. Oh, God, he's really knocking down big deals over there. But it's just the placement of it is so locked in. And then the seating on the other side of your desk is so far away to watch that. I know. No, it's not that far.

Anyway, when Scotty's got something going on, I come in here and I'll watch. I don't need to. to explain myself to you. Okay, here we go. Ready? Watch this. Sure. My guest today is smarter

than all of us combined and practically half our age. He started college as a pre-med chemistry major because he was inspired by Sandra O's character on crazy... Is this Dugie House? Crazy Anatomy.

He was born in Australia, moved to Quebec, then to Colorado when he was nine. Later, he moved to New York, got a graphic design job to pay the bills while doing late-night improv and eventually walking. into 30 Rock and booked Saturday Night Live, giving him seven seasons and five Emmy nominations.

It's a hilarious, delightful Bowen Yang. Oh my goodness. It's Doogie. What's up, doggs? It's Doogie Houser. I've never seen it. I've never seen that show. You're too young.

I don't think I've seen pieces of it. Wait, Bowen's got you, you've got awards behind you too. No, and I, you guys, I knew you guys were. No, that's a bust of Ben Franklin. This is Ben Franklin. No, this is the parting gift they gave me at S&L. The makeup guy, so now they do 3D scans of your face. Yeah, that's Lauren.

No, they do 3D scans of your face. Yes, he is. Oh, God damn it. It's okay, but we had a good time there, Jason. We got to read a fucking year. I love this, by the way. There's a special quality to this. It's so his Girl Friday, just you guys all overlapping.

It's so cool. We're the worst interviewers, and we get a lot of shit because we interrupt each other all the time. People are like, I wish they'd shut up. We're like, well, this is what a conversation is, right? People don't get it. What about on yours? You guys overlap by bed all the time. Or do you do it together?

Las Colteritas. We do it together now. We used to do, we would do it very much on Zoom in years past, but now we're back to spatial, shared, whatever. Studio. You guys are going to really Rorschach test my shelves, aren't you? I don't see, this is the thing about awards. Mine are mostly glass, which I feel like are less legitimate than the brass.

What, your awards? Because they could break. Well, let's go. on the books. You got Cape Bush. Yeah. Oh, really? I got a Cape Bush thing.

Oh, yeah. I like Kate Bush. What do you got? A home pod? Is that a home pod up in there? This is a Sonos. This is a Sonos. Oh, gotcha.

What's the gold one? The gold thing is a golden globe? No, this is the newly redesigned Academy Museum honor. It used to be... I was there. You were there. I was there when you got it.

I was there when you got it. Yeah. Congratulations. They used to be... Thank you. But they used to be smaller, silver Oscar statues. And now they, now it's a gold ice cream cone.

I don't understand why they changed it. What's it for? Vives. I don't know. For being excellent, you dumb ass. For being great at what he does. Sean, which is, can anyone here describe what I do? I don't know if you know that Sean, Sean won a silver fedora.

Yeah, look at that. It's cool. For excellent cosplaying of Indiana Jones. That's excellent. And he was excellent out of it. Bo and Yang, what's what? Yeah. Talk to you. Hang on a second.

No, don't yeah me. I'm fucking talking to Bo and Yang. Wow. How dare you? That's so rude. Cool it. You just too, sorry. No, I want to talk to Bowen Yang for a second.

I want to know how and why you moved around and what happened. We were just talking about moving around and then Sean introses you and it's like ping bummed. Yeah. All over the place. Why did I move around? Yeah. Your parents, you were born and then you moved to Quebec and then can't.

And then, what did I just say? Who started in Australia. Then you had to get the hell out of there for some reason. Quebec and then Colorado. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quebec and Colorado. No, oh, it was, my dad's been at the same job for the past, like, 308 years. But he got his doctorate in Australia.

So that's where my sister and I were born in Brisbane. Then we moved to Canada, Montreal, where I learned about Celine Dion, and then we moved to Colorado for, And what did you learn about there? I learned about... Oh, no, I moved to Colorado. I'm going to get in trouble right now. At the tail end of...

I'm going to get in trouble. I moved at the tail end of the Clinton administration right after Columbine and Jean-Meney to Colorado. So as an eight-year-old, I'm like... The whole Clinton administration was about tail-end. Let's be honest, okay, guys. Hey, wait, Bowen, Bowen, how many years...

How old were you then when you moved from Quebec? Because I want to get into the Canada stuff, obviously as a Canadian. Let's get into it. Yes, I would love to. Eight years old. So I was hysterically sobbing, being like, why are we moving to the place

where people get killed? It was right after Jean-Bene, who was in Boulder, and it was after, like, it was after all this mess. Wait, but this is interesting. I'm going to tell you, Willie, because this is, and this will prompt Bowen, which is, your dad grew up literally

in a straw and mud hut in Inner Mongolia, taught himself to read by Candleight, got a PhD in mining explosive, what that's right and then moved across three countries that's crazy you can go to school for anything so he got a doctorate in blowing

stuff up yeah and blowing stuff up for at quarries and such yes well he loves it take it anywhere he wants I guess sure but when I love your explanation I love your explanation he loves it he loves it

but like that I guess you would be I would want someone to be very credentialed before I hand of the keys to some explosives. Right. Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

And then you went to when you, go ahead. No, you go, you go. I was going to say, this would relate to Will, you went to, you were like, blown away by Christopher laughs, which is what, a comedy festival. Pun. Pun. I was blown away. Pun.

Yeah, really good. Just be rier. So, Will. Rue. Oh, here they go. We. Ah, they're not. We get it.

