Bowen Yang
The Culturista
Alright alright alright! It’s our SECOND Elevated A-list post and our subject of today’s newsletter is none other than Bowen Yang!
First off, I have to say Bowen is like kinda f*cking famous. You know someone is kind of a big deal when they make it on the New York Times Daily mini. See for yourself:
Anyway we will get into why he’s a big deal but first we have something very special to do. Since this is our second post, it’s also time for our FIRST connection! So how are Alan Cumming and Bowen Yang connected? Well, turns out they’re connected many different ways. Let’s get into it:
Turns out both Bowen and Alan were in Hot White Heist together. If you remember from my previous post Hot White Heist was the Audible original podcast that I embarrassingly described as “like a Spy Kids for adults”. Since then I’ve actually listened to the whole thing and it’s so good. The story line is about a heist put on by a lesbian cult who is trying to get a hold of the frozen sperm of ex presidents and billionaires. So yeah. It’s good.
As I mentioned Alan Cumming plays a small role in the podcast and Bowen Yang is one of the main characters. If you’re looking for a good story and something fun I recommend giving Hot White Heist a try!
Now that the connection is made, let’s talk more about Bowen. Of course he’s mostly known for Saturday Night Live. Since SNL is basically my church (I watch it religiously every Sunday morning) this is how I first got to know about Bowen. He started as a writer for SNL back in 2018 and was then added as a featured cast member in 2019. Now Yang has been promoted to a regular cast member on SNL’s 47th season. Now I don’t have favorites when it comes to SNL, they’re all amazing, but some of Bowen’s skits are truly iconic. If you haven’t already seen it please watch this skit about Pride and tell me you don’t like it:
And if you are at all a fan of Fran Lebowitz you have to see his impersonation of her (PSA if you haven’t seen Pretend It’s a City on Netflix it’s worth a watch)
Bowen is also known for his pop culture podcast that he co-hosts with Matt Rogers called Las Culturistas.
Here’s a description of the podcast from The New Yorker:
With “Las Culturistas,” in which the comedians Bowen Yang (of “Saturday Night Live”) and Matt Rogers (the host of HBO Max’s “Haute Dog”) dive gregariously into Hollywood headlines as if they were delicious guacamole. What distinguishes “Las Culturistas,” which débuted in 2016 (a grande dame in podcast years), from its peers is its incisive, inquisitive, and often world-weary tone and its novel setup—Yang and Rogers bring on a special guest to discuss their obsessions, and then rant against obscure annoyances, in a segment called “I Don't Think So, Honey!”
Since I’ve decided to highlight Bowen Yang in the Elevated A-list I’ve listened to about 4-5 episodes of Las Culturistas and I have to say it’s very ~fun~ and ~very~ funny. Most of their episodes have special guests; one of which was none other than Mr. Alan Cumming (another connection point!). They also have a segment at the end of every episode called "I don’t think so, honey!” which is Bowen and Matt’s ~hot takes~ on whatever the smokes they want. Anyway, are they podcast episodes pretty long? Yes. Do we have time? Absolutely. Will I stop listening to their podcast? I don’t think so, honey!
One more fun fact about Bowen is he appeared in an episode of HBO’s High Maintenance. I had to bring up this appearance his because I love the show High Maintenance. I feel I can’t really give a just description of the show so here’s a description from Paste Magazine:
On the surface High Maintenance is a NYC set show about The Guy (Ben Sinclair) a soft-spoken, big-bearded, bike-riding white weed dealer. But truly The Guy is a conduit between the audience and the real stars of the show, the people he sells to. Episodes of High Maintenance are these bite-sized vignettes in which the experiences of a revolving door of New Yorkers are showcased.
The show can be deep, the show can be funny, the show can be dark - it’s really got something for everyone. If you haven’t already seen it and you want to try an episode of High Maintenance check out Season 2 Episode 1 where Bowen makes a quick appearance as Brian a guy who get’s some unsettling news
Okay last but not least, I absolutely WILL be talking about two movies that Bowen is in but are not yet released. The first is Fire Island (the film) which is supposed to be a romantic comedy starring Bowen Yang and Margaret Cho (who I also love) and their weekend(?) trip to the famous gay getaway, Fire Island. Keep your eyes peeled, it’ll be out on Hulu sometime this year.
Bowen is also cast in Billy Eichner’s upcoming all LGBT cast Romcom movie, Bros.
A quick aside on Billy Eichner because it is essential you know who this man is. One - you might know Billy Eichner from his role as Craig on Parks & Rec. Two - you should know him from his INCREDIBLE game show Billy on the Street. Please watch this show - it’s like a more stressful Cash Cab but with more yelling and less money (it’s been nominated for an Emmy). Three - he is the man that told Colton Underwood “maybe you’re the first gay bachelor” on his season of the Bachelor. The man’s gaydar is impeccable.
Alright and Four Billy Eichner co-wrote and is starring in the movie Bros which is historically the first gay romantic comedy by a major film studio and the entire cast is LGBT.
So back to Bowen Yang, he also has a role in Bros and I can’t be more excited. The movie is directed by Nicholas Stoller and is set to come out September 30, 2022.
That’s it for now. I wonder whose next 👀.