Bowen Yang has made quite a name for himself in recent years, and will keep the laughs coming the to 2025 TV schedule as part of SNL's exciting 50th anniversary special and the star-studded season itself, while the buzzy Wedding Banquet's positive reviews prove his virality goes beyond any one project. While he’s no stranger to being the punchline of jokes he had no control over — in re: Tina Fey's sage advice to Yang on Las Culturistas — he’s still unsure of how his meme-worthiness came into being, though it's on wide display thanks to his dancing abilities in Wicked.
The 34-year-old attended Sundance to promote the Andrew Ahn-directed Wedding Banquet and caught up with IMDb to address his popularity online. Via the site's Instagram account, the Awkwafina is Nora from Queens alum weighed in on the virality of his dance moves during the song, “What is this Feeling," and spoke to the shock that came with it, as well as how thankful he is that his whole body wasn't seen. In his words:
I never thought I’d start a viral dance meme, although I think it’s quite fortunate that it was not too much upper arm movement because I was holding a book the entire time. Like, I go to, like, cheat my way through, I guess a TikTok dance.
The Monkey King actor isn’t wrong about the minimal choreo, the meme-ability could’ve expanded greatly, based on what he’s said about his abilities. All in all, watching the clip, the only notable moment, for me is his face when it pauses (and possibly why the tidbit went viral).
Bowen Yang then touched on how surprising it is that viewers have been teaching themselves the moves through the movie. He noted how hard it was for him to learn from a professional and what a struggle it was to hit all the right marks. Yang shared:
I can’t imagine people learning through the clips of the film, like, I had a professional choreographer try to teach me that. Try. And, um…I don’t know, my hit rate was, like, not great.
The dancing within the movie and fan videos replicating the choreography has been incredibly impressive (Yang’s included, in my opinion). It’ll be interesting to see what’s ahead for the Pfannee actor and the highly anticipated upcoming Wicked: For Good, which will hit the 2025 movie schedule in November.
Bowen Yang seems to be in a fine place, now, even with all his past internet highlights. He seems back on track to not miss a beat (unlike his up-for-debate Wicked dance moves), and if he does take a misstep, hopefully, he’ll know why a new meme-able moment arises.
You can catch Bowen Yang on the 50th Season of Saturday Night Live, on the titular night, at 11:30 pm EST, or the following day with a Peacock subscription. You can watch Wicked with VOD services today, or soon with the same streaming service as SNL.
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