There would be like free street performers. What? What, Jason? Jason, Jason, I wish I knew a language. No, but you're allergic to culture. No, but you are allergic to tabernac. You do not have this bridge to tabernac, chri-so. I have a one cigarette.

Wait. I love Montreal. So do I. Montreal is a phenomenal city. Truly, truly. I mean, like, people say Portland has the best strip clubs. Montreal had the best trip clubs. and I could have, I had the authority to say this as a child.

You drive through them on the way back from Chinatown into the suburbs, and you would pass by the strip clubs, and they had great lights. Vancouver was pretty gifted for the ballet as well. Don't you drag that shit into here. No, Frills your arms right there, just outside the airport there. Raise your arms. Nobody does a peeler bar like Montreal.

No, old peelers, yeah. Hey? Anyway, so what were. You were you inspired by it just for laughs? Like, what's the first thing you saw? You're like, oh, my God, I'm going to do that. The laughs. The laughs. I heard the laughs.

There would be, like, street performers, and they still have that. But, like, it would be free street performances, and it would be the most, like, Quebec, crazy, kooky stuff, like, a mime who, like, pulls something out of his ear. Like, I don't know. It was just, like, clowning plus, like, jokes. I don't know. It just didn't have to make sense, you know? Yeah, yeah.

It was that and then... So Montreal was what ages to what ages? Sorry. It was... No, that's okay. It was three to nine. Three to nine, and then to Colorado. And then to Colorado, nine to 17.

And 17 to what was where? New York. And 17 to now has been New York. Wow. Wow. I'm 17. Is that... When people ask me, where are you from?

I don't know. You're not sure what to say? I feel like it's stolen valor if I say... Well, if I say... oh Colorado and then Canada before that people were like and I tell them what years I grew up there they were like oh well you should just say Colorado and I'm like yeah but developmentally

like those Canada years were important to me well how much but really I mean for any of us how much do you remember before nine years old not a time yeah just a lot of screeching tires Johnny not all of us had to black it out man you know what I mean oh yeah yeah Jake Bates Jakey was trying to learn how to die on the set of a little

on the prairie and getting notes on a little less on the dying, Jake, okay? Little Jakey bates with this bowl cut. Have you ever seen photos? Google Jason when he was a kid. He's so fucking cute. Yeah. It's unbelievable. And you can see him on getting there in action and he's got to die.

Pulling up my overalls. Hey, pa. Hey, pa. No, but I think most of what shaped me happened once I got to California, which was seven till now. I mean, you know, I remember snow and things like that in Salt Lake City, Boston, New York, but in the ages before. But nothing really shaped who I am happened before then, right?

Sure. I mean, so I think, well, I mean, not as much as, you know, your Colorado years. You know, 9 to 17. I mean, that's the whole cookie right there. I mean, Jason, let's be honest. Living in L.A. from, you know, 18 and through your 20s, you saw a lot of snow then, too. Yeah, yeah. Let's be real.

Let's be real. That's be real. Huh? Jesus. Pornche peeling out of water, brothers with a fucking beak full of snow. You come so wicked. Jesus.

Oh, we had some fun. Oh, we had fun. So Bowen, how do you go? So pre-med chemistry? Is that right? Is that? Yeah, it was, I was taking cover behind it. Really?

Okay. Because I was looking at colleges and I was like, purely motivated by, like, what the comedy scenes were there. Oh, okay. So, so you... It was between, like, Northwestern and NYU, yeah. So you, but you, so you went with the,

with the intention to pursue comedy under the guise of pre-med, pretty much. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Really? We were just, uh, we were just, uh, talking to Colin just about this, right?

Where he was... Similar. Yeah, so he's, he's going into Harvard studying, was it, uh, economics. economics and then he decided to just sort of tack over to comedy when he's sitting at so you could go to northwestern or like you had you had the skills the academic qualifications to really get yourself a career that you could count on a nice healthy base salary and some longevity etc but you were like no no let's go with comedy that's what i want to put put it all in on huh terrible terrible i mean i mean thank god it works out but who's laughing now But interesting, yeah. Yeah, you're killing it. So it all worked out.

But I was interested to ask Colin about that, and I'm going to ask you the same. It was, go ahead. Well, I feel like with Harvard, it's like the lampoon is, like, kind of institutionally there. You know what I mean? I feel like, now I feel like, especially at SNL, it's like, oh, NYU is sort of the pedigree, whereas, like, I don't know, 10 years ago it was more Harvard bleeding. Oh, okay. Interesting.

Oh, really? Right? I don't know. So that was part of the thinking, because did you end up going to NYU? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So then that was, you thought of that as possibly a feeder for SNL. S&L was a goal?

S&L was never the goal. S&L was like too, too far out of reach. But what ended up happening was, like, people from our little ilk at NYU, our coterie of, like, freaks and weirdos were, like, being raptured up into the SNL spaceship. And then we were like, oh, wait. So now we have our little canaries or whatever. I mean, it sounds nefarious, but it... Well, were you, it does sound.

It sounds like you're hiding something. But I... Do you, do you, do you... Were you doing... Were you doing sketch? Were you doing stand-up? Yeah, were you at UCB? Yeah.

Yeah. This was, we were... I was going into NYU right after these boys from Derek comedy had just sort of like stormed the scene. It was Donald Glover and... like D.C. Pearson and Dominic Dierkes. Like Rachel Bloom was in her senior year. Steph Schu was doing sketch comedy there.

