Currently crushing on...

😍 A new feature in which I obsess over someone + explain why I want to live in their skin

Current Crush: Bowen Yang

Bowen Yang is an actor, comedian, podcaster, and writer who you probably recognize from SNL or the hilarious podcast, Las Culturistas.

I’ve been smitten with Bowen for years—I love trying to guess which SNL characters and lines were his ideas. And because he’s so fantastic (on SNL and beyond), he keeps getting bigger and bigger roles and opportunities across the pop culture landscape.

Bowen was born in Australia to parents who emigrated from China in 1986. When Bowen was 6 months old, his family moved to Canada (although they still spoke Mandarin in their home). When he was 9, his family moved to Colorado. In high school he discovered a love for comedy and improv and was voted "Most Likely to Be a Cast Member on Saturday Night Live" in his high school's yearbook (FORESHADOWING). He then went to school at NYU where he befriended Matt Rodgers (his BFF + cohost of Las Cultch).

Bowen has had SO many life experiences—from being sent to conversion therapy (his dad found out his son was gay from an “open chat window” on the family’s computer—can you think of a more Millennial story?) to being a graphic designer at One King’s Lane (so very 2010). He’s also a genius and got a near-perfect score on his ACTs and SATs. All of these experiences make him inclusive and interesting and just a damn delight to listen to and watch.

You might know Bowen from:

• Saturday Night Live (specifically his George Santos impression, this Titanic Iceberg sketch and most recently his Moo Deng sketch) and a bunch of Emmy nominations for these various performances.

  

• Last Culturistas: the popular and iconic podcast he hosts with his best friend, Matt Rodgers. This is my absolute favorite podcast of all the podcasts and it has tricked me into thinking I am IRL friends with Bowen and Matt (creepy + dangerous).

• The 2022 movie Fire Island

• Various cameos (e.g. Broad City, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens)

Most recently he’s been:

• Interviewing Chapel Roan for Interview

• Acting in the Wicked movie

• Ariana Grande’s bestie (from all the Wicked on-set hangs—I would *kill* to see their text log):

His favorite things:

• Pokémon

• Taylor Swift

• Proper grammar

• Soup dumplings

• Drugs

• Video games (esp. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom)

• Cooking stews

• Books

• Astrology (and the Chani App)

• John Waters

• Uber-eating Starbucks Kale and Mushroom Egg Bites

• Broadway shows

• A bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a brioche bun, doused in hot sauce

• Reality television (esp Real Housewives of Salt Lake City + The Traitors)

• Yoobi notebooks, Moleskines, Baggu bags + other fabulous items

• ASMR videos

• Rotisserie chicken from Costco

Bowen Yang Mood Board:

Why I love him:

He’s a self-care icon

Bowen has been BURNT OUT before and knows his mental health needs to be his top priority: “I’m a big proponent of a bubble bath, and I have the Jessica Alba Honest Baby Bubble Bath that is meant for infants, but it works on me, a grown man. It’s my Sunday ritual.”

His taste is vast and inclusive

He loves pretentious authors but also Heather Gay: “I’m open to and like lots of different kinds of things. And I know that’s very broad, but I generally like things as opposed to disliking them. A lot of times I wish I was more critical, but I think I’ve just accepted the fact that I’m going to like something until I don’t, for whatever reason. That’s going to be the order, and I think that’s okay for me.“

Bowen Yang + Joel Kim Booster

Sometimes he’s too honest

Tina Fey gave Bowen some *very* good career advice during the segment of Las Culturistas called “I Don’t Think So Honey” in response to his climbing fame. If you’re not familiar with this brilliant segment of programming, every episode Bowen, Matt and their guest take 1 minute to “rail against something in the culture” (basically they are one-minute rants that could range from airplane annoyances to huge cultural gaffs). Tina Fey put Bowen ON THE SPOT after he gave some too-honest thoughts about the movie, Saltburn:

He lifts others up

Bowen uses his voice and position of power to lift up other actors, artists, musicians, etc.! And there’s no better way this comes to life than via the Las Culturistas Culture Awards—which started as a joke but has become pretty important now in a non-ironic way. Every year, he and Matt come up with a list of ridiculous categories and nominees and then have a real awards ceremony in which real celebrities really show up and really get sad when/if they don’t win

What his camera roll prob looks like:

So…this is a stalkerish feature I made up in which I collage a bunch of photos of my crush and make it look like their camera roll! I actually stole borrowed the idea from the IG account Lulabelle Design - she makes these Reels of pretend camera rolls but for, ya know, FICTIONAL characters which makes it more creative and less insane). Some of the photos below are sourced from Bowen’s IG and a lot of it sourced from his friends’ IG accounts. Don’t worry about it. This is a super normal thing to do.

Can you name a more endearing entertainer? No you cannot.

WHO SHOULD I DO NEXT!?