This week’s Saturday Night Live promo featured SZA and presenter Keke Palmer. In the opening video clip, Nope star Keke Palmer introduces herself as “Hello, I’m Keke Palmer and I’m hosting Saturday Night Live this week with musical guest SZA.”

“And I’m Brown Yang and we’re gonna have such a… did i just say ‘Brown Yang?’,” an embarrassed Yang asks this week’s guests as they laugh nervously. “I can’t even read my own name. Sorry Guys! I am Bowen Young and we’re gonna… oh my God. Brown Yung! What’s happening right now?” Yang stammers.

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Keke Palmer further asked, “Are you okay Bowen?”

“I’m worried about you Bowen,” SZA says before he refers to her as “Scissors” and says he’s going to take a long nap before tomorrow night’s (December 3) show.

Who is Bowen Yang?

Bowen Yang is an Australian-born American actor, comedian, podcaster, and writer based in New York City.  Bowen Yang was born on November 6, 1990, in Brisbane Queensland, Australia. He was the youngest of two children and attended Chinese Sunday school.  

From his early childhood, Yang was inspired by Sandra Oh’s character Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy and aspired to be a doctor.  He took pre-med courses and received a bachelor’s in chemistry from NYU. He chose to pursue a career in comedy after finding he was inspired by Oh for her acting skills.

He met Matt Rogers at NYU, and the two of them co-founded Las Culturistas, a comedic podcast where Yang “unapologetically expresses his personality, stories, and himself through discussing his experiences as a member of the LGBTQ community.”

Career 

From 2013 to 2018, Yang self-taught Adobe Photoshop, graphic design tools, and creating graphics at the upscale interior and home design website One Kings Lane.  He was also a member of the group Dangerbox and Yang had given his performance at the Upright Citizens Brigade.  

Yang also co-hosted a podcast show Vulture with Matt Rogers. In September 2019, there were more than 300 episodes of the podcast, which had its debut in 2016.

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In 2018, Yang was hired as a staff writer on Saturday Night Live for the show’s 44th season. In September 2019, Yang was promoted to a featured cast member for the 45th season, alongside improviser Chloe Fineman, both of whom were promoted to repertory status at the start of the show’s 47th season in September 2021.  

Yang’s popular Twitter tweets in 2019 that included “expertly-timed lip-sync videos of iconic movie scenes,” in which he “reproduces language from diva scenes” and well-known moments in popular culture, garnered press attention.

Bowen Yang also played Nora Lin’s mobile app-developer cousin, both being raised by her dad and grandmother in the Comedy Central sitcom Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, which premiered in January 2020 and was renewed for a third season in 2022.

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Yang has also been associated as a writer for the Apple TV+ musical comedy Schmigadoon!, which stars Cecily Strong, a castmate from Saturday Night Live. He also made a cameo appearance on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! in September 2021. He co-starred in the 2022 film Fire Island with his close buddy Joel Kim Booster, whom he had first met when he started his comedy career.

In January 2019, he was named in Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list.