Like it was all these like people who were like, oh, there's something special about them. And then, but at the time you couldn't say, like, well, we're all going to make it big. You know? It just wasn't. You just did what you loved. You could never say that out loud. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and it sounds so annoying when people ask you, like, would you have any advice? And I'm like, I, if you can be at the right place at the right time, but there's never any way of knowing. Yes, that's a great point. Were you doing anything simultaneously to sort of mitigate your risk? You know, studying anything else?

Studying chemistry, volunteering at Bellevue, at Bellevue Hospital, the ER at Bellevue, where I got fired because I had to like, because I added like 10 minutes to my time chart or something. It was like they were serious as a heart attack. so to speak about. Like, they would not let anything slide. We'll be right back.

And now, back to the show. This is really interesting. I read that at NYU when you were chemistry pre-med, that's because of Sandra O. You were a huge fan of Sandra O. on Graz Anatomy. And then what happened, which I think is hilarious. Come on.

That's not a bit. That's not a bit. It's not a bit. And her character name is Christina Yang. Christina Yang. Christine. Isn't that crazy? It's like the classic, like, your wire's getting crossed for it was like,

it wasn't that I wanted to be a doctor because I saw her. It was because one, I wanted to maybe act, and two, because I was a gay man worshipping an actress's work. Like, it was just those two things. Yeah, it's a one-two punch. That's a one-two punch. Yeah.

Yeah, so. But chemistry, but chemistry is not, is not medicine. You're not going to, you're not going to, No. You're not studying medicine. So, like, what could one... Well, what are you studying, Jason?

Let's hear your thoughts on chemistry. I want to know what kind of career one can anticipate with a chemistry degree. So it's funny. Like, back in the day, the word industry, to me, meant... Didn't mean anything Hollywood. It meant, oh, like, you're working an industry job in chemistry, which means you work for, like, Procter & Gamble or something. You, like, make deodorants.

Right. Right. Dow, yeah. Yeah. You make these, like, you make pharmaceuticals, or you make like... That was a genuine interest for you. You were going to pursue that. No, no, it wasn't.

It was not genuine at all. Chemistry was because it was the path of least resistance to getting, to, like, finishing my credits. There was no, like, actual interest in it. I mean, I know some stuff. It was a subject you had a handle of. Like, you didn't struggle. Like, I struggled greatly with chemistry. Yeah.

It's not simple. On the bus? On the bus? On what? On the bus? By the way, nobody registered any shock on that. I was silent after you said that. I wasn't looking for shocked.

Bowen, you never had the feds, you never had to knock at the door of the feds for the kid who's a chemistry major whose dad was involved in a explosive. You didn't get a quick visit? I should have. You didn't have trouble traveling? I'm sure I'm on a list.

Oh, no, you're right. I never thought of that, Will. I mean. But I wanted to just say all the crazy SNL stuff. So you were like, I read you were like me when you were a kid

you would sit in your room or with your family and do the bunny ears on the TV and get S&L on Saturday night. I used to do that and watch it by myself in one of my brother's rooms

because nobody was around. And then, and then Sandra ends up posting the show, right? Where was everybody? Sorry, who was everybody? And then your sister introduced you to SNL, and then you were voted senior most likely to be on SNL in your high school?

Because that was like the florid, sort of like embellished language for our superlatives. It was like, instead of like class clown, it was like most likely to be on SNL. Right, right, right, right. But there's so many, I was senior most likely to trip at graduation. But there's no. Did you?

Yeah, I did, actually. On what? Acid or shrooms? Hey, oh, hey, come on guys, let's all be alive. Let's look alive. Let's look alive. No, but I just think that's so wild. And so you watch it, your sister said,

then you got voted for it, then you went there, and then Margaret Cho was there. There's so many arrows pointing that you were going to be on the show. It's just crazy. I guess, I guess. And then, but then, so when the audition happens, does all that stuff flood in

and you feel the stakes and the pressure of it? Or were you kind of indifferent? But let's figure out, like, how did that audition happen and then that feeling? Like, what was the, yeah, How did you get into the machine? So speaking of Just for Laughs, that used to be the pipeline. Like the SNL talent people would go to Just For Laughs in the summer

and they would pick out their people. I never made it to that stage. And so I was like, I guess it's not in the cards for me. But then, like, my manager at the time said, put together a tape, five minutes, like the standard, whatever, entry point. And I was like, they'll never, ever fucking hire an effeminate Asian guy like on that show. Like, why would they ever need that?

So on a lark, I was like, no one's ever going to see this tape. So let me just, like, fuck around and do what's funny for me. And then somehow slipped through. That's freeing, though. That's a good lesson for everyone. That must have been, you must have, that feeling of, like, fuck it. Like, kind of going to what Jason was saying, like, that feeling of you're doing it and being able to, like, do it without a net because you just don't.

It's not you don't care. Is it sexy indifference? It's a sexy indifference that Jason likes to say. Right. must have felt really good being able to just kind of do what is. Okay. I think I'm talking to the right people, but I just read this somewhere. I don't really have any knowledge of it.

But it's that thing that like, it's like not the yips, but it's like golfers have this when they're a little too focused on the swing. They just like lose all prowess. They lose all capability. It's when you're like, not in a flow state, but it's when you're not thinking of like the micro decisions. It's when you're like, who cares? Right.

Figure skaters have this. It's like athletes have this overall. Right. It's like pretend like no one's watching. Hondo P. Honda P. And I think... Hondo P.

Fuck, guys, how young am I? But it is true. I do think about that all the time. You think about... Well, literally in golf, they talk about, like, gripping too tight. But there is that notion of gripping too tight in life on any of that stuff.

