"Bowen Yang"

Summary

SmartLess Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title: Bowen Yang
Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Guest: Bowen Yang
Release Date: June 1, 2026

Overview

This episode of SmartLess celebrates the multi-faceted comedic talent of Bowen Yang, known for his run on Saturday Night Live (SNL), the Las Culturistas podcast, and a string of boundary-breaking performances. The hosts dive into Bowen’s life journey—from a transnational childhood to comedy stardom—pulling out stories about family, identity, and career pivots, all peppered with the show’s signature wit and camaraderie.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Surprise Guest Reveal and Early Banter

• [03:28 - 04:56] Lighthearted cold open about apartment-hopping in NYC, leafy vegetables, and picking teeth transitions into Jason introducing Bowen Yang as the guest.
• Quote: “My guest today is smarter than all of us combined and practically half our age... It’s a hilarious, delightful Bowen Yang.” (Jason Bateman, 08:20)

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2. Bowen’s International Upbringing

• [11:22 - 16:01]

  • Born in Brisbane, Australia; moved to Montreal, Quebec; then to Colorado at age 9.
  • His father, raised in Inner Mongolia, earned a PhD in mining explosives, shaping Bowen’s perspective on ambition and resilience.
  • Cultural dislocation and influence of Canadian arts, particularly Just For Laughs festival in Montreal.

• Quote: “My dad’s been at the same job for the past like 38 years, but he got his doctorate in Australia, so that’s where my sister and I were born in Brisbane. Then we moved to Canada, Montreal... And then we moved to Colorado...” (Bowen Yang, 11:47)

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3. Finding Comedy: Inspiration and College Choices

• [17:51 - 21:04]

  • Went to NYU, initially as a pre-med/chemistry major (inspired by Sandra Oh’s character, Cristina Yang from Grey’s Anatomy).
  • Chose schools based on their comedy scenes, not acedemic prestige.
  • SNL was never the explicit goal; Bowen sought comedy community and creative fulfillment.

• Quote: “I was looking at colleges and I was, like, purely motivated by what the comedy scenes were there... SNL was never the goal. SNL was, like, too far out of reach.” (Bowen Yang, 19:00; 19:47)

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4. Navigating Identity: Coming Out and Family Dynamics

• [31:17 - 38:15]

  • Bowen details his coming out story: accidentally outed by a chat window left open on the family computer; his parents’ reaction was to send him to conversion therapy.
  • The therapy itself was ineffective and, as Bowen recounts, “hilarious” in its ultimate pointlessness—including a therapist who himself slipped into the first person while describing a same-sex encounter.
  • Despite the fraught experience, Bowen and his parents have since reconciled, demonstrating understanding for their generational and cultural gaps.

• Memorable Story: “The last session, he [the therapist] starts to go into this anecdote in the third person about one of his former patients... and then starts to shift into the first person... and then he caught himself shifting into the first person.” (Bowen Yang, 34:36)

• Quote: “It’s almost endearing homophobia... So sweet, isn’t it? So sweet.” (Bowen Yang on his father, 37:24)

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5. Breaking into SNL: Auditioning and Early Career

• [28:59 - 41:43]

  • First hired as a writer at SNL at 27—a rarity for an Asian, openly gay, effeminate performer at the time.
  • The SNL audition process: Bowen believed he had no chance, so he recorded a tape solely for himself, leading to “sexy indifference” and freeing up his authentic voice.
  • Notable sketches: debut as Kim Jong-un (during Sandra Oh’s hosting, heightening the serendipity); viral “Iceberg” sketch.

• Quote: “I was like, they’ll never, ever hire an effeminate Asian guy... So on a lark, I was like, no one’s ever gonna see this tape. So let me just, like, f### around and do what’s funny for me.” (Bowen Yang, 29:17)

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6. The Art and Challenge of Comedy Today

• [51:43 - 54:15]

  • Bowen reflects on the current landscape of comedy, the difficulty of fostering optimism, and the shifting definition of “comedy” in the television industry.
  • Cites “The Comeback” as a current favorite, though notes its more somber, reflective tone.

• Quote: “I think comedy shows have this extra thing they have to do where it has to present something optimistic about the world, and it’s really hard to do that right now.” (Bowen Yang, 52:22)

---

7. Personal Well-being, Dating, and Life after SNL

• [55:09 - 58:54]

  • Discussing work-life balance, exhaustion from SNL, and how the show impacted his dating life (“impossible to date during SNL”).
  • Adjusting to life post-SNL, finding routines, and learning to self-motivate.
  • Bowen expresses optimism about the future and openness to many creative avenues (podcasting, acting, writing).

• Quote: “It’s okay to be single.” (Jason Bateman, 56:48)

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8. The “I Don’t Think So, Honey” Rant

• [61:52 - 62:59]
  • At Sean’s prompting, Bowen delivers a signature rapid-fire rant on outdoor furniture:
  • Quote: “I don’t think so, honey. Outdoor furniture. It’s a scam... There’s no maintenance on outdoor furniture. But we feel compelled, it is compulsory that we buy it... The indignation of outdoor furniture is terrible.” (Bowen Yang, 62:16 – 62:57)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “You wanted to go to college, so you were doing it to kind of just go through the motions so you could go. But... There’s no hint of any sort of anger towards it. Like, you were like, yeah, I get it... That shows people to be honest.” (Will Arnett, 37:52, on Bowen’s approach to family and coming out)

• “Comedy was never on the menu. But it’s taken up a lot of space. In a good way.” (Bowen Yang, 51:43, on podcasting and career direction)

• “It was about going to school the next day being like, ‘Oh my God, did you guys watch Arrested Development?’ Or... ‘Will & Grace.’ I never placed myself in those things. And I don’t know if it’s about, like, representation stuff. It was more just about, like, I’m good just knowing the inner works.” (Bowen Yang, 44:06 – 45:47)

• “You are brilliant. You are hilarious from the first time I saw you. Thank you for being here today.” (Jason Bateman, 63:25)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | 08:20 | Guest reveal and background intro for Bowen Yang | | 11:22 | Family history & international upbringing | | 17:51 | NYU, pre-med cover story, and comedy pursuit | | 19:47 | SNL not his goal, influence of NYU and comedy friends | | 31:17 | Coming out, conversion therapy experience | | 38:53 | Getting hired at SNL, first big sketches | | 51:43 | Thoughts on “the state of comedy” today | | 56:10 | Life after SNL, work-life balance, dating | | 61:52 | “I Don’t Think So, Honey”—Bowen’s rant | | 63:25 | Farewell and final compliments |

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Tone & Style

The episode retains SmartLess’ loose, conversational, and improvisational tone. Laughter and warmth suffuse serious topics, with empathetic listening and genuine enthusiasm for Bowen’s achievements. The recurring banter (“I want to aggressively do nothing”; “Comedy is optimism against the odds”) bridges profundity and playfulness.

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Conclusion

This episode is essential listening for fans of comedy, identity stories, and modern pop culture. Through candid reflection and sharp humor, Bowen Yang and the hosts offer both inspiration and irreverence, demonstrating that vulnerability and hilarity are not mutually exclusive in the making of great contemporary entertainers.

Transcript

[Jason Bateman]

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[Sean Hayes]

So I booted up today and here's what I noticed. Okay, you know, you know, you just start talking. You hope interesting thought comes into your head that's where I find myself right now. So I booted up. I. And what I noticed.

