The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Bowen Yang (Re-Release)

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

Comedian, writer and actor Bowen Yang joins Andy Richter to discuss growing up with smarty-pants parents, the high school of SNL, and why your goals should be a process. This episode originally aired in March 2021. Do you want to talk to Andy live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Listen to "The Andy Richter Call-In Show" every Wednesday at 1pm Pacific on SiriusXM's Conan O'Brien Channel.

Hey everybody, welcome back to The Three Questions. I'm your host Andy Richter. We had to cancel our recording of the Andy Richter Call & Show this week due to the tragic fires across Southern California. Our thoughts are with everyone affected and we'll continue our silliness next week. For now, I'm resharing my conversation with Bowen Yang. Enjoy it. I'm talking to Bowen Yang today on the three questions. And Bowen, I don't know that I've ever met another Bowen. Have you not? I don't think so.

I feel like you come across so many different kinds of people every day in your life. Wow, I guess that's an honor, should I be honest? No, no, I mean, it's just, it's an unusual, it's a very nice name. It's a, it feels like an old West star, you know? Bowen, you know? Bowen, Bowen.

It's a Celtic name, apparently, and then it also works phonetically in Mandarin Chinese, and so my parents just kinda chose something that worked on both. They seem like smarty pants, from what little bit I've been reading. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

I just wondered, because I know you spent some of your childhood in Australia, and I wondered if that was like a reason that they picked kind of a more anglicized name. Yeah, it's like a commonwealthy name, isn't it? But I was only in Australia for six months. Oh, okay. I was born there, but then we moved to Ontario, Canada for a couple of years.

And then we moved to Montreal. But even there, even in Canada, I feel like Bowen was a fairly more common name than it is in the US. So there's something about going south of the border. It also might be because you're young. You're younger. You know how names come into fashion,

and then it might be one that just became fashionable. Because I never knew any Jadens until the recent years. The Jadens were running amok in the fourth grade for me. I had Jadens everywhere. No, in my children's class is the same thing. So your folks are from mainland China, correct? Yes. Yes. And I love this thing that I saw that your dad lived in a grass hut or something. Is that true?

grass hut or something like a, is that true? It's true. We go and visit it anytime we're back in Inner Mongolia which is a misnomer, but the province is called Inner Mongolia, but it's the province that's directly south of Mongolia, but it's in China. But just really arid land. My grandparents on his side were just like plant farmers, and he grew up, yeah, this like really small

grass dirt hut that somehow is still there. It's in the middle of this giant open field. There's a well that they made themselves, and it's kind of crazy to see it. I was gonna say, isn't that mind, is it mind blowing? Yeah, kind of. To be so, you know, to go from, like usually there's a few generations between the TV star

and living in, you know, mud hut. I guess, I guess, I, it's, but I feel like maybe this is just a differently scaled thing than like what, what anyone has with like the way that they see some intergenerational like change or difference where they're like, oh my, my grandparents lived like that, that's crazy. I mean, I feel like it's just, I don't know.

It's, it's just, it's kind of the same, a different version of that same thing. Yeah, yeah. So you were born in Australia. How long did you live there? That was about six months. Oh, about six months, you said that, yeah. But then I hadn't gone back until like 2017,

like three, four years ago, and it was really interesting to go there were the signage like the typeface on the signs is the same as it is, like on the highways is like the exact same typeface as it is in the US. Like it's so you it feels like you're kind of in this bizarrearro, upside down version of America. Yeah. But it's great. Yeah, I think the Western world tends

to kind of feel like that. Sure, sure, yeah. So, and how long were you in Toronto? Is that where you grew up? I grew up, we were just in, it was called Kingston, Ontario. We were there for like two years and then we moved to Montreal

and then we were there until I was around eight years old. And then from Montreal we moved to Denver, Colorado, suburban Denver, where my dad's company basically like re-headquartered there. And then just grew up in Colorado until college, which was in New York. Your dad's like an engineer of some kind, correct? In mining, I think? Mining explosives, yeah. Wow. Did you get to go and see things get blown up

when you'd visit dad at work? I never, I never got to see things get blown up, but I still to this day proofread his papers. Like he'll write about, like he just needs like grammar checks, mechanical checks and all that stuff. And I, and I just tell him, oh, you know, don't use like, you know, passive voice here or whatever. It's like, right.

That's yeah. But no, he, it's, he, like, I would never be allowed to like go with him to like some quarry or anything, but no, he's been, he's been doing that for a while now. And I think... I think, uh... I saw him, uh, over the summer. I took a... I rolled the dice and went to see my parents, and, um...

He was kind of saying how he doesn't plan on retiring, which I think is nice, but it also makes me sad that, like, oh, this is when it's starting. Like this is like this is this is when people in the world will no longer retire at all, ever. And like, what's it going to what's what's going to happen? What's what's it going to look like when like people in my generation just don't retire? Yeah. Yeah. How old is he now? He is 63, 63. OK.

Yeah. And is he not retiring out of necessity or out of just... Out of just boredom? Busy beaverness. Busy beaverness, yeah. He just, he likes his work. He's good at it. I think he just is like, I am okay with working until I pass away. And I'm like, I think you should relax a little bit,

but you know. Did you grow up among a Chinese community in the different places that you lived? Yeah. Yeah, and each community, well, specifically just Montreal and Denver, Sundays were a Chinese school, which meant, you know, parents would drop you off at some like, it would always be at some high school that was that sort of rented out the space

to us, us as in the Chinese school, sort of organ organization. I didn't really understand how it worked. But we would go there. And then that was kind of the only moment of community that my parents probably sort of felt. It was just like, because they didn't go to church. And so their only kind of communal space gathering place with other Chinese people would be on Sundays at these Chinese school events. Was it just like one room?