And when you do that, that's what I meant. You must have felt really like, God, I bet you that was such an advantage because everybody else is doing their tapes and they're so tight because they've got to get it right. Yep, yep. And I didn't really care, yeah.

So this I read, and hopefully this is tragically hilarious and not just tragic. If you want to talk about it, we don't have to. But I'm fascinated by the fact that your parents sent you to conversion therapy in Colorado when you were 17. It was hilarious. That's why. It actually was.

Yeah, I'm like there's some comedy, probably a lot of comedy from how horrible that was, yeah? Definitely, because there was eight weeks. So the comedy begins and the whole sort of occasioning of it, which was the ultimatum. So, like, I don't come out. I, like, am discovered to be gay based on the family computer. Remember those?

It was, like, my parents going on the family computer being, like, Bowen, what's this? Oh, and they saw. A sultry, dirty, dirty picture. Going through your search, your search history. It was a chat window. Uh-oh. It was a chat window. You got to close those, Bowen.

You got to close those. There's a family computer we're all sharing. Yep. Is that what it was? Wow. Exactly. And you just walked away to get a Coke and... To get cocaine.

Yeah. So you didn't close your window. I didn't close my window. So mom prints it out. Prince out the transcript. Oh, God. How old are you? Oh, God.

17. Okay. Oh, no. So she shakes the paper in front of you and says, Kiskase? She said Kestkese. And you got to put a little bit more quibiqua on it, do you know?

She said, she lo, she, and then it was, it was crazy. And it was like, I would be coming, I would be coming home to my parents sobbing at the dinner table every day.

And I was like, I have to make this right. Like, how could I cause this much pain? And so, the ultimatum was, it gets funny, I promise. The ultimatum was,

uh, either you stay in state in Colorado, go to Boulder, live with us, or you can go to college with your sister if you go to conversion therapy. But the punchline is my sister was at the gayest school in the country, NYU.

Wow. So I was like, sure, I'll do the conversion therapy. It was eight weeks in the summer, and it actually became great bonding time because it was in Colorado Springs, two-hour drive up and down from Denver. My dad and I would, like, bond in the car and just, like, actually get to know each other

for the first time as, like, adults or something. And then the guy is such a quack that by like the eighth session, whatever, like we're going through like some diluted version of like cognitive behavioral therapy where he's like trying to like put me in my body like anytime I've been attracted to a guy

like it was because you were miserable it's because you were like in pain and I'm like... But no, no, no. Then the last session... This makes me sick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is what it is. So the second to last session

my dad is asking him for referrals in New York. He was like, Bowens of going to New York. Do you have any one there who does this kind of work? He's like, sure, I'll come up with some names next time. The next week at the last session, Stonewall. Yeah, go to Stonewall and go to pieces in the West Village. The last session, he, like, walks me, he, like, starts to go into this anecdote in the third person about one of his former patients.

And he's like, yeah, my former patient just gets off at the side of the road in San Bernardino, which is not where you want to be late at night. and his car broke down, and then he goes to a Denny's, and then the waiter's making eyes at him, and then my therapist starts to shift into the first person. And then I was like, am I really gonna have sex with this guy?

And then I did. And then he caught himself shifting into the first person. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And then, like, the blood left his face. And then in that moment, it was like, oh, I've just undone all of this work that we've, this, like, fake, phony work

that we've been doing for the past eight weeks. Wow. And then I was like, wow. none of this was real. I walk out. I've wasted my time. He pulls out a little piece of paper. He's like, so I couldn't find anyone in New York who does this,

but there is a guy in Trenton, New Jersey. And then my dad and I were like, well, I used to date him. I used to date him. My dad and I'm like, oh, I guess, yeah, I'll take the train out to Jersey to see this person. Just trying to like, just trying to like swat this away. I was like, there's no way I'm ever going to continue this. And so I was like in the closet for like a year at NYU.

But then like all these comedy nerds that I was friends with were like, you're gay. And then by sophomore year I was out. But, but Bowen, look, we're not talking about the 50s here. We're talking about just a half a dozen years ago. And it sounds like you, and you're in Colorado, which is progressive-ish. And you're great friends with your parents, it sounds like. I mean, notwithstanding the fact. that they want you to go through conversion therapy,

you're still getting along with them and you're driving and you're bonding with your dad and blah, blah, blah. Like, how, I don't understand how all this can sort of match because at what point, didn't you at some point say, yeah, no, no, guys, I am gay, I'm happy. And you love me and you're happy with me and like, why are we trying to convert anything?

Right, right. They, it's not really a religious thing for them, or it wasn't, like, I think for them it was just this cultural thing coming out of China. Yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah, well, it's not even on a political alignment. It's just them thinking like, oh, I don't want my child to have a worse, harder life.

And for them, like they, so my dad kept saying to me was, speaking of like the Straw Mudhut sort of ethos, he was like, where I grew up, this doesn't happen. Like, there are people like this. And I was like, no, there are, they just had no concept of it. And so they are both scientists, engineers, they think in terms of solutions. They think in terms of what can be done to change this. Right. I understand.

I read when you said, I read you said your dad will still occasionally suggest you could try women and you call it almost endearing homophobia. It's so sweet. Isn't it so sweet? That's so funny. That is so funny. It's so nice.

Bless him. Are they, have you guys had the conversation? of like, I guess it turns out there was nothing to really worry about. Right? We've had, oh, yeah. Yeah, great. I think we've done the, we've patched it up really nicely. Like, they have apologized.