[Will Arnett]

You thought talking about booting up was gonna get you going.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, it was just gonna trigger something for the cold open. Anything ever funny ever happen for you guys when you bo.

[Will Arnett]

Look at this. Oh, Sean's wearing a boot.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, he's wearing. Still wearing his walking boot.

[Will Arnett]

Oh. Now we're into freestyle association. And it's improv. And yes and. And yes. And to an all new smart, smart, Smart. Less. Smart. Less.

[Sean Hayes]

I apologize for picking my teeth. I just got through a bunch of really leafy vegetables.

[Will Arnett]

Okay.

[Sean Hayes]

So I may. I might have to excuse myself. Mid, mid, mid. Record here.

[Will Arnett]

You think?

[Sean Hayes]

Well, I mean, what, to go brush? Well, no.

[Jason Bateman]

Why don't you get some floss?

[Sean Hayes]

I've got the. I've got the little pick right here. And that you're. I apologize you're having to watch. You and the. Whoever the surprise guest is. I apologize.

[Will Arnett]

Wait, you can't bear it until after. You don't. No.

[Sean Hayes]

If I have something stuck between my teeth, everything stops.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm kind of the same way.

[Sean Hayes]

I can't. It's. It's. It's like. It's like a bee is stuck in my car. I've got to. I gotta pull over.

[Will Arnett]

You gotta be. You gotta be in your bonnet. Yeah, you gotta be in your bonnet.

[Sean Hayes]

Hey, there's a good saying. You should start that.

[Will Arnett]

You gotta be in your bonnet. JB. Now, how's your new setup? JB's in New York now. How's your setup? Pretty good.

[Sean Hayes]

It's good. I'm just. I'm in. I'm in the hotel for a week and then I get the keys on Friday. So then I'll go over to the apartomonte.

[Jason Bateman]

And you'll be there for three, four months?

[Sean Hayes]

Yes. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow. Isn't it wild? And I just got back.

[Sean Hayes]

I know. I should be playing. I should be staying at your place.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

By the way, why don't you.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, too late, you dick. You could realize now that I'm obligated to a long term lease.

[Jason Bateman]

You know, you could have done done that, but it was. It'd been too small for you. I'm gonna be there.

[Will Arnett]

I'm gonna be there soon, jb.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. No, we didn't.

[Jason Bateman]

Why are you going there?

[Will Arnett]

I'll be there. Because life.

[Sean Hayes]

Because life, bro. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. So I guess that's why I couldn't stay at your place. You've got a nice new fancy, don't you?

[Will Arnett]

I don't have. I don't have keys yet.

[Sean Hayes]

Why? Because you're making it fancier. You're in the middle of making it fancier.

[Will Arnett]

No, no, no, no, no, no. It's a long. It's complicated, but. But I'm very excited. Very.

[Sean Hayes]

We're excited for you. I'm super jealous. You're. You know how long I've wanted to live here?

[Jason Bateman]

I know. Why don't you just get a little tiny something?

[Sean Hayes]

Your second. How many. How many times have you had a place in Manhattan, Will?

[Will Arnett]

Oh, God.

[Sean Hayes]

Like a. Like. Like a place. Not like a hotel.

[Jason Bateman]

But you and Amy used to live there.

[Will Arnett]

I lived there for over 20 years. Full time.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, but that was just one spot, right? I mean, different spots have you had here.

[Will Arnett]

Different. Oh, my God, countless.

[Sean Hayes]

You've had. You have more or less than a dozen apartments.

[Jason Bateman]

Count them.

[Sean Hayes]

More or less than a dozen apartments in Manhattan?

[Will Arnett]

Probably. Probably around a dozen.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, really?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Something like that. Close to it. If not.

[Jason Bateman]

That sounds so jealous.

[Sean Hayes]

You, Sean, the one you have now, Sean, is your first. Is that your first?

[Jason Bateman]

It's the first place I've owned. Yeah. For now. Six years.

[Will Arnett]

You know, back in the. Back in the day, used to move around a lot. You know, like, you'd live with roommates for a year and then. And then somebody would bail and so you'd have to move across town. I used to be able to move in a taxi. One taxi cab ride. Just a couple duffel bags for real. And like, stuff like a mattress. Like a futon mattress in the trunk. And then, like go across town and like, move back cross town and whatever. Like just, you know.

[Sean Hayes]

This is sad.

[Will Arnett]

Those are sad. I think fondly back. I used to live on 21st street for years. And I remember having. I lived in this. Basically a studio. This is such a boring story, but I'm gonna do it anyway. And fold up futon mattress. I didn't even have the frame, so in the day, I'd roll it up in the corner. Just a cushion on the floor, like

[Sean Hayes]

a swollen yoga mat.

[Will Arnett]

A mattress. Yeah. And then I'd have that. And then I had like two pairs of jeans and two T shirts and whatever. It was so.

[Sean Hayes]

Fuck.

[Will Arnett]

It was so simple.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

And there was just. There was nothing. There was nothing. It was just. I gotta say it was.

[Jason Bateman]

But isn't one of the greatest things about getting older is you don't move around like that. Like that's. It's just exhaust. You don't realize when you're younger how exhausting it is to keep moving and moving and moving.

[Sean Hayes]

You also become attached to more. You get attached to more stuff as you get older, too, right? Or do you get rid of that?

[Will Arnett]

You do. You're like, fuck, where's all this comfort? Where is all this stuff?

[Sean Hayes]

Hey, Sean, is that a new placement for the SAG Award, of which I bet you have many? I didn't. Yeah, I need to see your words in the back.

[Jason Bateman]

Nobody counts four SAG Awards over.

[Will Arnett]

Why would you count that?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, but that's a new spot right over your shoulder.

[Jason Bateman]

No, I don't know who put it there. I swear I don't. I didn't. Okay, Scotty, I'm taking it. I'm taking it out after.

[Will Arnett]

Let's find out with a mystery of who put the SAG Award in frame.

[Sean Hayes]

But have you noticed that. That people do that on their zooms? They put awards in the background? Why is that?

[Will Arnett]

I'm more. I'm still. I'm still bothered about that TV behind you because it never gets viewed because it's in the wor.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, sometimes. Sometimes it's never. Well, no, sometimes if this is my office and so if there's stuff going on.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

We could see the fax machine. Oh, God. He's really knocking down big deals over there.

[Will Arnett]

But it's just. It's just the placement of it is so locked in, and then the seating on the other side of your desk is so far away.

[Jason Bateman]

I know, I know. No, it's not that far. Anyway, when Scotty's got something going on, I come in here and I'll watch. I don't need to explain myself to you. Okay, here we go. Ready? Watch this.

[Will Arnett]

Yep, sure.

[Jason Bateman]

My guest today is smarter than all of us combined and practically half our age. He started college as a pre med chemistry major because he was inspired by Sandra.

[Sean Hayes]

Is this Doogie?

[Jason Bateman]

Is this Doogie Hauser Craze, Anatomy. He was born in Australia, moved to Quebec, then to Colorado when he was nine. Later he moved to New York, got a graphic design job to pay the bills while doing late night improv and eventually working, walked into 30 Rock and booked Saturday Night Live, giving him seven seasons and five Emmy nominations. It's a hilarious, delightful Bowen. Yang.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, my goodness, it's Doogie. What's up, Doogs?

[Bowen Yang]

Doogie Howser. It's Doogie. I've never seen it. I've never seen that show.

[Will Arnett]

You're too young. You're too young.

[Sean Hayes]

I don't think I've seen pieces of it.

