Bowen Yang’s Emotional ‘SNL’ Goodbye With Cher and Ariana Grande Breaks the Internet
Bowen Yang said an emotional goodbye to “Saturday Night Live” in a finale that played less like a standard cold open and more like a curtain call for one of the show’s most distinctive voices. With help from Cher and Ariana Grande, the long-time cast member turned his last sketch into a meta celebration of queer comedy, pop fandom, and the strange little family that Studio 8H builds every season.
Bowen Yang’s Tearful ‘SNL’ Exit: Why This Goodbye Matters
Cast departures are part of the “SNL” cycle, but Yang’s exit hits differently. As the show’s first Chinese American and one of its most visible queer cast members, he’s been central to how a 50-year-old institution talks about identity, pop culture, and the internet itself. His final episode leaned into that legacy, folding in Ariana Grande and a surprise Cher appearance to underline how much his sensibility has always been anchored in music and diva worship.
From “Las Culturistas” to Late-Night Staple: A Quick Bowen Yang Primer
Before “Saturday Night Live,” Bowen Yang was already a known quantity in certain corners of the comedy world: a Twitter-era joke machine, a podcaster (co-hosting Las Culturistas), and a writer with a knack for hyper-specific cultural references. He joined “SNL” as a writer in 2018 and became a featured player in 2019, quickly standing out in a season crowded with political impressions and viral sketches.
Over six seasons, he evolved from “that guy in the weird update desk bits” into a genuine breakout star. By the time of his departure, he had racked up multiple Primetime Emmy nominations and established himself as one of the show’s core creative engines.
Inside the Farewell Sketch: Tears, Divas, and a Studio 8H Send-Off
Yang confirmed on social media earlier in the day that this would be his final “SNL,” setting the internet on notice before the show even aired. By the time the last sketch rolled around, you could feel the cast playing half to the audience and half to him.
The closing moment saw Yang visibly emotional, breaking just enough to remind viewers that for all the wigs and prosthetics, “SNL” is also a workplace people grow up in. The cameo presence of Ariana Grande, who has turned her own pop persona into comedy fodder, and a late-breaking appearance by Cher gave the farewell a surreal, almost dreamlike quality—like the pop universe was closing ranks around one of its favorite satirists.
“It’s been the privilege of my life to be weird with these people every week,” Yang reflected in the lead-up to the episode, nodding to the collaborative chaos that defined his tenure.
The tone was less “goodbye forever” and more “graduation day”: sentimental but not saccharine, with just enough absurdity to stay on-brand. That balance has been Yang’s sweet spot for years.
What Bowen Yang Brought to “SNL”: Representation, Internet Brain, and High Camp
Yang’s impact on “Saturday Night Live” can’t be reduced to a single character or catchphrase. His real contribution was tonal. He helped pull the show toward a bubblier, more referential style of comedy that feels native to social media discourse without pandering to it.
- Representation with bite: As a Chinese American and openly gay cast member, Yang didn’t just show up as “diversity casting.” He actively shaped sketches that foregrounded race and sexuality without turning them into Very Special Episodes.
- Hyper-specific pop culture fluency: Few performers could move so confidently from a Titanic iceberg monologue to a send-up of obscure reality TV tropes in the same season.
- Queer camp on a mainstream stage: From over-the-top club kids to his deadpan take on pop divas, Yang normalized a kind of camp sensibility that once lived mostly in downtown comedy spaces.
Critics have often cited Yang as one of the few recent cast members who felt instantly “finished”—a performer whose sensibility arrived fully formed and forced the show to adapt around him rather than the other way around.
As one critic put it, “Bowen Yang doesn’t just punch up a sketch—he rewires the energy of the entire episode whenever he shows up.”
Cher, Ariana Grande, and the Pop-Comedy Feedback Loop
The presence of Cher and Ariana Grande in Yang’s farewell says a lot about how “SNL” now thinks about cultural capital. This is a show that used to rely primarily on presidential impressions to make headlines. In 2025, it leans just as heavily on pop stars and IP crossovers.
Cher is old-school iconography—a living embodiment of camp and reinvention. Ariana Grande, who has done everything from pitch-perfect celebrity impressions to self-aware sketches about her own fandom, represents a newer breed of pop star who understands that late-night comedy is part of the promo cycle.
Yang has long occupied the space where those worlds meet. He doesn’t just parody pop divas; he treats them as mythological figures whose excess and vulnerability are equally ripe for comedy. Having Cher and Grande orbit his goodbye felt less like guest-casting and more like a stylistic thesis statement.
Strengths, Weaknesses, and the Shape of a Goodbye
As a piece of television, Yang’s finale was effective but not flawless—which, ironically, makes it feel more authentically “SNL” than a perfectly orchestrated goodbye would have.
- Strengths: The emotional transparency worked. Allowing Yang to show visible tears punctured the show’s usual distance, reminding viewers that behind the satire are people whose lives are changing. The integration of A-list pop stars felt earned rather than stunt-y, given how central that world has been to his comedy.
- Weaknesses: The episode occasionally leaned so hard into sentiment that it sidelined edgier material that might have better showcased his range one last time. Some sketches felt like callbacks rather than evolution—comforting for fans, but less exciting as stand-alone comedy.
Overall, though, it landed where it needed to: as a warm, slightly messy tribute to a performer who helped drag “SNL” a little further into the world his audience already inhabits—online, hyper-referential, and unafraid of sincerity.
What’s Next for Bowen Yang—and for “SNL” Without Him?
Yang leaves “Saturday Night Live” at a moment when the show is still figuring out what a post-political-satire era looks like. His departure opens up significant screen time and a specific comedic lane—queer, deeply online, and unafraid of high-concept weirdness—that the series will need to fill carefully if it wants to maintain cultural relevance with younger viewers.
For Yang, the path forward seems wide open. He’s already appeared in films and series, from scene-stealing supporting roles to more grounded dramatic work, and his industry cachet has only grown with each Emmy nomination. Expect to see him continue the slash-career trajectory: actor/writer/podcaster/producer, bouncing between prestige TV, studio comedies, and the kind of niche projects that keep his cult following fed.
The emotional weight of his final sketch, bolstered by Cher and Ariana Grande, felt like more than a goodbye to one job. It read as a soft launch for the next phase of his career—and a reminder that, occasionally, “SNL” still knows how to give a star the exit they deserve.
