Bowen Yang shares surprising take on his post-‘SNL’ mindset after abrupt exit

Bowen Yang has struggled adjusting to life after “Saturday Night Live.”

During Thursday’s episode of “Therapuss” podcast, host Jake Shane asked the comedian how he was doing after leaving the NBC sketch comedy show mid-season last year.

“Weird. I feel like I’m chopped, clapped … I’m done in this town,” Yang, 35, replied.

Though the “Wicked” star assured he was “of course” ready to leave “SNL,” he admitted to “constantly readjusting.”

“I think I’ll be in that mode for a while and that’s fine. You know what I mean?” he said.

In December 2025, Yang announced he was leaving the Lorne Michaels-created show after joining ahead of Season 45 in 2019.

“i loved working at SNL, and most of all i loved the people. i was there at a time when many things in the world started to seem futile, but working at 30 rock taught me the value in showing up anyway when people make it worthwhile,” he wrote on Instagram at the time.

An insider told The Post that Yang’s exit was “out of the blue” but was “no surprise.”

Yang initially wanted to leave “SNL” after Season 50 ended in May 2025; however, he revealed that Michaels, 81, and the network convinced him to stay longer.

“He was like, ‘Listen, you should come back,’” the “Fire Island” star said during Variety’s “Actors on Actors” sit-down with Rachel Sennott this month.

Yang noted that the television producer wanted the comedian to mentor the newest cast members who were hired for Season 51.

“’It’s a lot of new kids … a lot of people left, a lot of people are coming in,’” Yang recalled Michaels allegedly saying at the time. “’You should be there to set an example for them, at least in the first half of the season. I’m telling you, it would be very important.’”

Yang said his chat with Michaels was the “first time [he] felt someone who made so many things possible for [him] being like, ‘I need you.’”

Several main cast members departed from “SNL” after its 50th season, including Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim.