'SNL's' Bowen Yang is committed to the bit

The comic has become the series' go-to impressionist. But one role in particular took some convincing.

- Emily Zemler

FOR THE FIRST EPISODE OF "Saturday Night Live's" 50th season, Bowen Yang dressed up as Moo Deng, a baby hippo the internet was then obsessed with. Yang's all-in appearance during the series' "Weekend Update" segment conflated Moo Deng's journey with that of reluctant pop star Chappell Roan — a surprising combination that captivated the audience.

"I was surprised by the way it took off," Yang says, speaking over Zoom from New York. "We were juxtaposing these two cultural things, the ways that people were pushing through any sense of boundaries that these two living beings had. It was observational, and I think the response was this force-multiplying thing where people did not think these two lenses could be stuck on top of each other."

As with many of his popular sketches, Yang found it fascinating to follow the trajectory of the appearance after the episode aired. On one hand, he was thrilled by its levity. But he also describes having "a self-flagellating instinct" to worry it would lose its relevance. "It has all these different directional tensions to it, and I'm proud of it," he says. "But a sketch is such a disposable medium that is both great and that feels like there is no bottom, so you constantly have to keep filling it."