[Jason Bateman]

Wade Bowen's got you. You've got awards behind you, too. No.

[Bowen Yang]

And you guys, I knew.

[Sean Hayes]

It's a bust of Ben Franklin.

[Bowen Yang]

This is Ben Franklin? No, this is the parting gift they gave me at SNL. The makeup guy. So now they do 3D scans of your face and. Yeah, that's Lauren. No, they do.

[Sean Hayes]

Wait, you're not done on snl.

[Jason Bateman]

Yes, he is.

[Will Arnett]

Yes, he is.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, God damn it.

[Bowen Yang]

It's okay. But we had a good time.

[Sean Hayes]

We had a read a.

[Jason Bateman]

Just last year.

[Bowen Yang]

I love this, by the way. There's a special quality to this. It's so his Girl Friday. Just you guys all overlapping. It's so cool.

[Will Arnett]

No, we're the worst. We're the worst interviewers, and we get a lot of shit because we interrupt each other all the time. People are like, I wish they'd shut up. And we're like, well, this is what a conversation.

[Bowen Yang]

People don't get it.

[Sean Hayes]

What about on yours? You guys overlap, I bet. All the time. Or do you do it together?

[Jason Bateman]

Las Coltaritas.

[Bowen Yang]

We do it together. Now, we used to. We would do it. We would do it very much on Zoom in years past. But now we're back to spatial shared. Whatever studio you guys are. But you guys are gonna, like, really Rorschach test my shelves, aren't you?

[Jason Bateman]

I don't.

[Bowen Yang]

See, this is the thing about awards. Mine are mostly glass, which I feel like are less legitimate than your awards.

[Jason Bateman]

Are they? Cause they could break.

[Will Arnett]

Well, let's go on the books. You got bush.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. Oh, really?

[Bowen Yang]

I got a Kate Bush thing.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, yeah. I like Kate Bush.

[Sean Hayes]

What do you got? A home pod? Is that a home pod up in there?

[Bowen Yang]

This is a Sonos. This is a Sonos.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, gotcha.

[Jason Bateman]

What's the gold one?

[Sean Hayes]

The gold thing is a Golden Globe.

[Bowen Yang]

No, this. This is the newly redesigned Academy Museum Honor. It used to be. You were there.

[Will Arnett]

I was there when you got it. I was there when you got it. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

No way.

[Will Arnett]

Congratulations.

[Bowen Yang]

They used to be. Thank you. But they used to be smaller silver Oscar statues.

[Sean Hayes]

Really?

[Bowen Yang]

And now they. And now it's a gold ice cream cone. I don't understand why they changed it.

[Jason Bateman]

What's it for?

[Bowen Yang]

Vibes? I don't know.

[Sean Hayes]

Excellent.

[Will Arnett]

For being. For being great at what he does.

[Bowen Yang]

Sean. Which is. Can anyone here describe what I hear?

[Will Arnett]

Sean? I don't know if you know this. Sean won a. Sean won a silver fedora.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. Look at that.

[Will Arnett]

Right behind him there for.

[Sean Hayes]

For excellent cosplaying of Indiana Jones.

[Bowen Yang]

It's excellent. It's. And he was excellent. At it.

[Will Arnett]

Bowen Yang. What? What's. What's touching? Hang on a second. No, don't. Yeah, me. I talking to Bowen Yang. Wow. How dare you? That's so rude.

[Sean Hayes]

Cool it.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, no, I want. I want to talk to Bow and Yang. I want to know why you. Why, how and why you moved around and what happened. We're just talking about moving around. And then Sean intros you and it's like bing bong, like all over the place.

[Jason Bateman]

All over the place.

[Bowen Yang]

Why did I move around?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, your parents. You were born and then you moved to Quebec and then. And then. What did I just say?

[Sean Hayes]

You started in Australia, then you had to get the hell out of there for some reason.

[Jason Bateman]

Quebec and then Colorado.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quebec and Colorado. No. Oh, it was. It was. My dad's been at the same job for the past like 38 years, but he got his doctorate in Australia, so that's where my sister and I were born in Brisbane. Then we moved to Canada, Montreal, where. Where I learned about Celine Dion. And then I learned. And then we moved to Colorado for just.

[Sean Hayes]

And what'd you learn about there?

[Bowen Yang]

I learned about. Okay. Oh, no. I moved to Colorado.

[Sean Hayes]

I get in trouble right now at

[Bowen Yang]

the tail end of. I'm getting in trouble. I moved at the tail end of the Clinton administration right after Columbine and Jomine Ramsey to Colorado. So as an eight year old, the

[Will Arnett]

whole Clinton administration was about tail end. Let's be honest. Okay, guys. Hey, wait. Bowen, how many years. How old were you then when you moved from Quebec? Because I want to get into the Canada stuff. Obviously, as a Canadian.

[Bowen Yang]

Let's get into it. Yes, I would love to. Eight years old. So I was. I was hysterically sobbing, being like, why are we moving to the place where people get killed? Like, it was. It was right after JonBenet, who was in Boulder. And it was. And it was after. Like it was after all this. This, this mess. Got it.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait, but this is interesting. I'm going to tell you, Willy, because this is. And this will prompt Bowen. It was just. Your dad grew up literally in a straw and mud hut in Inner Mongolia, taught himself to read by candlelight, got a PhD in mining explosives.

[Bowen Yang]

What? That's right.

[Jason Bateman]

And then moved across three countries. That's crazy.

[Bowen Yang]

You can go to school for anything.

[Sean Hayes]

So he got a doctorate in blowing stuff up.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. And blowing stuff up.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

For. At quarries and such and.

[Sean Hayes]

Yes. Well, he loves it. You can take it anywhere he wants, I guess.

[Bowen Yang]

Sure.

[Will Arnett]

But when. I love your explanation. I love your explanation. He Loves it.

[Sean Hayes]

He loves it.

[Bowen Yang]

He loves it.

[Sean Hayes]

But like that. I guess you would. I would want someone to be very credentialed before I handed the keys to some explosives. Right, sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

And then you went to. When you go ahead.

[Bowen Yang]

No, you go, you go.

[Jason Bateman]

I was gonna say this would relate to Will. You went to. You. You were, like, blown away by Just for Laughs, which is what a. A comedy festival.

[Sean Hayes]

Pun. Pun intended. I was blown away.

[Bowen Yang]

Pun intended.

[Will Arnett]

Career.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah. Really good, Will. So. But yeah, there would be like three street performers.

[Jason Bateman]

What?

[Will Arnett]

Jason, no. But you're allergic to culture.

[Sean Hayes]

One cigarette.

[Bowen Yang]

I love. I love Montreal.

[Will Arnett]

So do I. Montreal is a phenomenal city.

[Bowen Yang]

Truly. Truly. I mean, like. Like, people say Portland has the best strip clubs. Montreal had the best strip clubs. And I could have. I had the authority to say this as a child. You drive through them on the way back from Chinatown into the suburbs, and you would pass by the strip clubs and they were just. They had great lights.

[Sean Hayes]

Vancouver was pretty gifted for the. The ballet as well.

[Will Arnett]

Don't you drag that shit into here.

[Sean Hayes]

No, Fraser, arms. Right there, just outside the airport. There's your arms.

[Will Arnett]

Nobody does a peeler bar like Montreal. No peelers.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Hey. Ok. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Anyway, so what were you inspired by? Just For Laughs. Like, what's the first thing you saw? You're like, the laughs.