I've always kind of understood where they've come from. Yeah, it sounds like, yeah. Sounds like you had a lot of understanding of it. Like, even early on, like, understanding that like, A, you wanted to go to college, so you were doing it to kind of just go through the motion so you could go. But it does sound like you, I don't know. There's no hint of any sort of anger towards it. Like you were like, yeah, I get it.

I know where they're coming from. That's very kind. It shows a kind of spirit, to be honest. Yeah, yeah, I love that. So I want to go back to, if you don't mind. There's never a subject that Sean doesn't want to get away from every subject. He's got his question. He's never happy where he is.

He's always trying to leave where he is. 100%. We're enjoying Bowen. We're talking to him. We're having a real conversation. Look, if you want, we can talk about being gay all on day long. No, I don't want to, whatever. Should I just go?

Okay, so So the SNL screen says we kind of covered that But I want to talk about So your first you were hired as a writer At such a young age, which is amazing You weren't even on camera. Sure. Sure. And how old were you?

27? That's a reasonable age? That's pretty young, though. But the first time you were on camera, which made me laugh. I laughed so hard at you playing Kim Jong-un. Oh, thanks. It was so fucking...

It was so funny. Jason, are you laughing? Just thinking about it. Oh my God, I gotta find that. It was so funny. I mean, I love it. Thanks. And then the first thing that ever went super viral

was you played the iceberg, the, what was it? The Iceberg, you'd think the Titanic. Yeah, the Iceberg is going to be a Titanic. Yeah, Sean, the Iceberg is a killer. Which is so funny. What was it like? Talk to me about being a writer and then going,

hey, you know what? We think you should be a writer. featured player and you're Kim Jong-un and you're this iceberg that hit the Titanic hit. The same sketch? No, no, no. What was the same sketch? It was him. It was him all along.

Was the feeling like, oh, my, like, how nervous were you to be doing the thing that you set out to do on the first time? So nervous. So what I remember from the Kim Jong-un thing was, it was when Sandra O hosted, as you said. Yeah, that's right. I was a writer. and... Insane.

Insane, insane. And so they... Just insane. Just insane in synchronicity, et cetera. Yeah. I know. It's all very kismity. How was that conversation when you went...

Did you go up to her at some point and say, hey, so I just got to tell you really quick. Yeah. When I was a quote... Did you tell her how much... Your both... You're responsible. Yeah.

Yes. Okay, good. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I... I would like do these... Pre-Tik-Tuk, I would do these things where I would just like... Just kind of match, like, on a lip-flap, perfect level. Like...

the little like, oh my God. Whatever, recitals and monologues. And I did her. I saw you lip sync the whole monologue from Devil Wars Prada. I did that. I did, yeah.

So like, you've got to see it. It's unbelievable. I've scrubbed them. I don't know why I'm like so ashamed to see them now. Because they're so like pre- But it's incredible. I don't know. They seem prehistoric to me.

But anyway, but Sandra and I met before she hosted. And then she hosted these other writers, Streeter Seidel writes me into the sketch where I play Kim Jong-un. I don't have context at the time. and they don't put my prescription in the glasses that I wear. And so I had to be off book, basically,

which is not what you do at SNL, as you guys know. Like, I used to be off book. I had to, like, call a Korean friend, Karen Chi, who used to write at Seth Myers. I was like, can you translate these lines into Korean for me, learned the Korean, was off book on a foreign language. Whoa. Then it was just a million different things.

And I had a sketch on that week that I had to be. I sat under the bleachers next to Lauren Michaels in the Kim Jong-un costume. getting notes. Like, I'm in this Kim Jong-un costume and he turns to me, he's like, maybe we cut the Canaan sooner or whatever. I'm like, this is the most surreal,

that's still the most surreal week of my life that I have. Pass the whispering angel. Did you... It's my favorite, it's on ice. Did you, God, it must have been... Was it weird being, all the years you were there just knowing that you were the smartest person in the building, you're learning languages,

you're memorizing... No way. I mean, come on. No, no. I was no Colin. I was no economics major. He doesn't know, does he know French and Korean? Yeah, you can't learn Korean and then memorize it.

Okay, so wait, now tell me about this. When you were 15 years old, you were doing improv at bars? Oh, yeah. Is that true? Yeah, but this is so, that doesn't age well. I feel like. I think that's fascinating. You got to start on things.

How did you get in? Like, for young people listening, It's like, oh, if he can get doing improv, but how did you get into the bars? What happened? So there's a theater in Denver called the Bovine Metropolis Theater. It took me years to figure out it's a play on Cowtown. Anyway, Bovine Metropolis. But anyway, they would do like Monday nights, like kind of open mic situations.

And our sponsor at the school, who is also my calculus teacher, this wonderful educator named Adrian Holguyen. Calculus chemistry. I know, I know. Oh, stop it. You guys, that's enough. So we, we, they would, it was awful. I don't know who, who let their kids go drive into the city on Mondays. I thought that was so interesting.

Yeah. But, but it was great. It was embarrassing. Like, like, we, we bombed constantly in front of people who did not give a shit if we lived. Like, it was like, it didn't matter if we did well. It was just about, like, it's that Chris Rock thing. I'm just, like, bomb a million times. Right, right, right.

Right. Where did your sense of. humor come from? I mean, your parents, you say they're both scientists, but maybe are they super funny? I mean, no. How did you develop it? Was it just watching?

It was, guys, this is, and I hope you guys can accept this or receive this. It's like, I think it was like, do you remember, like, this is the value in like network comedies, right? It's like, it was everybody like having the same frame of reference as to what was funny.

