Bowen Yang has had enough of playing inanimate objects on Saturday Night Live.
The 34-year-old comedian, who has been an on-air cast member since 2019, is well-known for playing non-human characters on the sketch show, including the Titanic iceberg, a drone, and the viral pygmy hippo Moo Deng.
However, during a recent appearance on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Yang insisted he was done with playing those roles.
"I can tell you, breaking news: I never want to play a f**king inanimate object ever again. I don't want to really go for the low-hanging gay male fruit," Yang, who is openly gay, shared. "Sometimes, I don't want to blame anybody, but it feels like it's what people sort of internally want me to do and I try to push back on it as much as I can."
However, he noted that comedy that's more "out-there" and "risk-taking" doesn't get the same reaction as cheap laughs, and acknowledged that none of the cast members "can afford to go for the slow-burn stuff" because they're fighting to get their sketch on air.
While the Wicked actor has yet to confirm he'll be back on SNL when it resumes in October, his comments on the podcast hint at his return, with him telling Maron he was "happy at the buffet" and has "it really good there".
However, Yang confessed that he doesn't think the audience feels the same way about him.
"My only thing, about SNL at least, I can feel the audience getting sick of me. I can feel things just kind of like turning... I can just tell," he stated. "Like you, I used to be someone who was always going for the laugh, always desperate for it, and if it didn't happen, it was devastating. The great thing that SNL's done for me, it's kind of inoculated me from wanting it all the time."
Yang is currently nominated for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy for his work on the show.
The awards take place in Los Angeles on 14 September.