[Bowen Yang]

The laughs. I heard the laughs. There would be, like, street performers, and they still have that, but, like, it would be free street performances and it would be the most, like, Quebec crazy kooky stuff. Like a mime who, like, pulls something out of his ear. It was just like, clowning, plus, like, jokes. I don't know, it was just. It just didn't have to make sense, you know, like, it was that. And then.

[Sean Hayes]

So Montreal was what, ages? To what ages? Sorry, Was.

[Bowen Yang]

No, that's okay. It was three to nine.

[Sean Hayes]

Three to nine. And then to Colorado.

[Bowen Yang]

And then to Colorado. Nine to 17. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

And 17 to what was where?

[Bowen Yang]

New York. And 17 to now has been New York.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow. Wow.

[Bowen Yang]

Is that when people ask me, where are you from? I don't know.

[Sean Hayes]

You're not sure what to say?

[Bowen Yang]

I still get stolen valor if I say, well, if I say, oh, Colorado and then Canada before that, people are like. And I tell them what years I grew up there. They were like, oh, well, you should just say Colorado. And I'm like, yeah, but developmentally, like, those Canada years were important to me.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, how much? But really, I mean, for any of us. How much do you remember before nine years old? Not.

[Jason Bateman]

I remember a Lot, Yeah, just a

[Sean Hayes]

lot of screeching, tires shining.

[Will Arnett]

Not all of us had to black it out, man. You know what I mean? Jakey Bates. Jakey was trying to learn how to die on the set of Little House on the Prairie and getting notes on a little less on the dying Jake.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay?

[Will Arnett]

Little Jakey Bates with his bowl cut. Have you ever seen photos Google Jason when he was a kid. He's so fucking cute it's undorable. And you can see him on getting there in action and he's gotta die.

[Sean Hayes]

Pulling up my overalls. Hey pa. Hey, Pa. No, but I think most of what shaped me happened once I got to California, which was seven till now. I mean, you know, I remember snow and things like that in, in Salt Lake City, Boston, New York, but in the ages before. But nothing really, really shaped who I am happened before then.

[Bowen Yang]

Right, sure.

[Sean Hayes]

I mean, so I.

[Will Arnett]

Nothing.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, I mean, not as much as, you know, your Colorado years, you know, 9 to 17. I mean, that's. That's the whole cookie right there.

[Will Arnett]

I mean, Jason, let's be honest. Living in LA from, you know, 18 and through your 20s, you saw a lot of snow then too.

[Sean Hayes]

Hey, let's be real.

[Will Arnett]

Let's be real, huh?

[Jason Bateman]

Jesus.

[Will Arnett]

Fucking Porsche peeling out of Warner Brothers with a fucking be. Here comes the weekend. Jesus.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, we had some fun.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, we had fun. So Bowen, how do you go? So pre med chemistry. Is that right?

[Will Arnett]

Is that.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, it was, it was. I was. I was taking cover behind it. Really? Okay. Cause I was. I was looking at colleges and I was like, purely motivated by like, what the comedy scenes were there.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, okay. So you.

[Bowen Yang]

It was between like Northwestern and nyu. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

So you went with the intention to pursue comedy under the guise of pre med?

[Bowen Yang]

Pretty much.

[Jason Bateman]

Is that what you're saying?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Really?

[Sean Hayes]

We were just talking to Colin Jost about this, right. Where he was similar. Yeah. So he's going into Harvard, studying. Was it economics? Economics. And then he decided to just sort of tack over to comedy when he's sitting at. So you could go to Northwestern or like you had, you had the skills, the academic qualifications to really get yourself a career that you could count on a nice healthy base salary and some longevity, et cetera. But you were like, no, no, let's go with comedy. That's what I want to put it all in on. Huh?

[Bowen Yang]

Terrible, Terrible. I mean, thank God it works out terrible, but.

[Sean Hayes]

Who's laughing now?

[Will Arnett]

But interesting.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah, you're killing it. So it all worked out. But I was interested to ask Colin about And I'm going to ask you the same. It was. Go ahead.

[Bowen Yang]

Well, I feel like with Harvard, it's like the Lampoon is, like, kind of institutionally there. You know what I mean? I feel like with nyu, it was like, now I feel like, especially at snl, it's like, oh, NYU is sort of the pedigree where. Whereas, like, I don't know, 10 years ago, it was more Harvard leaning.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, okay.

[Will Arnett]

Interesting. Oh, really?

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't know.

[Sean Hayes]

So that. That was part of the thinking is because. Did you end up going to nyu?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

So then that was. You thought of that as possibly a feeder for snl. SNL was a goal.

[Bowen Yang]

SNL was never the goal. SNL was, like, too, too far out of reach. But I. But, like, what ended up happening was, like, people from our little ilk at nyu, our coterie of, like, freaks and weirdos were, like, being raptured up into the SNL spaceship. And then we were like, oh, wait, so now we have, like, we have our little. Our little canaries or whatever. I mean, it sounds nefarious, but it.

[Will Arnett]

Well, were you. It does sound. It sounds like you're hiding something. But were you doing. Were you doing sketch? Were you doing stand up? Yeah. Were you at ucp? What were you doing?

[Bowen Yang]

This was. We were. I was going into NYU right after these boys from Derek Comedy had just sort of, like, stormed the scene. It was Donald glover and, like, D.C. pearson and Dominic Dirkus. Like, Rachel Bloom was in her senior year. Steph Shue was doing sketch comedy there. Like, it was. It was all these, like, people who were like, oh, there's something special about them. And then. But we like you at the time, you couldn't say, like, well, we're all gonna make it big. You know, it just wasn't.

[Jason Bateman]

You just did what you loved.

[Bowen Yang]

You could never say that out loud.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

And it's. It sounds so annoying when people ask you, like, would you have any advice? And I'm like, I. If you can. If you can be at the right place at the right time, but there's never any way of knowing.

[Will Arnett]

Yes, that's a great point.

[Sean Hayes]

Were you doing anything simultaneously to sort of, you know, mitigate your risk? You know, studying anything el.

[Bowen Yang]

Or studying chemistry. Volunteering at Bellevue, at Bellevue Hospital, the ER at Bellevue, where I got fired, because I had to, like. Because I. I, like. I added, like, 10 minutes to my time chart or something. It was like they were. They were serious as a heart attack, so to speak about it. Like, I they they would not let anything slide.

[Jason Bateman]

We'll be right back.

[Sean Hayes]

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[Jason Bateman]

We sure do.

[Sean Hayes]

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[Sean Hayes]

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[Sean Hayes]

And now back to the show.

[Jason Bateman]

This is really interesting. When I read that at NYU when you were chemistry pre med, that's because of Sandra oh. You were a huge fan of Sandra oh on Grey's Anatomy. And then what happened? Which I think is hilarious. And her character names.

[Sean Hayes]

That's not a bit.

[Jason Bateman]

That's not a bit.

[Bowen Yang]

It's not a bad. It's not a bad.

[Jason Bateman]

And her character name is Christina Yang.

[Bowen Yang]

Christina Yang. Christina Crazy. It's like the classic, like your wires getting crossed where I was like, it wasn't that I wanted to be a doctor because I saw her. It was because, one, I wanted to maybe act. And two, because I was a gay man worshiping an actress's work. Like, it was just those two things.

[Will Arnett]

Instead of a one, two punch. That's a one, two punch.

[Bowen Yang]

It's a one, two punch. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

But chemistry. But chemistry is not medicine. You're not going to. You're not going to. You're not studying medicine. So, like, what, what could one.