And were you just studying Chinese culture? Were you studying language? It was mostly language. And then of course, like the curriculums were built around like, oh, you'll learn these vocabulary words while also learning about, you know, the mid-autumn festival. It was just like, it was culture kind of mixed in

with the vocab and with them. Did you like it at the time? I hated it. I really hated it. Yeah. It's such a hard language. Yeah. But now, I mean, now in my adult life,

I am kind of watching it all sort of slip away from me in real time and I sort of away from me in real time. And I sort of am mourning it in real time where I'm like, oh, I feel it. Like, when I talk to my parents over the phone, I feel it sort of... I feel myself losing proficiency, I guess. But it's like, I can't communicate with my parents

in the way that I used to even as a kid. It would be more of like, the gap in understanding would be much smaller than it is now, where it's like even like, trying to tell them about my day feels like such a struggle to me. And then they feel the need to switch to English, and then it's like, and then it just, every wire gets crossed.

And so, I don't know, lately I've been really trying to get back to that and just refresh it. Does it help to like watch... Is it Mandarin that you speak at home? It's Mandarin. Yeah, it's Mandarin. And are you about to ask, does it help to watch a TV show or something? Yeah, watch Mandarin TV shows and stuff? 100%, 100%. And there's plenty of options.

Netflix has a bunch of Taiwanese teen dramas that are right up my alley. I just feel like... But I just feel like... Like Taiwanese Degrassi kind of thing? Taiwanese Degrassi. Exactly. I think I've watched every single Degrassi ever. Like, before I had children, I just... I mean, into adulthood.

I never knew it when I was a kid, but it's just... I just love it so much because it's so Canadian. And the kids are like, like you get to see them when they go through that phase of like the boys, like just their nose and ears grow. For like a year. Right. And whereas if I've always felt like if it was,

if Degrassi was American, everybody would have to be beautiful. You know, like even the mischiefs would have to be beautiful. You know? You're right. You're right. There's something very Canadian about watching teen actors grow their cartilage in. Yeah.

Well, now, what kind of kid were you growing up? I mean, were you rambunctious? Were you a handful? Were you... I was a handful, but only at only at school. Would always get, you know, demerited, dinged, whatever, for just being chatty, which is, you know. And for me, it's for being chatty or being like whatever, because because I feel like back then those were the code words

for being either like a funny kid or a gay kid. And I just, I think I had, and somehow I happened to be both. But moving from Canada where I spoke French in school and moving to the US was this like little quick like inflection point of like figuring out, oh, how am I gonna adapt to this? And how am I gonna like ingratiate myself

to these new kids? And it was me just having to like be funny in a way that was just very like, yeah, hammy. And so kind of very quickly knew that I had to develop the reputation of being like, class Connie, which is so mortifying to think about now. But that's kind of like that. It was it was this survival tactic. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, coming into a new space like that. Yeah, I think that's a common thing. And people talk about humor as a way to head off bullying. Right.

I don't know how much it headed it off, but yeah. It was, but I mean, it was there and like, and then it got people on my corner, in my corner at least in some way. But then it really was, and this is such a graceless transition, but it immediately was this thing, is such a graceless transition, but immediately was this thing, even in the fourth grade, where people would be like,

do you watch this show called SNL? Or do you watch the show called Mad TV? And I was like, no, but I've, but I've been watching The Simpsons since I was in Canada. Like it just, it all sort of like, all of it congealed around the same time, at like a pretty young age, I would say. Cause like no one was really, I didn't have parents who like showed me what these things were. I kind of had to seek it out myself where I was like, okay, well, I guess after school,

I'm gonna go home and watch, you know, the five o'clock block syndication block, which was Simpson Seinfeld, Drew Carey show. And so those were my three. And kind of like brought me up to speed with in terms of like what American culture, humor, discourse even was. Like, I just, I kind of like got my education through those things. Well, and are you a good student at this time too still?

I really, I don't think I was. I don't think I was because I think I did the sort of drag performance of being a good student pretty well, but in terms of it actually reflecting in the brain. The most boring drag in the world. Yes. Yes. Scholarly drag, um, scholastic drag.

I was not great grade wise. And then that became this like, yeah, sticking point thing in our family that I, yeah. Because your mom's a doctor, right? My mom was, yeah, she was an OBGYN in China and then she couldn't practice when she moved, but she was still working in medicine and it was we were just a very like, analytical family. My parents are not particularly funny. Culturally like Western culturally averse like I mean, they like, you know, did not really care for any like, like movies or any like pop culture points or anything like touch like like touchstones. I was so so it was

like, me and my sister sort of my older sister sort of finding all of these things on our own. But um, but yes, I mean, grades were very important in our house. And yeah, that would that for some reason, they put they put the grades at odds with me wanting to perform as a kid and into high school wanting to like do improv and be in the musical and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I saw that your high school had an improv team.

We did. We did. That's like, from my perspective of starting improv and like, well, what would it have been about 1989? That's crazy. That people even knew what the hell it was. And I was in Chicago, which is, you know, Improv Central. Yeah.