It was like, it was watching you guys Sorry to put you on a pedestal, but it was, it was that. Take your time through here. No, go ahead. Don't finish. It was, it was like, going to school. It was going to school the next day being like, oh my God. Did you guys watch a rest of development?

Or it was like, and Sean, like, after I did this thing. So, Jason, my farewell sketch was with Cher. And I thought, and I was constantly thinking back to Sean, Sean and Cher together. Right. And it was just, I mean, that's just like peak guest star. God, Sean, I love to be doing this of a sheriff of a share. Oh, thanks. So, guys.

Was that a moment for you when, when Will and Grace really hit their stride? And, I mean, yes, there was a moment when Ellen came out. That was the big sort of watershed moment. But then Will and Grace, I believe, followed that, Shawnee. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And was that, did you feel a sense of like, well, there may be a spot for me? I might be able to just light my hair on fire and say, yeah, I'm not closet about anything. there is room for me and us and etc.

Yes? I don't know if I got that far because I'm telling you guys, like I never, I would have been, if you would ask me right as I moved to New York, or like right out of college, if you'd ask me what my like ideal job was in showbiz, it would have been just to be in a room,

just to be in a writer's room. Right. I never placed myself in those things. And I don't know if it's about like, you know, representation stuff. It was more just about like, I'm good just knowing the inner work. I would like watch The Simpsons. and like study the credits.

Like I was, it was about that. It was like, that was the granular kind of comedy thing that I was working with. But watching Sean, I think it was about, like, oh, this is the language, this is the vocabulary of like, or this is just a sensibility of what, like, gay, queer humor is. And then it turns out it's universal. And if I could do that and take what Sean's doing

and just dial it in half, then you could have something good. You get some kind of future. Like, if you could just make it somewhat palatable. You know what I mean? And then you could. I can only... I can say that to the guy who's got four SAG Awards and Emmys and Tony's.

Who counts four? Sean, me, are you like a... Are you an Academy Award way from an EGOT? No. But I... No. And I'm an E. You're Tony and your Emmy.

And you're an E. And Olivier, so I have a toe. Oh. And a sag. And a sag. And a toe's. I have toes. I have saggy toes.

I've saggy toes. I've saggy toes. Saggy toes. We'll be right back. All right, back to the show. Wait, Bowen, so, but Jason, if you haven't seen it, his last, Bowen's last sketch, his goodbye sketch, took place in a Delta lounge,

and it was with Ariana Grande and Cher. And it was so clever how you wrote it, or how you and the writers wrote it, whatever, that your wife calls you, and, well, can I say? Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. You said, I forget what it was about, But it was eggnog, right? Yes.

And Ariana Grande's character... It was the Christmas show. Yes. And she says, all the eggnog you've made over the years, some of it was great, some of it was rotten. And you say, and a lot of it got cut. And a lot of it got cut. Which is really cute.

And it was very emotional. It was really clever. It was really clever to do a Delta lounge. And you were saying... It was really... It's a little... Yeah, it's a kind of... It's obviously like allegorical, metaphorical, whatever.

But I was like, oh, something about departures. Yeah, an airport. It was great. It was the Christmas show. It was like, oh, something about like... Jason got it finally. Jason got it. I got it.

Just takes me a bit. He's this old man who works through the Egnog station, and then he's like, oh, like, eggnog, it's not for everyone, but the people who like it really like it, and they're my kind of people. And like, that's like the whole message of it all. And then Cher comes out as the boss. Yeah, it was really funny. That is sweet. What was, talk, walk us through the thinking about leaving and the, and the, and the

approach to that, the decision to that, what the next five to ten years of your life looks like if you could program it and, you know, do you allow yourself to kind of make plans and strategize a bit? Kind of. I don't know. I feel like I can't plan around like trade wins. I feel like things are just uncertain. Oh, that is a great way to put it. Yeah. You know? I love that expression. Yeah, that's really good. I've never heard that before that's a fucking great way to but to strangle the metaphor you do got to put the boat in the water and and point it point at one direction you know you didn't strangle it you sunk it you're not where where where what island would you like to arrive yeah yeah um you know like do you want to do do you want to do uh do you want to do you want to do

do you want to do just purely comedy would you like to get into drama do you want to do more acting more performing more what it where where is your where are you getting pulled right now? All of it. I honestly, I'm sure you guys feel the same way. Podcasting was never on the, was never on the menu, but it's taken up a lot of space in a good way. I would love all of that.

I think just to go back to like the trade wins thing, it's like I don't, I'm honestly like thinking about where comedy lives right now. It's like, I feel like even, at the Emmys, it feels like it's relegated to this place, even though I think comedy shows have this extra thing they have to do where

it has to present something optimistic about the world. It's really hard to do that right now, I think. You know, it's like, I don't know, I was just watching stuff, I'm watching comedies and watching dramas sort of an equal measure, and I'm like, the dramas are amazing, I love the dramas, but I think the comedies have

this extra thing to do where it's supposed to reflect something back at you and also be like a nice a thing that makes you feel good. Yeah. Well, first of all, there's a lot of, it seems to sort of this trend of a lot of pieces, material

that's not necessarily comedy that gets kind of, you know, grouped in under that umbrella. And I don't know how much comedy you do watch. I find that these days, I don't watch a lot of comedy. I don't know if you guys do.

I really just don't. I don't know if I'm missing it or it's just not the thing for, I don't know, you can probably tell by how boring I am. No. Yeah, there's different, seems like there's different reasons why comedy is, is not a big thing as a big thing as it used to be.