[Will Arnett]

Well, what are you studying? Jason, let's hear your thoughts on chemistry.

[Sean Hayes]

I want to know what kind of career one can anticipate with a chemistry degree.

[Bowen Yang]

So it's funny, like, back in the day, the word industry to me meant. Didn't mean anything in Hollywood. It meant, oh, like you're working an industry job in chemistry, which means you work for like, like Procter and Gamble or something. You like making deodorants. Yeah, yeah. You make. You make these. Like you make pharmaceuticals or you make

[Sean Hayes]

like that was a genuine interest for you. You, you, you. You were gonna pursue that.

[Bowen Yang]

No, no, it wasn't. It was not genuine at all. It was. Chemistry was. Because it was the path of least resistance to getting to like, finishing my credits. There was no, like, actual interest in it. I mean, I know some stuff.

[Sean Hayes]

It was a subject you had a handle of. Like, you didn't struggle, like, I struggled greatly with chemistry country. That is not simple on the Bus. On the bus, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

On what? On the bus.

[Will Arnett]

By the way, nobody. Nobody registered any shock on that. I was silent after you said that.

[Sean Hayes]

I wasn't looking for shock.

[Will Arnett]

Bowen, you never had the Feds. You never had a knock at the door of the Feds for the kid. The kid who's a chemistry major whose dad was involved in explosives. You didn't get, like, a quick visit?

[Sean Hayes]

You didn't have trouble traveling?

[Bowen Yang]

I'm sure I'm on a list. Oh, no, you're right. I never thought of that, Will.

[Jason Bateman]

I mean, but I want to. I want to just say all the crazy SNL stuff. So you were like. I read. You were like me when you were a kid. You would sit in your room or with your family and do the bunny ears on the TV and so. And look and get SNL on Saturday night. I used to do that and watch it by myself in, like, one of my brother's rooms because nobody was around. And then. And then Sandra oh ends up hosting the show. Right.

[Will Arnett]

Where was everybody? Sorry, who was everybody?

[Jason Bateman]

And then. And then your sister introduced you to snl, and then you were. You were voted Senior Most Likely to be on SNL in your high school.

[Bowen Yang]

Because that was. That was like the florid, sort of, like, embellished language for the R superlatives. It was like, instead of like, class clown, it was like, Most Likely to be on snl.

[Sean Hayes]

Right, Right.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, but there's so many. I was Senior Most Likely to trip at graduation, but there's no. Did you. Yeah, I did, actually.

[Bowen Yang]

On what?

[Will Arnett]

Acid or Shroom. Come on, guys, let's all be alive. Let's look alive. Let's look alive.

[Jason Bateman]

No, but I just think that's so wild. And so you watched it, your sister said. Then you got voted for it, Then you went there, and then Margaret Cho was there when you weren't. There's so many arrows pointing that you were going to be on the show.

[Bowen Yang]

It's just crazy, I guess. I guess.

[Sean Hayes]

And then. But then. So when the audition happens, does all that stuff flood in and you feel the stakes and the pressure of it, or were you kind of indifferent?

[Will Arnett]

But let's figure out, like, how did that audition happen? And then that feeling, like, what was the. Yeah. How did you get into the machine?

[Bowen Yang]

So speaking of Just For Laughs, that used to be the pipeline, like, the SNL talent. People would go to Just For Laughs in the summer, and they would pick out their people. I never made it to that stage. And so I was like, I guess it's not in the cards for me. But then my manager at the time said, put together a tape, five minutes, like the standard, whatever entry point. And I was like, they'll never, ever hire an effeminate Asian guy, like, on that show. Like, why would they ever need that? So on a lark, I was like, no one's ever gonna see this tape. So let me just, like, around and do what's funny for me. And then somehow slipped through.

[Will Arnett]

That's freeing, though. That's freeing.

[Sean Hayes]

Good lesson for everyone. Yep.

[Will Arnett]

That must have been. You must. That feeling of, like, it. Like, kind of going to what Jason was saying. Like, that feeling of you're doing it and being able to, like, do it without a net because you just don't.

[Sean Hayes]

It's sexy.

[Will Arnett]

Not. You don't care.

[Sean Hayes]

Is it sexy indifference?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, it's a sexy indifference that Jason likes to say. Right. It must have felt really good being able to just kind of do whatever.

[Bowen Yang]

Cause this is. Okay, I think I'm talking to the right people, but I just read this somewhere. I don't really have any knowledge of it, but it's that thing that, like, it's like, not the yips, but it's like, golfers have this. When they're a little too focused on the swing. They just, like, lose all. They lose all prowess. They lose all capability. It's when you're, like, not in a flow state, but it's when you're not thinking of, like, the micro decisions. It's when you're like, who cares, right? Figure skaters have this. It's like, athletes have this overall, where it's like, pretend like no one's watching.

[Will Arnett]

Hondo P. Hondo P. And I think Hondo P. Guys, how young am I? But, but, but, but. But it is true. I do think about that all the time. You think about it. Well, literally, in golf, they talk about, like, gripping too tight. But there is that notion of gripping too tight in life on any of. Of that stuff. And when you do that. That's what I meant. You must have felt really like, God, I bet you that was such an advantage. Cause everybody else is doing their tapes and they're so tight. Cause they gotta get it right.

[Bowen Yang]

Yep. Yep. And I wasn't. I didn't really care. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

So when. So this I read, and hopefully this is tragically hilarious. And not just tragic. If you wanna talk about it, we don't have to. But I'm fascinated by the fact that your parents sent you to conversion therapy in Colorado when you were 17, which is.

[Bowen Yang]

It was hilarious.

[Jason Bateman]

I mean, that's why it actually was y. I'm like, there's some comedy. Probably a lot of comedy from how horrible that was. Yeah, definitely.

[Bowen Yang]

Because, well. Cause it was eight. So the comedy begins and the whole sort of occasioning of it, which was the ultimatum. So, like, I don't come out. I like, am discovered to be gay based on the family computer. Remember those? It was like my parents going on the family computer, being like, bowen, what's this? A sultry dirty picture going through your

[Sean Hayes]

search, your search history.

[Bowen Yang]

It was a chat window. It was a chat window.

[Jason Bateman]

You gotta close those, Bowen. You gotta close those.

[Sean Hayes]

So we're sharing. There's a family computer we're all sharing.

[Bowen Yang]

Yep.

[Sean Hayes]

Is that what it was? Wow.

[Bowen Yang]

Exactly. So. And because.

[Jason Bateman]

And you just walked away to get a Coke and to get cocaine. Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Sends cocaine.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

You didn't close your window.

[Bowen Yang]

I didn't close my window. So mom prints it out, prints out the transfer.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, God.

[Sean Hayes]

How old are you?

[Will Arnett]

Oh, God.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow.

[Bowen Yang]

17.

[Sean Hayes]

Okay.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, no. 17.

[Sean Hayes]

So she shakes the paper in front of you and says, says quesay.

[Bowen Yang]

She said quesay. And you gotta put a little bit more Quebecois on it. And then it was crazy. And it was like I would be coming home to my parents sobbing at the dinner table every day. And I was like, I have to make this right. Like, how could I cause this much pain? And so the ultimatum was. It gets funny. I promise. The ultimatum was, was either you stay in state in Colorado, you go to Boulder, live with us, or you can go to college with your sister if you go to conversion therapy. But the punchline is, my sister was at the gayest school in the country, nyu.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow.

