Bowen Yang on Wednesday publicly addressed Heidi Gardner’s unexpected departure from Saturday Night Live, calling her “one of the greats” and recalling her contributions to the show while confirming he will return for Season 51.
Speaking on his Las Culturistas podcast released Sept. 10, Yang, 34, said Gardner “will go down in history” and described her as a “truly beautiful person” whose solo-written sketches were reliably strong. He said Gardner, who joined SNL in 2019 during the show’s 45th season, often took it upon herself to write pieces for other cast members and cited a Weekend Update segment Gardner penned for Punkie Johnson as a standout example of her generosity and comedic skill.
Yang recalled Gardner’s role supporting cast and crew during the Covid-19 upheaval that affected Seasons 45 and 46. He said Gardner organized a practice in which cast members texted each other daily with small things that made them smile, which Yang described as an emotional foothold that helped the team through a difficult period.
Yang also addressed the wider cast changes being made ahead of the show’s Oct. 4 Season 51 premiere. He named Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow — who announced their exits publicly in recent weeks — and praised them as “fantastic comedians.” Yang is the first current cast member to publicly comment at length about the string of departures following remarks by creator Lorne Michaels that a shakeup was likely.
Walker, 34, announced his exit after three seasons, writing on social media that his time with the show was sometimes “toxic as hell” but that the cast had become a “f––ked up lil family.” Wakim, 27, described his SNL experience as “the most terrifying, thrilling and rewarding experience of my life” and said he would miss the people who made the show feel like home. Longfellow, 31, confirmed he would not return for a fourth season, calling his three years on the show “the best three years of my life so far.”
Heidi Gardner’s exit, confirmed last month by The Post, came after eight seasons. An insider told The Post that Gardner’s contract was not renewed. Gardner has not publicly addressed her departure.
Five new featured players are scheduled to join SNL for Season 51: Tommy Brennan, Jeremy Culhane, Ben Marshall of Please Don’t Destroy, Kam Patterson and Veronika Slowikowska. Yang said he was “thrilled to go back” to Studio 8H but added that he would “miss the people who are not coming back very, very much.”
Several established cast members have been confirmed to return, including Ego Nwodim, Chloe Fineman, Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost and Michael Che, along with Mikey Day, Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernández, Andrew Dismukes and James Austin Johnson. Season 50 newcomers Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline are also listed among those set to return.
Yang’s public comments are the clearest cast reaction so far to a period of turnover that followed Michaels’ comments about retooling the show. As SNL prepares for the new season, the departures and additions reflect a mix of longer-serving players moving on and fresh talent being added to the lineup.
Season 51 will begin at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on Oct. 4. Yang’s remarks offer a look at how current cast members are processing changes as the program renews its roster and readies new episodes for the fall.