The Rundown: Bowen Yang Picks a Weekend Update Feature - SNL

0:01 -I think the reason why Update features are so beloved, but important,

0:03 is because it is a place where you get a singular point of view.

0:07 It holds the center literally,

0:09 because it does come on around the halfway point of the show.

0:11 At that point, you can either really give the show

0:14 the boost that it needs to take us to the finish,

0:16 or you can really drag the whole thing down.

0:18 Like I have.

0:19 Just kidding.

0:20 I've been all bangers only.

0:22 Nope.

0:23 Don't say that.

0:31 I have found a really nice home at Update because starting out,

0:35 I immediately knew I was never going to play

0:38 like the dad or the grandpa or the cousin.

0:41 Like all these generic archetypal roles can't

0:44 quite fulfill those things in the same way.

0:46 I feel like Update was just this wonderful haven for me.

0:49 No one's talking about the water!

0:52 What did the autopsy say they iceberged-ed?

0:55 No.

0:56 They drowned, bitch.

0:58 That's not me.

1:00 That's water!

1:01 Laughter] My first episode on cast, we wrote the first trade Daddy.

1:05 And it was like the thing that I think helped me,

1:07 like, wipe the sweat off my brow because I was so nervous.

1:10 But that is like the beauty of update features, right?

1:12 If it makes it to the show, especially,

1:14 that is something that you can really own in terms of its success.

1:17 It really does rest on you.

1:19 "Trend Forecasters" was a sketch that we originally wrote for Willem Dafoe.

1:23 But then, you know, there's that little like brain tickle where,

1:26 you know, you go, maybe that can be adapted to an update feature.

1:29 And out!

1:31 -Movie posters as decor!

1:34 -Movie posters as decor?

1:36 Get F'ed.

1:37 -Are you a Band-Aid?

1:38 'Cause I wanna rip you off.

1:40 Movie posters as decor?

1:42 -Go to bed!

1:43 -I mean, that is the flexibility of Update,

1:45 trying out really absurdist things that I think would need a lot

1:49 of justification and buttressing and like connective tissue in a sketch, right?

1:52 Where like, why is Moo Deng being sprayed down with a hose?

1:54 It just kind of works.

1:56 It's apparent in the Update feature structure and format.

1:59 Stefon being a perfect example,

2:00 started out as a sketch where he was just pitching movies,

2:03 and then it turned into him talking about nightlife.

2:05 -And it helps reunite the big old Irish family.

2:08 -And then it's just like effed up leprechaun situations.

2:12 -The first ones, Guido Sarducci and Roseanne Roseannadanna,

2:17 you get your first catchphrases from the show—

2:18 "It's always something." That was when you were like,

2:21 "Oh yes," the familiarity that keeps coming back like pre-YouTube

2:24 when you couldn't just pull these things up on demand,

2:26 you would want to see these people show up again.

2:28 -What are you trying to do, make me sick?

2:30 You have Kristen's stuff, Aunt Linda or Judy Grimes,

2:34 Rebecca Larue, it's pure, raw character.

2:37 One of the GOATed runs of recurring updates is Cecily Strong as Jeanine Pirro,

2:41 just heightening and escalating the physical

2:43 comedy with every single iteration to go

2:46 from cartoonishly falling out of her chair

2:48 to then throwing her martini in Colin's face, to throwing up her dessert wine,

2:53 to then singing "My Way" in a giant tub of boxed wine.

2:57 I can't think of a better escalation than that.

2:59 -Jeanine Pirro, everyone.

3:01 -Fred Armisen as Nicholas Fehn,

3:03 where he's just reading headlines off a newspaper and just...

3:06 What?

3:06 I mean— Can you— -I— the— I— look— This is the reason—

3:11 I-I-I— Who— but who said— that— the— was that— There's no way.

3:20 Laughter] -Apparently allegedly.

3:23 No cue cards.

3:24 He didn't need them.

3:26 He just riffed.

3:27 And every time it was the funniest thing.

3:29 -Tina, I think someone's at the Update door.

3:31 -Oh, it's, uh, fired "Apprentice" contestant Omarosa, everybody.

3:35 -I remember Maya Rudolph as Omarosa walking

3:38 in, and then things kept falling on her head.

3:40 On the first season of "The Apprentice," Omarosa was the villain.

3:43 There was a storyline, I don't know if you guys remember,

3:46 she had a piece of plaster fall on her head.

3:48 Whoever at SNL that show had a fun-ass

3:52 time with just dropping things on Maya Rudolph's head.

3:55 I remember taping that, bringing it to school,

3:57 and showing my science teacher, Ms.

3:58 Fox.

3:58 I was like, this is the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life.

4:01 -Oh!

4:01 Oh, no.

4:02 -Oh!

4:03 -Okay, this is really difficult to choose just

4:06 one 'cause normally you pick three for the show.

4:10 I am going to choose Stefon, just 'cause we're still saying,

4:15 "New York's hottest club is..." -Your mother and I are separating.

4:18 Spicy!

4:19 Kevin?

4:20 New York's hottest Halloween party is...

4:25 Roar] -That was the perfect joke bag for things that could just live together.

4:30 They weren't just random things.

4:31 They were details that had to be like contextualizing each other.

4:34 And that's what made you laugh.

4:36 -Have you heard of Blacula, the Black Dracula?

4:38 -Yes.

4:41 -Well, they have a Jewish Dracula.

4:43 -Oh.

4:43 What's his name?

4:44 -Sidney Applebaum.

4:46 Laughter] -A Mulaney-Hader classic.

4:49 -Thank you, John.

4:51 -And we're still quoting it today, we're still watching them back.

4:54 -Needless to say, this place has everything.

4:55 Skunks, key fobs, Cookie Crisp, Dan Cortese.

5:01 -There was an arc with that.

5:03 He got married.

5:04 -Stefon!

5:05 Cheers and applause] -I love you, Seth Myers!

5:08 -I love you, Stefon!

5:09 For Weekend Update, we are Seth and Stefon Myers!

5:12 Good night!

5:14 -And I love that as the journey of an "SNL" feature

5:17 that started from a thing that didn't really work in a sketch,

5:20 but then completely was off to the races as soon as it was in the right home.

5:24 And Update features have been the right home for me.

5:28 And with that, that's it.