[Bowen Yang]

So I was like, sure, I'll do the conversion therapy. It was eight weeks in the summer. And it actually became like, great bonding time. Cause it was in Colorado Springs, two hour drive up and down from Denver. My dad and I would like bond in the car and just like actually get to know each other for the first time as like adults or something. And then the guy is such a quack that like by like the eighth session, whatever, like we're going through like some diluted version of like cognitive behavioral therapy where he's like trying to like, put me in my body, like anytime I've been attracted to a guy. Like, it was because you were miserable, it's because you were, like, in pain. And I'm like, damn it.

[Sean Hayes]

But no, no, no.

[Bowen Yang]

But then the last session.

[Jason Bateman]

No.

[Sean Hayes]

This makes me sick.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

It is what it is. So the Second to last session, my dad is asking him for referrals in New York. He was like, bowen's been going to New York. Do you have anyone there who does this kind of work? He's like, sure, I'll come up with some names next time. The next week. At the last session, Stonewall. Yeah, go to Stonewall and go to. Go to pieces in the West Village. He. The last session, he, like, he starts to go into this anecdote in the third person about one of his former patients. And he's like, yeah, my former patient just gets off at the side of the road in San Bernardino, which is not where you want to be late at night. And his car broke down. And then he goes to a Denny's, and then the waiter's making eyes at him. And then my therapist starts to shift into the first person. And then I was like, am I really gonna have sex with this guy? And then I did. And then he caught himself shifting into the first person.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

[Bowen Yang]

And then, like, the blood left his face. And then in that moment, it was like, oh, I've just undone all of this work that we've. This, like, fake, phony work that we've been doing for the past eight weeks.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow.

[Bowen Yang]

And then I was like, wow, none of this was real. I walk out.

[Sean Hayes]

I've wasted my time.

[Bowen Yang]

He pulls out a little piece of paper. He's like, so I couldn't find anyone in New York who does this, but there is a guy in Trenton, New Jersey. And then I. And then my dad and I are like, I used to date him, but my dad and I were like, oh, I guess, yeah, you know, I'll take the train out to Jersey every year to see this person just. Just trying to, like. Just trying to, like, swat this away. I was like, there's no way I'm ever gonna continue this. And so I was, like, in the closet for, like, a year at nyu. But then, like, all these comedy. These comedy nerds that I was friends with were like, you're gay. And then by sophomore year, I was out, so it all.

[Sean Hayes]

But, But. But. But Bowen, I. I. Look, we're not talking about the 50s here. We're talking about just a half a. A dozen years ago, right? And it sounds like you. And. And you're in Colorado, which is progressive. Ish. And you're great friends with your parents, it sounds like. I mean, notwithstanding the fact that they. That they want you to go through conversion therapy, you're still, like, getting along with them, and you're driving and you're bonding with your dad and blah, blah, blah, like, how I don't understand how all this can sort of match. Because at what point didn't you at some point say, yeah, no, no, guys, I'm. I am gay, I'm happy, and you love me and you're happy with me. And, like, why are we trying to convert anything?

[Jason Bateman]

Right, Right.

[Bowen Yang]

They. It's not really a religious thing for them or it wasn't like, I think for them it was just this cultural thing coming out of China. Yeah. Yeah. Well, not even. It's not even on a political alignment. It's just them thinking like, oh, I don't want my child to have a worse, harder life. And for them, like, they. So what my dad kept saying to me was speaking of, like, the straw mud hut sort of ethos. He was like, where I grew up, this doesn't happen. Like, there are people like this. And I was like, no, there are. They just had no concept of it. And so they are both scientists, engineers. They think in terms of solutions. They think in terms of what can be done to change this. And they had.

[Sean Hayes]

I understand.

[Jason Bateman]

I read when you said. You said. I read you said your dad will still occasionally suggest you could try women. And you call it almost endearing homophobia.

[Bowen Yang]

So sweet, isn't it? So sweet.

[Jason Bateman]

That's so funny.

[Will Arnett]

That is so funny.

[Bowen Yang]

It's so nice. Bless him.

[Sean Hayes]

Are they. Have you guys had the conversations of, like. I guess it turns out there was nothing to really worry about. Right?

[Bowen Yang]

We've had. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Great.

[Bowen Yang]

I think we've. We've done. We've patched it up really nicely. Like, they have apologized. I have. I've always kind of understood where they've come from.

[Will Arnett]

I don't really understand. Yeah, it sounds like you had a lot of understanding of it, like, even early on, like, understanding that like a. You wanted to go to college, so you were doing it to kind of just go through the motions so you could go. But it does sound like you. I don't hint. There's no hint of any sort of. Of anger towards it. Like, you were like, yeah, I get it. I know where they're coming from. That's very kind. That shows people to be honest.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

I love that. So I want to go back to, if you don't mind.

[Will Arnett]

There's never a subject that Sean doesn't want to get away from.

[Sean Hayes]

He's got his question.

[Will Arnett]

He's. He's never happy where he is. He's always trying to leave where he is 100%. We're enjoying Bowen. We're talking to him. We're having a real conversation.

[Jason Bateman]

No, I know. Look, if you want, we can talk about being gay all day long.

[Will Arnett]

No, I don't want to. Whatever. Just go.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay. So. So the SNL screen says we kind of covered that, but I want to talk about your. So your first. Your first. You were hired as a writer at such a young age, which is amazing. You weren't even on camera. You were. And how old were you?

[Bowen Yang]

20, 27. That's.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, that's pretty.

[Bowen Yang]

That's a reasonable age.

[Jason Bateman]

That's pretty young, though.

[Bowen Yang]

But.

[Jason Bateman]

And the first. The first time you were on camera, which made me laugh. I laughed so hard at you playing Kim Jong un. Oh, thanks. It was so fucking so good. It was so funny.

[Bowen Yang]

Are you laughing? Think about it.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, my God, I gotta find that.

[Jason Bateman]

It was so funny. I mean, I loved it.

[Bowen Yang]

Thanks.

[Jason Bateman]

And then the one. The first thing that ever went super viral was you played the iceberg. The what was it?

[Bowen Yang]

The iceberg. You gotta think the Titanic.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, the iceberg. Titanic.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, Sean, the iceberg.

[Jason Bateman]

Which is so funny. What was it like working or tell me, talk to me about being a writer and then going, hey, you know what? We think you should be a featured player. And you're Kim Jong Un and you're this iceberg that hit the Titanic.

[Sean Hayes]

Hit the same sketch.

[Jason Bateman]

No, no, no.

[Bowen Yang]

What was the same sketch? It was him range on this guy.

[Jason Bateman]

It was him all along. Was the feeling like, oh, my. Like, how nervous were you to be doing the thing that you set out to do on the first time?

[Bowen Yang]

I was so nervous. So what. What I remember from the Kim Jong un thing was it was when Sandra oh hosted, as you said.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, it's right.

[Bowen Yang]

I was. I was a writer and.

[Jason Bateman]

Insane.

[Bowen Yang]

Insane, insane, insane. And so they.

[Will Arnett]

Well, just insane. Just insane in synchronicity, etc.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, you know, it's all. It's all very kismety.

[Sean Hayes]

How was that conversation when you went. Did you go up to her at some point and say, hey, so I just got to tell you really quick.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

When I was a kid, like, did

[Sean Hayes]

you tell her how much responsible for my son? Yes. Okay, good.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I. I would like do these pre TikTok. I would do these things where I would just like, like just kind of match, like on a lip flap, perfect level, like the little. Like, oh, my God, whatever. Recitals and monologues and I did.