It's scripted, you mean, like, in that way? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's up for debate, but we need it now more than ever. What are the great, what are the great, I'm asking all of you, what are the kind of the great scripted comedy things that are out there right now yeah that you would watch the comeback

yeah yeah that's pretty funny yeah that's bad I mean I love oh god yeah she's hilarious come back but even that even that's a little bit like bleak like it's like oh this is this season's about AI and it's about how like the writers

rooms have like two people in them and it's like whoa shit like this is this is different than it was 10 years ago when the last season was on it's like it just it has these weird it just has this weird has this weird mirror that, like, is sad to look at. And that's what's, that's what's horror.

Right, right, right. What about, I like talking about this, your dating life, because you said. I'm bringing this down, so, the vibes are so bad. No, I like it. No, what are you talking about? I love it. No, you're really making me think, Bonn. Because, Sean, before we get into the dating life, you're really making me think about

that idea that, like, and we want to get into your dating life in, and we actually, we have some graphs. And we also, your mom sent us some printout, we printed out some stuff. Some charts. some chats about some of your options some of the female options but willie you know but you but in a recent esquire but i read your esquire interview the what i've learned piece when you were reflecting you said about work you said you this is you saying it you said you feel like you've hit critical mass where you did too much too soon or something like that and and and you wanted to slow down and

focus on quieter work i i get that but just know that i don't feel there's millions of people that don't feel that way about you. Yeah, I'd take a lot more from you. There's so much more, you know. Yeah, for real. Careful. Drench me. Hang on, Jay, your mic went out for a second.

What was that? Just so we can get it, guys, quiet. Let's get it clean. Soak me. Oh, my God. Jason. I gotta say, Jason showing up to S&L was always, like, everyone was sort of straightened and be like, oh, I'm, Jason and I had a really nice, intimate conversation.

And it was like, everyone's like, I think he's flirting with me. It was Jason's a charmer. I like to get up nice and close. That place, I love that place so much. I just watched that Lauren documentary. It was really cool. I love it. I haven't seen it yet.

I'm telling it. So, Bowen, because I've read this too, and I want you to only want what you want, but that you said it's impossible to date during SNL, and where you would go on a couple of days and then just vanished? Like, what's going on? I would vanish. No, you would vanish.

I put that on me. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's a self-call in. Like, I just, I would get swept up in the show and the work. And, like, it's just so hard to, like, put any stake in your own life, it felt like. But I mean, that's not to say that it's impossible to do. Now, now things are fine.

Like, things are normal. I'm, like, still, still, like, unlearning so many things in a way that I am grateful for and I also mourn how my life used to be. Like, I do miss it so much. I've been getting dinners and lunches with people on the breaks and who are still there. And I'm like, oh, it's nice. And I have to say this because people are listening. It's okay to be single.

Why are you saying it like that? Why are you looking at me? You know what? I've never heard of. And again, this is a guy that lives in a cave. Oh boy, this list is long. This list is fucking long of stuff that you've never heard of.

It's not common to hear about Saturday Night Live hookups and couples with the cast, right? I mean... Or writers or whatever. I don't think it's a gay thing. I don't think it's a gay thing. No, in general. Just in general.

Like, you know, people who go to school together, like, that's all you have or just your classmates is sort of like, you know, I went out with him last year and this year. Like, you don't hear about that on SNL, and you'd think that you would just based on schedule. Like you don't have a chance to meet anybody else. Really?

You guys are in there all the time. We're in there all the time. Oh, but I thought you were talking about Jason, like, intra-S-N-L hookups. Within SNL people are having them. Yeah, I mean, castmates dating one another or a writer with a castmate or writers and writers, or you don't, right?

I know. And you think that you would. You're right. I just wasn't, yeah, I didn't really encounter that, but I don't feel like I missed out. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't know. I love that your Instagram handle is at Faye Dunaway.

That's your name on Instagram. I didn't know that until recently. I laughed out loud at that. First of all, I can't believe it was available. I can't either. And I'm holding onto it for dear life. I think she wants it bad. How much time does your podcast take from you each week?

It siphons from me like six hours a week, which is not that bad. Right. Which is fine. And with your other time, what's the ratio between work pursuits versus personal, you know, just taking care of yourself? How hard are you working by? I'm working decently at like a reasonable intensity. I still am exhausted at the end of the day. Sure.

I think I'm still kind of like my nervous system is still sort of like resetting from SNL where it just, it just knows a work is done. Then it's time to go to bed. There was that switch. But you have to now self-program. Like there, there was a schedule. We had to be there a certain time. But now you've got to do it all. Are you finding your self-motivation adequate?

Not yet. It's getting there. How do you guys do it? Well, I'm very good about when I'm working, I'm very, very disciplined. And when I'm not working, I could not be worse at doing anything. Yeah. Jason's one of my favorite quotes is Jason says, I want to aggressively do nothing. Yeah. And then when I'm working, I'm an animal. Well, actually, the truth is, and I mean this, when he's not working, he obsessively plays golf because it gives him something to do.

Yes. That's super challenging. So he plays it five, six days a week. Yeah. And then he'll say to me like, hey, do you want to play tomorrow? I'm like, no. And he's like, I've got like one thing, but I can't do it all the time. Like he has to do it. because he needs that. I have addiction issues, Bowen. I'm much better. I find I'm much better when I'm not working at being able to just kind of chill. Like I did my little stuff this morning and then kind of like go to the gym and kind of I find it like easy.