And you still had to say when people, I would, you know, just when I had started and you talk to people in Chicago and say, you know, just when I had started and you talk to people in Chicago and say, you know, I'm taking improv classes. What's that? No, no, it's like second city. I've never, you know, I know it's there, but I've never been, you know, that kind of thing. Right, right, right. I lucked out in early on by just having that there. I mean, to be sure it was it was very like it was short form and none of it was like, none of it was like IO or second and none of it was like Dell close style

improv. It was like scene work and delving into the truth. It was making people laugh. Exactly. But it's still like, I don't know, like set some foundation because the the the sponsor of the group the the coach of the group was the sky who is the. Director at this theater downtown and so he like also was this person like shepherded a lot of like comedy stuff into my life where he was like. You should watch this and this and this and like, here are all these Christopher guest movies, these, um, just, I, I just kind of like got downloaded at that age. And I feel like if I didn't have those people, I don't really know how I would have like diverged from this path. But, um, but yeah, that was, that was a big thing.

And in high school was truly just me staying up. And I know this sounds so, like, whatever. But I was staying up, I was watching late night, I was watching Conan, I was watching SNL on Saturdays, but it was, like, forgoing social things to just watch, like, comedy. I would sit through a lot of it, I'd be like, yeah, whatever, this guy. And then Conan would come on, I'd be like, social things to just watch comedy. I would sit through a lot and I'd be like,

yeah, whatever, this guy. And then Conan would come on and be like, yes. And then yeah, and then there was like, I thought, and then I thought I had this full circle moment when in college we did an improv festival. I did college and improv, or did improv in college. We flew to LA, we got tickets to go see a taping of Conan and then got to talk to him backstage.

I think, and got to talk to you backstage. And it was just, you probably don't remember this, but it was just me and my college group just asking Conan about like the monorail episode. It was just like, it was just us little dweeby kids just like nerding out over that kind of background in comedy that we all shared. We loved Conan so much. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. That's, well, that makes one of us. Um. Um. Um. I was like, if this is like the peak for me, comedy wise, just to be able to like ask Conan, like what about the music man he loved so much to like,... I was like, this is all I need to do.

And, yeah, I mean, just really was that... I don't know if I was precocious in high school, but I just was very granular in my fandom, my admiration for, like, that school of comedy. Was that deep interest and that sort of consuming interest, was it just sort of instinctual or as you're doing it, are you thinking like, I'm gonna do something with all this time that I'm spending

absorbing all this information? It was all, it was just instinctual. I never, I never like called a target or I never like charted any sort of plan or course with it. I was just like, I'm just someone who happens to like comedy, and I just kept being told that, like, it would never translate to, like, a career, and that it would be so difficult,

and, um... Like, mostly from... But not exclusively my parents, but mostly my parents would just be like, you should go with something that has some degree of certainty to it, which makes total sense to me still. Even now, I don't begrudge them of them saying that to me.

But yeah, it was just this thing where I was like, well, you know what, I'm just gonna be someone who watches from the sidelines and thinks, oh, I see what they're doing there, or this person is coming from that place. So yeah, I never really placed myself there, but I thought I'll do this in college. Like I'd love to do improv in college

and like maybe move to New York where UCB is and like be in that little circle, but yeah. And you did, right? You went to NYU. Uh-huh, I went to NYU. I didn't take UCB classes until after I graduated just because I was very comfortable in my bubble of doing improv exclusively with 19-year-olds.

And I was like, there's something unappealing to me about taking a class with people from all different walks of life. No, it was just like, I might as well enjoy this last insular moment before I... Safety, yeah. I know, which I don't know if that's like wimpish or gross or soft-handed. Not at all.

Not at all. No, especially because, and I don't know if you had this instinctually, but like showbiz is rough. I mean, in showbiz is... Really? Yeah. You're getting in front of people and inviting them to judge you. So why not put that off as long as you can, you know?

Right, right, right. Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Were, if I may ask about, were you out at this time or? I was not because I was out to people in high school and then my senior year in the spring, my mom found this chat window that was a little too steamy and then got, and then they sort of in their solutions oriented way of thinking we're like, well, we

have to, this is a problem to us. We have to solve this problem. And so there's this therapist in Colorado Springs, we're going to drive you down once a week. So you talk to him is a conversion therapist and did that. But the the ultimatum was you will get to go to NYU where your sister is going now where she can sort of chaperone or just like kind of like keep this watchful eye on you. But in order to do that, you have to go to see this therapist. But then they also didn't realize that NYU is just this haven for gay kids. Um, and so I was like, fine, fine.

And then knew, I mean, knew the whole time. It was, it was eight weeks of sessions with this, with this person. And I just knew the whole time that it was quackery. I mean, did you find it hurtful or was it just like talking talking to an idiot kind of stuff? It was talking to an idiot. Well, because the first like four sessions were just like, pretty standard talk therapy. And I was like, oh, there's nothing, there's, there's, there's nothing like specifically indoctrinating

or whatever about this, just yeah. And then in the second half, that's when things started to like, get like drill into like, why you're attracted to people of the same sex and why that's not natural. Um, but then, but then when I moved to college, when I moved to New York for college, my sister had basically had like, it was put in this terrible spot where she had to like,

kind of side with my parents and report back to them. Um, and so I kind of had to be in the closet around my sister while also kind of trying out the idea, just me being like, well, you know, if I'm gonna reinvent myself in college anyway, if that's what everybody does in college, like why not just see what this is like? And then spent the first year and a half

just telling people I was straight, which is just laughable now. But then as soon as my sister graduated at semester, my sophomore year, she left and I immediately came up to everybody. But yeah. Yeah, it just like all of a sudden there's confetti cannons going off and then she's gone.

