Bowen Yang said goodbye to “Saturday Night Live” with the final sketch of the night, which was also his last.
On Friday there was news that Saturday's episode will be Ian's final appearance. within the framework of “SNL» cast after eight seasons in the series. He first joined Saturday Night Live as a writer in 2018 for season 44 and was later added to the cast as a leading player in season 45. In season 47, he was promoted to main cast.
In the sketch, Ian played a flight attendant with a broken eggnog machine in the Delta One lounge getting ready for her last shift.
“This is my last shift. It's sad. I'm going to miss everything about this place. The way it smells. The celebrities that come. Just last week Josh O'Connor showed up,” Yang said, referring to the “SNL” host last week.
Tonight's host Ariana Grande, who starred in Wicked with Ian, also appeared and said goodbye to her friend. Playing a member of Young's character's family, Grande said, “I wish you were home, but I'm so proud of you and all the eggnog you've made over the years. Some of it was great, some of it was rotten.”
“And a lot of it was cut,” Yang added. “But you know, I also think eggnog is kind of like me. It's not for everyone, but the people who like it are my people.” They sang a song together, were joined on stage by musical guest Cher (who played the eggnog maker's boss), and Ian teared up as he said goodbye.
“Oh, Rhonda, I should have come home earlier,” he said breathlessly. “I was just lucky that I got to work here. And I just wanted to enjoy it a little more. Especially the people. I loved every single person that worked here. Because they did so much for me, especially my boss.”
During the final “good night” to close the show, Grande gave a special shout-out to Young: “And Bowen, Young, we love you so much! Good night!”
Young's midseason departure came after several cast members left before the start of season 51, including Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and John Higgins. Quitting mid-season is rare, but it's not unheard of: Cecily Strong, Molly Shannon and Dana Carvey have all done it in the past.
In addition to Saturday Night Live, Ian co-hosts the pop culture podcast Las Culturistas with fellow comedian Matt Rogers. For the first time, they held the annual Las Culturistas Awards as a full broadcast of the awards ceremony on Bravo and Peacock. Ian also reprized his role as Pfanny in the musical Wicked: For Good, released this fall. He and Rogers are also writing and starring in an upcoming comedy for Searchlight Pictures.