[Jason Bateman]

I saw you lip sync the whole monologue from Devil Wears Prada.

[Bowen Yang]

I did that. I did. Yeah. So, like, you gotta see it.

[Jason Bateman]

It's unbelievable.

[Bowen Yang]

I've scrubbed them. I don't know why I'm, like, so ashamed to see them now because they're so, like, pre.

[Jason Bateman]

But it's incredible.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't know. They seem prehistoric, but anyway. But Sandra and I met before she hosted and then she hosted. These other writers write me. Streeter Seidel writes me into the sketch where I play Kim Jong Un. I don't have contacts at the time, and they don't put my prescription in the glasses that I wear. And so I had to be off book, basically, which is not what you do at snl, as you guys know. Like, I just had to be off book. I had to, like, call our call. A Korean friend, Karen Chi, who used to write at Seth Meyers. I was like, can you translate these lines into Korean for me? Learned the Korean was off book on a foreign language. Then it was just. It was just a million different things. And I had a sketch on that week that I had to be. I sat under the bleachers next to Lorne Michaels in the Kim Jong Un costume getting notes. I'm in this Kim Jong Un costume, and he turns to me, he's like, maybe we cut to Keenan sooner or whatever. I'm like, this is the most surreal. That's still the most surreal week of my life.

[Will Arnett]

Past the Whispering angel, did you.

[Bowen Yang]

It's my favorite rose.

[Jason Bateman]

My favorite.

[Will Arnett]

It's on Ice. Did you. Kind of Must have been. Was it weird being all the years you were there, just knowing that you were the smartest person in the building. You're learning languages, you're memorizing.

[Bowen Yang]

No way.

[Will Arnett]

I mean, come on.

[Bowen Yang]

No, no, no. I was no Colin. I was no economics major. I.

[Sean Hayes]

He doesn't know. Does he know French and Korean?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. He can't learn Korean and then memorize it.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay, so wait, now, tell me about this. When you. When you were 15. 15 years old, you were doing improv at bars.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Is that true?

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, but this is. This is so. That doesn't age well, I feel like.

[Jason Bateman]

I think that's fascinating. You gotta stop. How did you get in? Like, for young people listening, it's like, oh, if he's yet doing, like, improv. But how did you get into the bars? What happened?

[Bowen Yang]

So there's a theater in Denver called the Bovine Metropolis Theater. It took me years to figure out. Out. It's a play on Cow Town. Anyway, Bovine Metropolis. But anyway, you. They Would. They would do like, Monday nights, like, kind of open mic situations.

[Sean Hayes]

And

[Bowen Yang]

our. Our sponsor at the school, who's also my calculus teacher, this wonderful educator named Adrian Holde.

[Sean Hayes]

Calculus, Chemistry.

[Bowen Yang]

I know, I know. Stop it, you guys. That's enough. So we. We. They would. It was awful. I don't know who let their kids go drive into the city.

[Jason Bateman]

I thought that was so interesting.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, but it was great. It was embarrassing. We bombed constantly in front of people who did not give a shit if we lived. It didn't matter if we did. Well, it was just about. It's that Chris Rock thing of just bomb a million times and then. Right, right, right, right, right, right.

[Sean Hayes]

Where did your sense of humor come from? I mean, your parents, you say they're both scientists, but maybe. Are they super funny? I mean.

[Bowen Yang]

No.

[Sean Hayes]

How did you develop it? Was it just watching?

[Bowen Yang]

It was. Guys, this is. And I. And I. And I hope you guys can accept this or receive this. It's like. I think it was like, do you remember, like, this is the value in, like, network comedies. Right? It's like it was everybody, like, having the same frame of reference, right. As to what was funny. It was like it was watching you guys and sorry to put you on a pedestal, but it was. It was. It was that.

[Sean Hayes]

Take your time through here. No, go ahead, don't finish.

[Jason Bateman]

It was.

[Bowen Yang]

It was like. It was like going to school. It was going to school the next day being like, oh, my God, did you guys watch Arrested Development? Or. It was like. And Sean, like, after. After I did this thing. So, Jason, my farewell sketch was. Was with Cher. And I thought constantly. And I was constantly thinking back to Shawn, Sean and Cher together. And it was just. I mean, that's just like peak guest star.

[Will Arnett]

God, Sean, I love to be myself with Sherry.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, thanks.

[Bowen Yang]

So good.

[Sean Hayes]

Was that a moment for you when Will and Grace really hit their stride? And I mean, yes, there was a moment when Ellen came out that was the big sort of watershed moment. But then Will and Grace, I believe, followed that. Shaunie.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

And was that. Did you feel a sense of, like, well, there may be a spot for me. I might be able to just light my hair on fire and say, yeah, I'm not closeted about anything. There is room for me and us, et cetera. Yes.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't know if I got that far because I'm telling you guys, like, I never. I would have been if you'd asked me right as I moved to New York or, like, right out of college if you'd asked Me what my like, ideal job was in showbiz, it would have been just to be in a room, just to be in a writer's room. Right. I never placed myself in those things. And I don't know if it's about like, you know, representation stuff. It was more just about like, I'm good just knowing the inner works. I would like watch the Simpsons and like study the credits. Like, it was about that. It was like that was the granular kind of, of comedy thing that I was working. But watching Sean, I think it was about like, oh, this is the language, this is the vocabulary of like. Or this is just a sensibility of what like gay, queer humor is.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

And then it turns out it's universal.

[Will Arnett]

And if I could do that and take what Sean's doing, what Sean's doing and just dial it in half and

[Jason Bateman]

you could have something, something good, some kind of future.

[Will Arnett]

Like if you could just make it somewhat palatable, you know what I mean? And then you could.

[Bowen Yang]

I can only I can say that

[Will Arnett]

to the guy who's got four SAG awards and Emmys. Sean, aren't you. You're like a, Are you a. Are you an Academy Award way from an EGOT?

[Jason Bateman]

No, I. But I. No. And I'm an E.T.

[Bowen Yang]

you're Tony and you're, you're Emmy and,

[Jason Bateman]

and you're an ET And Olivier. So I have a toe.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, and a sag.

[Sean Hayes]

And a sag.

[Jason Bateman]

I have toes. I have toes.

[Will Arnett]

Saggy toes.

[Bowen Yang]

I've staggy toes.

[Jason Bateman]

We'll be right back. This summer, if your group chat is throwing around, we should get away. Consider Scottsdale, Arizona. Sure, it's warm, but that's kind of the point because summer in Scottsdale comes with some very cool perks like luxury resort rates starting at just $109 a night. And you've got a epic family friendly resorts with full on water parks or quieter pool scenes. If your vibe is more do not disturb, ease into your trip and get your Zen on with sunrise yoga, evening stargazing and generous summer specials at area spas. Or book a sunrise tee time at a world famous golf course at rates way less than usual. Plus summer is the easiest time to land a reservation at Scottsdale award winning restaurants. You know, the ones people usually humble brag about getting into. And there's no shortage of indoor air conditioned spots to visit museums, boutiques, art galleries and the Southwest's largest shopping mall. Visit summerinscotsdale.com and start planning your trip.