Yeah, yeah. And that's not great that, I mean, conversion therapy aside, that's a no-brainer about being not great, but to get your sister involved is not great. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Because if anything, you know, well, I'm not telling anything you don't know, it would have been nice to have her as an ally, you know?

For sure. Yeah. For sure. But I feel like, I mean, she's the older of two. There is this like duty bound thing you have to like hit, and especially when it's like coming from your parents. And I mean, yeah, it's like... Is that a particularly Chinese thing, do you think?

Yeah, probably, but I can't really tell. I couldn't tell you why. And so I kind of feel like maybe this is a thing that would happen to any family, honestly. But what is sort of specifically Chinese about this whole situation is that my parents would kind of very like softly remind us, we've sacrificed so much. You've sacrificed so much for you to be here and they're completely correct to move to a country where they don't speak

the language and all that stuff. But then in my case, as the younger of two, every now, like once every few years, my mother would sort of bring up the fact that in a very like gentle way, it was not like to like create any sort of guilt or anything, but she was like, you know, if you, if we hadn't have moved from China, like you wouldn't have been born with like the one child only policy.

So like, this is and so like existentially that like really screwed with me where I was. That's pretty heavy. Yeah. Yeah, a little bit. But yeah, she never she never brought that up in a way in a way to like, bear down on anything with me was just me being like, Oh, God, like, I, I guess I have to like, honor this, like the crazy thing that they did, in order to like have me even

like, exist. But yeah, well, do they feel do they feel now that you have because I mean, Jesus Christ, you have, you know, I think they Yes, now, now it's great. Now it's really, I really couldn't, I wouldn't really change a thing about the way it's like sequenced out up to this point. I mean, like there was a lot of like pain obviously,

but I feel like that's, I was gonna say that's every family, maybe not, but it feels like we are, the more time goes by, the more I realize that like. There are certain things that are not that exceptional about my family. I feel like they're the dynamics are like very, very, very, very common. Yeah. You said it. Did you stay in New York after you after you graduated?

Yeah, I've been here. this is my 13th year here. Wow. Yeah, yeah. We obviously like it. I do, I do, but now there's this thing happening. I mean, like in, at least in comedy, I feel, there is always some exodus to LA, from New York to LA. It's never the other way around. And I've reached the part in my whatever,

like little cohort of people where everyone's like, basically all my friends are in Los Angeles now, which is great and they're happy. But it's basically out of like my little contingent of people, it's just me and my friend who I've also known since college, who also works at SNL, she's a writer there, Sudie Green, it's just the two of us.

And she's about to move to LA, I think, in the near future. So I'm like, I might be the only guy left. Yeah. Which is fine, which is great. And like, I have a great reason to stay. But I do like it. To answer your question, I like it. Yeah. Well, I mean, have you been, is this your first season? Is this your first season

or is this your second season? This is my second season as a cast member and I was a writer for one season before I moved. Oh, right. But have you done that summer in LA kind of thing where you come out here and... I haven't. I mean, I did it. I mean, again, I did it during the pandemic summer, where me and Sudi were like, you know what, let's just, we're gonna be very safe about this. But let's just do let's just go to LA and like get a house there for like

a couple months. And we ended up just staying there for one. So that's the that's the longest time I've ever sort of spent away from New York. Yeah, and that's and that's then that's just away from New York, not even the longest time I've spent in a particular place, but away from New York, which is kind of scary to me. But well, during the pandemic, what's there to do? I mean, yeah, you can't really have meetings, can you? Or no, it's no virtual. I mean, you can't really have meetings, can you? Or isn't everything virtual?

Everything's virtual. I tried to write. It didn't really, I didn't really get too far. I mean, I allowed myself this past summer to not be beholden to any like threshold of work or anything, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's good.

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's good because well too it's, I think with SNL too, it, you know, with the exception of like Eddie Murphy or something, it takes a while. Oh yeah. You know, and it takes a while. And it's so strange because there's like so many shows,

so many episodes of SNL where it only occurs to me afterwards, like, Oh, I only saw Melissa Villasenor once in that episode. You know, I mean, there's just, you know, the way that it all, the cards get kind of dealt. You can go through a few weeks of not having much to do. Oh, I've had those stretches, and I anticipate having those stretches going forward. But, um, but yeah, it's a job where it only gets clear in hindsight, which might be true for any job, but for me, it's like, but this is just the way

that people build out legacies there, I think, is that when you think of a cast member that you love, maybe with the exception of Eddie Murphy, you go, you're only really thinking of the highlight reels. You're not thinking about, oh, they were dead. Like that was a sketch where they didn't really. Deliver or whatever, you know, like, I don't think we think of like SNL cast members in those terms, but I think any cast member will tell you,

I mean, not that I've like surveyed them, but like, I think most cast members will tell you that like, oh yeah, like there are dark, desolate times when you feel like you're not part of the thing. But I was even talking to like, um, Kristen Wiig when she hosted over Christmas where she was like, and she was very encouraging and she was like, you know, you should just appreciate this job. Even in the bad times, it's the, you should just remember that it's the funnest job in the world, because when you're gone, you'll miss it. And I was like, oh my God, like, to have her say it

is like one thing because it's her. But then to have her, to have her also acknowledge that there are bad, hard times, which means that she's had those times, is like kind of crazy to me, because I'm like, I thought you had like as desirable and ideal of a tenure here as anyone would want, but even she probably experienced those moments of like,

God, I can't hack it or whatever. You know? Well, I mean, I don't know how it is now, but I mean, I don't know how it is now, but I, I mean, a yes, it is a you're working in Rockefeller Center, which I mean, I still can't believe that I got to work for seven years in Rockefeller Center and I had an office, but working in that building and also too, I mean, cause I used to, on Thursdays when there would be the musical guests would rehearse,

we would just go down the stairwell, one floor, and then pop in the back door of the stage, and then stand and watch, fill in the blank, watch prints, you know, like from 20 feet away with 30 other people. And just that feeling of, it's like, wow, this is TV. Like I'm really, I am in TV now. And it's still, it's thrilling. It's still like, can't kind of believe it.

