Amid growing excitement around the release of Wicked, cast member Bowen Yang has found himself at the center of public conversation time and again.
The comedian — who plays Pfannee in the newly-released musical movie — also stars on Saturday Night Live, meaning that he was flying back and forth between London and NYC to film both projects simultaneously, week after week.
And Bowen’s work certainly wasn’t for nothing, as he’s been involved in some of the most talked about SNL sketches this year.
Earlier this week on The Tonight Show, when chatting to Jimmy Fallon, the two spoke about Bowen getting to impersonate Charli XCX (next to the singer herself) in a skit about celebrities auditioning for Wicked. In the skit, Bowen played Charli, and Charli played singer Troye Sivan.
Charli impersonating Troye wasn’t the first time that the Australian singer has been mentioned — or featured — on SNL lately.
Back in September, Bowen impersonated Charli during a sketch that featured comedian Sarah Sherman playing Troye. And last year, Troye was referenced in yet another Bowen skit, when Timothée Chalamet played the singer as a straight woman’s sleep paralysis demon — who then multiplied, prompting three other Troyes, played by Boygenius, to appear.
Funnily enough, Bowen constantly featuring Troye in his SNL skits hasn’t gone unnoticed by internet users; a tweet that recently garnered attention read, “Troye Sivan has the SNL writers in a chokehold,” to which someone hilariously replied, “It’s just Bowen Yang.”
Well, when talking to Jimmy on Wednesday night, Bowen took a moment to defend himself. “Everyone is like, ‘Bowen Yang keeps trying to get Troye Sivan on SNL,’ I’m like, because he’s a big deal!” he protested.
Reacting to Bowen’s iconic skits online, one user said, “I love how you can always tell it’s Bowen who came up with the skit because its always so niche and hyperspecific lmfaooo.”
Needless to say, Bowen’s writing has definitely meant SNL has had a resurgence with a younger, more online generation.
Now that he’s been in so many skits, can we get Troye to host SNL? Which celebrities would you love to see featured on the show? LMK down below! Meanwhile, you can watch Bowen in Wicked, which is out now in theatres across the US and UK.