24 GQ.COM APRIL 2020
The
FixFashionT’S A CRISP morning
in January, and Bowen
Yang and I are eating
lunch in a rustic little
Italian restaurant in
one of those quaint Brooklyn neigh-
borhoods where your statistical risk
of getting maimed by a $700 Baby
Jogger shoots up like a hockey stick.
He used to live around here. Misses
the easygoingness. But he upgraded
not long ago to a nicer apartment in
another trendy neighborhood—one of
the many things, big and small, that
have changed for the 29-year-old in
the months since he transformed into
a breakout star on Saturday Night
Live and debuted as the show’s first
Chinese American cast member.
It’s just past noon, and the joint is
mostly empty, save for a specific phy-
lum of middle-aged male (stringy
white hair; indoor scarves; “working
on a novel” energy), and then there’s
us, two Asian guys of the mid-mil-
lennial variety, discussing what it’s
like to inhabit New York’s creative
spaces. We note that how even in
a city that prides itself on its diver-
sity, it’s rare and refreshing to work
with people who happen to look like
us. Bowen had one such memorable
experience while filming Comedy
Central’s Awkwafina Is Nora From
Queens—a new show he’s in alongside
Awkwafina, BD Wong, and Lori Tan
Chinn—that involved non-psyche-
delic mushrooms.
“Do you know what wood ears
are—like the fungus?” he asks me. “In
between takes, we were all talking
about wood ears and all the di≠er-
ent culinary experiences we’ve had
in Asia. And then, in that moment,
I was like, ‘Holy shit, I’ve never been
able to talk to someone about this on
a set before.’”
Bowen joined SNL as a writer in
2018 and became a cast member last
September. According to the show’s
creator, Lorne Michaels, there was
no doubt he would end up in front
I
of the camera. “[I just wanted him to
have] the confidence and the poise
onstage, and that he was comfort-
able out there, before it happened,”
Michaels tells me. Once in the spot-
light, Bowen quickly emerged as an
electric talent, playing roles as varied
as a bitchy Kim Jong-un, a turbo-
charged Barry’s Bootcamp instructor
in training, and onetime presidentialcandidate Andrew Yang (no relation).
Perhaps most famously, though, Yang
brought to life the admonishing boss
of a diminutive social media man-
ager played by Harry Styles, in an
unabashedly queer sketch simply
titled “Sara Lee.”
In it, Bowen and a colleague rep-
rimand the ex–One Directioner for
mixing up the company Instagramprevious page
Bl a ze r, $ 3,9 95
for suit, by
Brunello
Cucinelli.
Sweater, $89,
by Ben Sherman.
Shirt, $660,
by Louis Vuitton
Men’s. Pants,
$1,695, by
Ermenegildo
Zegna. Shoes,
$395, by
Bruno Magli.
Glasses and ring
(throughout),
his own.
this page
Coat, $3,970,
jacket, $1,560,
and pants, $840, by
Prada. T-shirt,
$65, by Hanro.
Shoes, $375, by
Bruno Magli.
Sunglasses, $375,
by Bottega Veneta.