That's great. Cause I'm like, will this ever go away? I mean, will this feeling, will I ever be so like, I don't know, numb to that reality? Because I guess, cause I still wake up and I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe, I can't believe this is it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you're not, if that goes away,

that means you're an asshole. Basically. Maybe I'm an asshole. Give it time. I could become one. Well, now you started, you kind of, you first crossed my radar by doing lip sync videos. Oh, sure. On the internet and that was so, What spurred that on? We just fucking around and in your apartment and...

Basically, yeah. I mean, there was a live show that happens every year in Brooklyn called The Inner Beauty Pageant, and it's run by this fantastic comedian, Joe Firestone. And you needed... There was like, you had to design your own swimsuit, and then you also had to come up with a talent. It's like a traditional beauty pageant structure.

And so, um, I couldn't figure anything out. And so I was like, you know what? I'll lip sync to this, like, clip of Tyra Banks yelling at this poor girl. Oh, right. We were rooting for you. We're all rooting for you. And I did that at the show. Was kind of like, truly shocked at like people like because I was like, this is such a gimmicky, like party tricky thing.

But OK, people like it. And then I remember just being sick one day. It was home bored fucking around with my camera and just did it and posted it to Twitter. And I was like, OK, people. Oh, this is that same like weirdly scaled response. I'm like, oh, OK, people, oh, people, this is that same, like, weirdly scaled response. I'm like, oh, people like this more than I thought they would. Which I know sounds like really whatever.

Yeah. Dumb, but I was just like, oh, this is interesting. And then I just kind of like kept it going. And then after a certain point, I was like, you know what? There's something about this. There's something about this that I thought I started to get very insecure about point, I was like, you know what? There's something about this. There's something about this that I thought I started to get very insecure about it because I was like, it was for a while. I like wasn't really like writing well comedy wise.

And I was like, you know, I should maybe rest this thing because it's not generative in the sense of like it's an idea coming from my head and I'm like executing it on the page, the stage, whatever. So I was like, I should like, maybe just phase this out because it feels like it's contingent on what another person says or does, which I know sounds again, very abstract, but that's when I was like, you know,

let me just like rest this. And so I haven't really done it since, but. Now, when you got the job writing on SNL, when I was like, you know, I'll let me just like rest this. And so I haven't really done it since. But now, when you got the job writing on SNL, was that did you come to their attention because of those videos? I don't think it was because of those videos. I went the pretty traditional route of submitting the tape. Yeah, with my characters, fully thinking they would never hire me. I am like fully, I do not fit into that. I don't have, there is no lane for me there. Yeah.

Do you think that's just not- Because you're Asian? Because it was that, it was my sort of sensibility probably being a little too like not family friendly, not family friendly, but, like, truly, like, not compatible with... Yes. ...what they do there. Um...

You mean gayer? Gayer and also just, like... Which is not the same thing, but also probably just, like... I don't know, looter, just, like, just dirtier at the time. I remember just being very into it. By the time I don't know, looter and just dirtier at the time. I remember just being very into it. By the time I got to college, I like discovered, she'd already been very established at the time, but I like discovered Sarah Silverman.

And it was just like, oh my God, like that's like, that's sort of like her wheelhouse. And like, let me try that on for size. And she's a genius at it too. Like that was kind of like the little neighborhood I was in, comedically at the time when I first auditioned. But I was like, all right, well, let me put together this tape and did like this, like my soul, my soul cycle instructor guy.

I did like, I did a Michiko Kakutani impression. She like writes reviews for the New York times. I know who she is, yeah. Okay, great. We're mutuals on Twitter. Oh, you are? Yeah, yeah. Wow, you and Michiko,

is her avatar still that little egg or something? I think she like has- I can't remember, yeah. Oh, that's a big one, that's a good follow. I know, I'm like, I'm impressed. I'm still impressed. Yeah, with yourself? Yeah, because she's smart. Oh, my gosh. So, with yourself? Yeah, she's smart. So smart.

When smarty people, when smart people follow me, I'm like, oh, well. I know, I know. Hello. I know. She, but I just loved that she, like no one, like she's only had her picture taken like, you know, twice in her life and no one knows what she sounds like.

And so I was like, great, this is perfect for me to do an impression of her, quote unquote. I get to just make it whatever I want. Has that been on the show? Because I don't know that I've ever... It has not been on the show. I don't think there's a place for it. But they could, I mean, you know,

that whatever the impression is could be anybody, you know, I mean, if it... Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah, sure. It could be. It could be. I just feel like it was, maybe it was a little mean spirited because I was in a scarf and a wig. But like the voice was butch like this and it's Michiko Kakutani.

And I'm going to go punch Juno Diaz in the face. It was like that. That was the impression. And so I don't know if that there's I don't know that there's a place for it. But I but but but this but like I did this because I was truly like I was treating the tape as a bit. I was like there's no way. Yeah. Ever going to like. Move past the first stage gate or whatever. And so but I mean I thank goodness for it because I think it was a very true to

me tape. And so it made it to them. And then then I got the showcase and then I got the screen test. And so it happened through that route and then kept coming back in and kept being asked to do new stuff. And then they put me on hold for a year came back the next year did it again. Then they were like, hmm, not cast, but maybe writer I was like, so happy to do it.

