“Saturday Night Live” star Bowen Yang had his final curtain call last weekend — against show creator Lorne Michaels’ hopes.
“Everyone tried to get Bowen to stay, from Lorne down,” an “SNL” source told Page Six. “But he just made up his mind, he was over it. He was not happy, you could tell.”
With his “Wicked” co-star and good friend Ariana Grande hosting, the 35-year-old “SNL” vet went out with a teary last sketch after seven seasons on the show.
Page Six reported back in September that Yang had planned to leave at the beginning of the current season but Michaels, 81, “threw a ton of money” at the comedian to get him to stay.
An insider said that Yang was given a standard raise.
But that money only went so far.
“Bowen actually only signed up to December, but we all thought he would stay. No one thought he would go 1766572588,” the “SNL” source said this week.
While there was apparently no one event that pushed Yang over the edge in the past few months, “You can always tell when a cast member is done,” the “SNL” source added.
Page Six reached out to representatives for “SNL” and Yang.
“It’s a grueling schedule. It’s a tough thing to do, just from the [lack of] sleep alone,” one former cast member told Page Six of the show.
An industry source told Page Six that Yang was “overcommitted” with work outside of “SNL.”
In October, he missed a show while accepting the Vantage Award at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, and he previously took time off to film his role in the two “Wicked” films. In fact, Grande personally called Michaels and asked that Yang get the time off, she told Vanity Fair.
He co-hosts the hit podcast “Las Culturistas” with Matt Rogers and has a slate of TV and film projects lined up.
Yang and Rogers are co-writing and will co-star in an untitled new comedy for Searchlight, Deadline reported this month.
The pair previously co-starred in the 2022 comedy “Fire Island,” about best friends vacationing on Fire Island.
“It was too much to do it all,” the “SNL” source said of Yang.
Page Six has also been told that Yang was very upset over cast mate Heidi Gardner having been cut from the show in August, after eight seasons, along with Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow. Ego Nwodim also left before the season premiere.
“Everyone at the show is supportive of him and his decision,” the “SNL” source said of Yang.
Yang got teary during both Saturday’s live show and dress rehearsal, when co-star Marcello Hernandez ramped up audience applause.
There was chatter backstage that Yang’s final sketch — in which he played a Delta flight lounge attendant serving his last shift — could get cut, though it did go live as the ultimate sketch of the night.
“I just feel so lucky that I ever got to work here and I just wanted to enjoy it a little bit longer, especially the people,” he said in character.
