Bowen Yang's first screen test for “SNL” was a 'disaster' due to Lorne Michaels interaction: 'I didn't get the job'
So much for bonding over poutine and other Canadian delicacies.
Bowen Yang's first screen test with Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels might have been frostier than the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
Appearing on the newest Hot Ones with host Sean Evans, Yang recalled his first ever conversation with the series creator and producer, describing it as nothing short of disastrous after he tried to bond over their shared home country.
“I had screen tested in 2017," recalled the actor and comedian. "The final step in that process is you have a one-on-one meeting with Lorne. It was him and another producer, Erik Kenward. 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."
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"I didn’t get the job because I had pandered to his Canadianness and it was a disaster," said Yang, who is American but lived in Montreal for much of his childhood. He also recounted the counsel that he received from a former cast member that later helped break the ice when he joined the show: "Aidy Bryant was the one who told me, 'You can be, like, friends with him now,'" recalled Yang.
"I think Lorne at one point was hanging out with Aidy and kind of chuckling about it like, ’I think Bowen sees me as a mountain to climb, and I don't want him to think that anymore,'" recounted Yang. "That kind of gave me the encouragement 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 joined the venerable sketch comedy show in 2018 as a writer and joined the cast the following year, becoming the first Chinese-American cast member. He's received four Emmy nominations for his work on the show.
Evans Vestal Ward/NBC via Getty
Bowen Yang and Lorne MichaelsThe breakout star is gearing up for the release of part one of the two-part movie adaptation of the musical Wicked, in which he plays Pfannee. His costar Ariana Grande recently revealed on his Las Culturistas podcast that she personally asked Michaels to allow Yang to star in the movie — which filmed in London — while simultaneously working on SNL in New York.
"I knew that it was a huge, massive ask and also, probably an impossible one," said Grande.
Added Yang, “It’s the only time that I’ve ever pulled, like, a pouty face in front of him, to be like, ‘I really wanna do this.’ And then he was like, ‘OK.'"
For more spicy anecdotes about SNL and Oz, watch Yang's Hot Ones above.