And then, yeah, and then just kind of started there. ["Can't You Tell My Love's A-Growin'?" by The Caps plays.] Can't you tell my love's a-growing? Was the year that you got hired as a writer, was that the first time that you had made your complete living in show business? Yeah, it was. I had just left my day job as just doing like graphic marketing design, like a few months before, because at that point I had already done the audition twice and I, but then I kept my day job for a year. Yeah.

But like at that, but I spent that whole year being like, well, if I got to that, if I, if I got that far in the SNL audition process, hopefully that means I can strike out on my own and not have to worry about this and just see. Yeah. But then it timed out very, just very well where I left my job and then three months later got hired to do SNL. How did your folks feel about that?

When you, you know, like when you could say, look at me, I'm making a living doing this stuff. I think they were very happy. But it also like they hit a wall with understanding like what it really meant. I was going to say they might not understand. Yeah. Yeah. Because, well, because the first moment of like my parents kind of be expressing any kind of relief was when...

I did this really quick bit with my best friend, Matt Rogers, and we did this really quick bit on Fallon. And then the next day, my mom went into work, and all her coworkers were like, "'We saw Bowen on TV last night.'" And that was when she was like, "'Oh!' It took some mirroring from other people to be like, "'Your son is doing so well,' for her to be like, your son is doing so well. For her to be like, I guess my son is doing okay.

Yeah. And that was the same summer as that last round of SNL auditions. And so that leading into getting hired was like... Hopefully clarifying for them where they were like, oh, okay, he'll be okay. But then I got hired for SNL, my dad texts me, he goes, does this mean you're moving to LA? Like, where does the show take, like, where does the show work out of?

And I was like, it's New York and, but yeah. But ever since, I mean, since then, they've come to the show a couple times. Do they watch weekly? They watch weekly. My dad will send me very, I'll read one now, he'll send very adorably worded texts. He goes, yesterday he texted me, in the show you were confident, firm and

competent. And I said, I said, thank you, dad. It's very sweet. It's like, it's like, it's like a divorce attorney or something. It's a divorce attorney. Um, it's, it's a roof. It's a roofer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's a nice like review on, I don't know, next door or like some like, yeah, yeah. When, when you started SNL, I mean, do you feel, I mean, I feel like I went to the same high school but they were a different class or something.

Sure, sure. And so, and I have so many friends that have worked there and stuff. And over the years, it has been kind of, and not, you know, of course there were years when it was very kind of, and not, of course, there were years when it was very hostile place for women to work. And I think at times it's been a hostile place for people of color to work,

with varying degrees. Something that has always struck me about the way that that show is run. And that was, and I, you know, and that, the opinion I formed was based on the show that I was working on, you know, on late night, which is, it's a different thing, you know, it's a different kind of thing.

Because, you know, whereas you guys come up with X amount of sketches for a week and then you have to winnow them down. Ours are more like we got a whole week that we sprinkle them out through. So we, there's just kind of, we're all sitting in a room thinking of sketches, but they're just, the structure of ours tends to lend itself to a more all for one, one for all kind

of atmosphere. Whereas SNL, especially I know people that were times where it felt very insular and that it was different little camps working against each other. And had that, did you have any idea of that? Like just in terms of writing, like we're over here writing this

and there's a competition among writing pods because you wanna get your stuff on. That's no, I mean, I wasn't aware of it going in, but I mean, the way you just described it is perfect because you very quickly learn, like the Tuesday night feeling of watching like doors get closed and like hearing people like giggle inside like is just this like chilling thing that like everyone. Like it's it's this just ever just like a right of passage for anyone who starts working there whether you're a writer a cast member we realize oh okay I better start. I don't know, jockeying for some involvement, like just as I better start like, playing the

social game of like, knowing which writers I work well with. And yeah, there's like the pod structure is this like, thing that like is part of the way that things are structured there. But no one tells you that. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, it's still taking a lot of getting used to. I feel like, I mean, just... I do have to remind myself, oh, you're only in your second year as a cast member. And so, this is still, you're still on, like,

the learning curve in the upswing, or, you know, like, on, like... You're still, you haven't crested the hill yet. Yeah. But then, like, every now and then, I'll talk to people who work on Seth, like, you know, like on like, you're still you haven't crested the hill yet. Yeah. But then like every now and then I'll talk to people who work on Seth, like, you know, Amber Ruffin, or like Jenny Hagel and Karen Chi. And I'm just like, Oh, like, I feel like they also say that it's more of an all for one kind of thing. Or no one for all. Is that what you're all for one one for all? Yeah, sure, sure, sure. Three musketeers.

Three musketeers. I'm like, oh, I envy that, but I also don't think I could do it because I've been so conditioned to work in this way at SNL. Yeah. I honestly, I mean, like you say, I could sit there on the Conan show and say, the way the sort of procedural structure of the creative process at SNL seems to be, seems at times working against itself. But if I were in charge of putting on a show

that had to be written in a week, I don't know how the fuck else I would do it. Because you can't have everybody gang ride every sketch. No, no. It would take three weeks. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You did a couple of weeks ago, was it a couple of weeks ago

that you did the Annie Leibowitz? Oh yeah, Friendly Wits, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, or Friendly Wits. Uh-huh, uh-huh. And it seemed to pop. Like, did you notice that kind of being a... But I didn't notice that it popped until, I was talking to Sudi,

so I covered that with Sudi Green and Anna Drezen, and at least between me and Sudi, like we talked about it two nights ago, where we didn't realize what it was, not what it was, but we didn't realize like, the way that it played until like two to three days after the fact. Yeah.