You watch some soccer, take a nap. Those are just saggy days though, right? Where you're like, it doesn't matter if you wake up at 8 a.m. or 11.30 a.m. Like those days are like, I feel like I'm being irresponsible to another day of life. Oh, I'm still up at 6. I'm still up at 6 a.m. every day. Right. But, you know.

Good for you. get the kids to school, all that kind of stuff. You have to do. Kids give you that, too. You know. Sean's on a strict chocolate cake schedule. That I do not stray from. You never stray from.

That's got a mixing bowl by 10.30. Sean, really quick, what did you have for breakfast today? I had blood work done so I couldn't eat. But then when I came home, I had... Oh, no. Now you were angry. I had a peanut butter sandwich. Sure.

This is a glass of milk potato chips. Yeah, yeah. Before 11 a.m. that was a peanut butter sandwich? Yeah, yep, at 10.30. There's no bad time for it. Not at all. There's always a good time for peanut butter sandwich. So Las Coulteristas, which is huge,

just hit 10 years. Amazing. Wow, yeah. Wow, yeah. It's great. Congratulations. Yeah, that's huge. It's really cool.

What year are you guys on? Six. Half that. Yeah. Yeah, we're about to hit six. Yeah. And then you have Cat in the Hat coming out November 6th with Warner Brothers, which is amazing. I love that.

Bill Hater. It's amazing. Did you see it yet? No. I love it. I forgot that I'm in it. I think that's going to be huge. And then the last thing I want to do with you, which is such a great thing you do on your podcast.

It's called. Oh, what is it called? I don't think so, honey. I don't think so, honey. Good Sean. Which is similar to who's that guy that Jason you brought on, the taxi cab guy who films Oh, the subway takes good? The subway?

Oh, Karim. Kareem. It's a similar thing to what Kareem does, which is you have a thing. I don't want to put you on the spot if you don't have one. But do you have a... I'm sure I do. I've got one.

Or your favorite one? I've got one. Okay, what is it? I don't think so honey. Outdoor furniture. It's a scam. It is only meant to be dirtied. Your cushions are flying all around.

You've got to like bring down the umbrella. The rugs get dirty. There's no maintenance on outdoor furniture, but we feel compelled. It is compulsory that we buy it to fill out our outdoor spaces, and yet it never aesthetically looks pleasing. It's a terrible, terrible cycle. It's almost Faustian.

I don't know how, but it's like we give up something, we give up our... The indignation of outdoor furniture is terrible. And I know this is a very, like, champagne problem-y thing to have, but it's just awful. We have to cover it when it's raining. It should give you a power washer with it. Oh, I love it.

That's a great take. Mine is, I just thought of this, knowing you were coming on because it just happened to me yesterday, is pulling up to a parking spot where there's a meter, or trying to find a parking spot, somebody comes out,

they get in their car, so you put your clicker on because they're about to pull out and they never pull out. They're on their phone. They take 20 minutes. This is their time. Yeah.

I don't think so, honey. Yeah, I don't think so many. I don't think so many. But you know what I think, Boen Yang, you are brilliant, you are hilarious from the first time I saw you. Thank you for being here today. I love you guys.

You're a treasure. You're not just a national treasure. It turns out you're an international treasure of many countries. You hot that. Continentally North America. The Commonwealth's. Commonwealth. Thank you for being here, Bowen.

Thank you, man. Thanks, guys. And thanks, Bowen. Yeah, I love it. Nice going. I know Jason hates it. He hates an afternoon record. I do.

Oh, my God. You're so right. You're so right. This is staying in. You made it worse it, though. Keep it in. made it worth it. You've changed my attitude about it.

They can all be like Bowen-Yang records. Let's do it then. That was really fun. Thanks, Bowen. Thanks, Bowen. Thanks, boys. All right. Thanks, buddy.

Bye. See, have a good week. Have a great rest of the day. Bye. Oh, great. I like him. I like him a lot. I want to be his friend.

I know. I think we are his friend. He's really funny. Do you think he has any openings for friends? I think so. I think he does. I would underperform. I'm a terrible friend.

Let's have dinner with him. Yeah, he's one of those people that super intelligent and super funny. And I think the two often go hand in hand. Not in my case, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then also, I think it's... Oh, sorry, do you want to push back on that?

Sorry. No, I don't want to put back. No. I need to get better about going out to dinner, don't I? In order to be just a halfway decent friend, I need to actually get out of the house. You go, though, sometimes. I mean, but I don't even take your phone calls. I know.

This is true. This is true. You guys tried to FaceTime. the other day and I just wouldn't have it. You know what happened today? It was you and Josh, Willie. No, you know what happened today is the three of us were on a texting chain and then I stopped

because I know you don't like to get pinged, contrary. Well, just build the paragraph and send that. I don't need 17 cents. But sometimes you need a conversation to go back and forth. So we're going back and forth with the thing we were all talking about. And Sean's like, I feel bad because I feel like Jason doesn't want to get annoyed. So I took you off and I just went to me and well.

We have to manage Gramps. Really? Yeah, because he has a breaking point. What about, I'll just leave the conversation. I'll just hit that button if it gets too much. Well, what would you say? Jason got so mad at me because he kept leaving Nurtle when we were doing it a few years ago

because he didn't want the full back and forth. And then I kept adding him back. He's like, fuck off. It's like the fish that wiggles off the hook and you keep gaffing it and pulling it into the boat. It was so funny. I'd be like, guys, watch this. And then I'd add him into the conversation.

That is so funny. Jason, what would you say if you left the conversation? I would say bye. Bye. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanly handcrafted by Bennett Barbico, Michael Grant Terry, and Rob Armjurf. Smartless.