Because you, I mean, you just really have no presence or any mindful like awareness of like, what's happening in the moment there. Right. And I think that's, I don't know if that's- And on Sunday, you're too tired to check probably. Yeah, exactly. Right. And I think that's, I don't know if that's- And on Sunday, you're too tired to check probably. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Um, because honestly, the lead up to that, um, update piece was so stressful for me because I was like, I, I, we, it cannot see, because the, the note from Lauren was we can't make it too mean. And I was like, of course, of course, of course. And in the first draft, we even were very compassionate. I don't know.

You can't, you can't make it too mean because I have to talk to her on a regular basis. Well, it was, it was very clear to me. I was like, okay, Lauren, I get it. She's your friend. Um, but, but, but like, it was, but it was also about like me, like wanting to like honor her because she, I mean, when I, me wanting to honor her because she, I mean, me moving to New York

coincided with me finding out who she was and reading her books. Yeah. And then watching the first Scorsese documentary that came out in like 2010, I think. And I just, I love her. Yeah. Which I don't know why I bring it up.

I guess it's just like you are always under an intense amount of pressure, even though the end result is you appearing to have fun. Have you, but have you derived pleasure from knowing that it popped? Yes, I have. But what's remarkable to me is that I did not know that it popped until way after the fact. Yeah.

And... And that's like the weird disconnect is not knowing how something does until... Like 48 hours after it happens. That's, you know, getting something to pop like that is part of the process of... Yeah. ...of, you know, graduating the high school of SNL, you

know, you have to make those indelible because there's so many people that have gone through there who are amazingly talented people who just, they never get that thing that really pops. They're on for three seasons. They come and go and people kind of like, Oh yeah, I remember that guy. And, you know, and then you see him in movies and stuff and TV shows. But I mean, that is the way, is that the first thing you felt like that really kind of popped and you know, and then you see him in movies and stuff and TV shows, but... Right, right. I mean, that is the way... Is that the first thing you felt like that really kind of popped like that from SNL?

The first thing I felt that really pumped was... I'm very, very lucky that it... came to term was my second show as a cast member there. We wrote this other update character who is like the minister of trade for China. Um, and that felt like that. I remember doing that and being like, oh, wow, I like really had fun doing that. And I think people liked it. And then like, it seemed like the response again, like two days later,

um, was very positive. And I thought, wow, like I am really glad that I just like... put, I don't know, planted that route early on. Because then it's, I hope, I think what it did was it gave me the confidence to just like step out or just at least like do different things. Because in some ways it was the expected thing of me to do,

which was to play an Asian person. Yeah. And the reason why the Fran thing is kind of special to me is because... is because I feel like people didn't want to kill me for portraying a Jewish lesbian. And I was like, the fact that like people aren't upset about this is like a win for me,

which is not like, which is not- It's progress too. Oh sure, sure, sure. Really that, you know, that an Asian man can play a Jewish lesbian on SNL and it not be where everyone's like, look at that Asian man playing a Jewish lesbian. It's just, well, that was funny, you know?

Sure, sure. Yeah. Yeah. And that's not to say that like the measure of success for me is to be like, did I piss anyone off? But it's just that it was just a nice thing to be like, oh, okay, like now I get to, I don't know, sort of add texture to other stuff that I try to do.

I mean, I'm sure as soon as I get off this call, I'm gonna, for the next two seasons, have no good ideas. No, I don't think that's gonna happen. Well, here, you spoke about the future. We'll move on to that because... I mean, is there some plan? Is there some sort of Bo and Yang, you know, plan for domination of comedy and show business? I, this is like the honest answer is there isn't. Yeah.

And I think that's okay. There's, oh, absolutely it's okay. Remaining open to the next thing that comes along and knowing that, you know, to do it, whether that's a movie in the summertime or whether it's, you know, you know, it's whether it's a relationship, whether it's, you know, to adopt a child

and then, you know, go live on a tugboat. You know, it's like, you know, it's just remaining, remaining all the, you know, open to all those things is the main thing. So that's good though. But do you have like a dream? Like, do you want to, is there a movie that you think like, oh, I want to do that movie or oh, I want to.

There's, there's a movie that I've been trying to break for the last like two and a half years that I've been telling to break for the last two and a half years that I've been telling everybody at this point and they're just like, okay, well, if you don't make it, then someone else will because you've given everybody a free idea. But I mean, the original idea was, I wanna just be in a crime comedy.

That's it. I just wanna, you know, we wrote this idea. I had this idea where I'm like the son of a triad boss who has to like turn the mob front restaurant into like a queer nightclub. I want there's something about a crime film that feels very essential to like my upbringing in terms of movies, because it was like... A lot of Asian cinema is... like, deals with, like, underbelly criminal stuff, and... And, like, I don't know, and it would just be fun

because it would be something that, like, stretches, like, stretches me as a performer, and, like, it's... I don't know if it's expected of me. That's, that's, but that's honestly the only thing, because I, it's like I was saying's honestly the only thing because I it's like I was it's like I was saying earlier like the I've had multiple like moments where I where I've gone oh I could it could just all be taken away from me after this and I would be fine. Yeah with it like meeting honestly was

like meeting Conan felt like the peak and then and then getting the audition getting the screen test for SNL felt like the peak it felt like you know what if I't get this, I'll always be able to say that I got to audition in front of foreign Michaels. I don't know, I feel like I've operated and I've operated under this principle of like, just just I don't know, just like don't don't plan on it. don't plan on it. It's healthy, first of all. I will tell you, as someone who's been doing this a while, it's healthy. One of the early lessons that I learned, because I saw people whose ambition and drive and goal

was a thing or a position or a job, and they get it, and then they're still producing, a factory producing all this gotta move forward, gotta get it, gotta,'re still producing, a factory producing all this, gotta move forward, gotta get it, gotta, gotta, gotta stress. Yep, yep. And it fucks them up. So like early on I realized your goal should be a process. Your goal should just be getting better, you know,

and getting better and honestly a huge one is having more fun. Like, you know, like, because the healthiest way to do this, in my opinion, is for the work stuff as you go on, it matters less and less and less, and the particulars of it. And also too, because there's a lot of bullshit in show business, and there's a lot of bullshit in show business and there's a lot of phonies

and there's a lot of like gross stuff, just gross stuff. So it's the life that you build outside of it that really matters. And then it's the way that you can sort of game the system by also have, be making money doing this thing that's fun and that you love doing. And that's kind of easy because it's so much fun. I mean, there's work involved and there's stress involved, but it's fun. And if you just pursue it as fun and not just, and if it matters less and less as you go on,

that's the best, I think. I think that's it. I love that you say that the goal should be a process. And the fun thing is like what Kristen said to me, she was like, you know, she was like, you just have to remember this is the most fun job in the world. Yeah.

And that's her biggest like thematic thing of her that she can sort of like summarize her experience with where it's like, this was fun and you should have fun. And the thing about working at SNL that I hope people who will work there in the future will realize is that it's a job where nothing is in your control except the process, except the work, but everything else after that is not in your control except the process, except the work.

But everything else after that is not in your control whatsoever. And it feels kind of futile, not futile, but it feels like this thing that attaches you to an outcome if you start to put specific goal, if your goal is an outcome and not a process, that's perfect. Was there anything, you know, with where you are now,

you're kind of, you know, you're still sort of like setting out on the journey. Are there things that have surprised you? I mean, are there things like, do you tell yourself, are there sort of things that you tell yourself that, you know, as just advice to yourself to get along and to continue on? The only thing that I can think of, I mean, now, honestly, I'm not just saying this, but I feel like the thing that I will remember for a while now is you saying like, you know, goals should be a process. But I but the thing, but the other thing that's like really stuck with me is, um,

I think Tony Hale said this in an interview where he was like, where someone was asking him, Oh, like, what's your best advice on getting into comedy or just like showbiz? And he said, instead of thinking of investing in a career or thinking in terms of investing in a career by like doing this and this and this and this, like instead you should think of it in terms of investing in a community where you just kind of take care of the people in your circle who are also trying to do the same thing.

He's right. He's right. And it's what appeals to me about the whole, like, late-night structure of it, in terms of the writing, where it's like, oh, it's... It's about, like, the well-being of the unit. And I know that sounds so... chummy, but I'm just like...

But, I mean, that's what's sort of seen me through everything so far, is that, like, I had friends coming up in comedy, whether it was in college or, or, you know, doing, you know, these little one off shows I would produce in Brooklyn. We've always just like checked in with each other at times that felt very meaningful. And that's the thing that like, has almost nothing to do with comedy. Yeah. But it just has to do with everyone looking out for one another. That's it. That's like the big,

that's the biggest thing that I've like, come away with. Yeah. Like I think of, I just think of it as like, you're in this group of people who are lucky enough to be funny. You know, like, you know, like, because so many of us, like, you know, it's very hard.

There are the occasional people that kind of learn how to be funny and work hard at being funny. And, but then, but most of us were just kind of, like you said, smart asses in school who were just doing it cause they like, you know, because it like, it felt good and because, right. You know, just to make people laugh is just one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.

And then you get in with a group of them. And then you realize like, we're all getting paid to do this. So we're like, you know, just the rarefied air that you get to be in, it just seems like a crime to be in it for yourself. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And I've honestly gotten myself in such dark mental places by only thinking in terms of, well, what does this mean for... Like, what am I getting out of it? Yeah. Like, what is the individualistic thing, like, the framework around this? Like, it never serves me to think of it in that way. individualistic thing, like the framework around this. Like it never serves me to think of it in that way.

Yeah. So yeah, yeah. And most of the people, honestly, most of the people that that stuff is really important to are profoundly, they're the most profoundly unhappy people that I know, you know? Yeah, yeah. Well, Belwyn, I am such a fan of your work

and I appreciate you so much taking the time to be on the show. And I look forward to seeing your world domination. Oh, Andy. Your upcoming, you know, chokehold on entertainment and culture. Thank you. I mean, this was a very...

I so looked forward to this and, I mean, you've really been a really phenomenal presence in my upbringing comedy-wise, so this is really special. That's wonderful to hear. I appreciate it. And I appreciate all of you for listening. Thank you very much. And we will be back next week with more Three Questions. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a Team Coco and Your Wolf production.

It is produced by Lane Gerbig, engineered by Marina Pice, and talent produced by Galit Zahajak. The associate producer is Jen Samples, supervising producer Aaron Blayert, and executive producers Adam Sachs and Jeff Ross at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson and Cody Fisher at Year Wolf. Make sure to rate and review the three questions with Andy Richter on Apple Podcasts.