[Will Arnett]

You know what I like in a vacation I like a vacation where I can kind of call the shots, you know, where I'm in control. And with Norwegian Cruise Line, freedom is how the day unfolds. On a cruise. With Norwegian curated experiences and effortless choices, let every moment feel exactly how it should. Whether you're lounging on deck or exploring a new port or trying something completely unexpected, everything is designed so you can do what you want, when you want. It's all about being present, enjoying what matters most, and letting the details kind of take care of themselves. Norwegian Cruise Line it's different out here. Visit ncl.com, call your travel advisor or 1-888-NCL-CRUISE Norwegian Cruise Line Ships registry the Bahamas and USA

[Jason Bateman]

Some names really do say it all. Hotels.com is one. When travelers book a hotel, they want savings that work for them. And hotels.com makes it simple. With Save youe Way members choose how to save. Take an instant discount now or bank as rewards to use on later stays. No tricks or pressure, just flexibility and real value. For straightforward savings on your next day, trust the hotel experts. Visit hotels.com it's all in the name.

[Sean Hayes]

All right, back to the show.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait. Bowen. So, but that. But Jason, if you haven't seen it, Bowen's last sketch, his goodbye sketch, took place in a Delta lounge and it was with Ariana Grande and Cher. And it was so clever how you wrote it, or how you and the writers wrote it, whatever that your wife calls you. And. Well, can I say. Yeah, you said. I forget what it was about, but it was eggnog, right? Yes. And Ariana Grande said it was the Christmas show. Yes, yes. And she says, all the eggnog you've made over the years, some of it was great, some of it was rotten. And you say, and a lot of it got cut.

[Bowen Yang]

And a lot of it got cut,

[Jason Bateman]

which is really cute. And it was very emotional. It was really clever. It was really clever to do a Delta Lounge. And you were saying. It was really.

[Bowen Yang]

It was. It's a little. Yeah, it's. It's a kind of. It's, it's obviously like allegorical, metaphorical, whatever, but I was like, oh, something about departures. Yeah, great. Something. It was. It was the Christmas show. It was like, oh, something about.

[Will Arnett]

Jason Got it. Finally.

[Bowen Yang]

Jason Got It.

[Sean Hayes]

Just takes me a bit.

[Bowen Yang]

He's this old man who works through the eggnog station and. And then he's like, oh, like eggnog. It's, it's, it's not for everyone, but the people who like it really like, it. And they're my kind of people. And like, that's. That. That's, like, the whole message of it all. And then Cher comes out as the body boss. So, yeah, it was really funny.

[Sean Hayes]

That is what was. What was talk. Walk us through the.

[Will Arnett]

The.

[Sean Hayes]

The thinking about leaving and. And. And. And the approach to that. The decision to that. What. What the. What the next five to ten years of your life looks like if you could program it and, you know, do you allow yourself to. To kind of make. Make plans and. And strategize a bit?

[Bowen Yang]

Kind of.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't know. I feel like I can't trade winds. I feel like things are just. Things are just uncertain.

[Will Arnett]

That is a great way to put it.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

You know, I love that expression. Yeah, that's really good. I've never heard that before. That's a great way.

[Sean Hayes]

But to strangle the metaphor, you do got to put the boat in the water and. And point it. And point it one direction.

[Will Arnett]

You know, you didn't strangle it. You sucked it.

[Bowen Yang]

Where.

[Sean Hayes]

Where. What island? Would you like to arrive?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. You know, like, do you want to do. Do you want to do. Do you want to. Do you want to do just purely comedy? Would you like to get into drama? Do you want to do more acting, more performing more? What. Where. Where is your. Where are you getting pulled right now?

[Bowen Yang]

All of it. I. I honestly, I'm sure you guys feel the same way. Podcasting was never on the. Was never on the menu, but it's. It's taken up a lot of space in a good way. I would love all of that. I think just to go back to the trade winds thing, it's like, I don't. I'm honestly, like, thinking about where comedy lives right now. It's like, I feel like even at the Emmys, it feels like it's, like, relegated to this place. Even though I think comedy shows have this extra thing they have to do where it has to present something optimistic about the world, and it's really hard to do that right now. I think. You know, it's like, I don't know. I was just watching stuff. I'm watching comedies and watching dramas sort of in equal measure, and I'm like, the dramas are amazing. I love the dramas, but I think the comedies have this extra thing to do where it's supposed to reflect something back at you and also be like, a nice. A thing that makes you feel good.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Well, first of all, there's a lot of. It seems to sort of this trend of a lot of pieces of material that's not necessarily comedy that gets kind of, you know, grouped in. Into that. Under that umbrella. And I don't know how much comedy you do watch. I find that these days, I don't watch a lot of comedy. I don't know if you guys do. I really just don't. I don't know if I'm missing it or. It's just not the thing. I don't know. You can probably tell by how. How boring I am.

[Bowen Yang]

No.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, there's different. Seems like there's different reasons why comedy is. Is. Is not. Not a big thing. As. As. Not as a big thing as it used to be.

[Will Arnett]

It's scripted. You mean like, in that way?

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. It's up for debate. But. But it.

[Will Arnett]

We.

[Sean Hayes]

We need it now more than ever.

[Will Arnett]

What are the great. What are the great. I. I'm asking all of you, what are the kind of the great scripted comedy things that are out there right now? Yeah.

[Bowen Yang]

That you would watch the comeback.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, come back.

[Jason Bateman]

That's pretty funny.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, that's bad. I mean, I love. Oh, God. Yeah, come back.

[Bowen Yang]

But even that, even that's a little bit, like, bleak. Like, it's like, oh, this is the season's about AI and it's about how, like, the writers rooms have, like, two people in them, right? And it's like, whoa, shit. Like, this is. This is different than it was 10 years ago when the last season was on. It's like it just. It has these weird. And it just has this weird mirror that, like, is. Is. Is sad to look at. And that's what's. That's what's hard. Right, Right.

[Jason Bateman]

Right. What about. I, I like talking about this, your

[Bowen Yang]

dating life, because you said, I'm bringing this down. So the vibes are so.

[Will Arnett]

No, I like it.

[Jason Bateman]

No, what are you talking about? I love it.

[Will Arnett]

No, you're really making me think. Bone. I'm. Because I. Sean, before we get into the dating life, I, I. You're really making me think about that idea that, like, and we want to get into your dating life. And, and. And we actually, we have some graphs and five. And we also. Your mom sent us some printout. We print out out some stuff, some

[Sean Hayes]

charts, some chats about some of your options, some of the female options.

[Jason Bateman]

But Willie, you know, but you. But in a recent Esquire. But I read your Esquire interview, the what I've learned piece, when you were reflecting, you said about work, you said, this is you saying it you said you feel like you've hit critical mass where you did too much too soon or something like that. And you wanted to slow down and focus on quieter work. I get that. But just know that. That I don't feel. There's millions of people that don't feel that way about you.

[Sean Hayes]

Like, yeah, I take a lot more from you.

[Jason Bateman]

There's so much more, you know? Yeah. For real.

[Sean Hayes]

I mean, drench me.

[Bowen Yang]

Hang on.

[Will Arnett]

Jay, your mic went out for a second. What was that? Just so we can get it. Guys, quiet. Let's get it clean.

[Sean Hayes]

So me.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, my God, Jason. I gotta say. Jason. Jason. Showing up to SNL was always like, everyone was sort of straightened up. Be like, oh, Jason and I had a really nice, intimate conversation. It was like, everyone's like, I think he's flirting with me. Jason's a charmer.

[Sean Hayes]

I like to get up nice and close that place. I love that place so much. I just watched that Lauren documentary. It was really cool. I loved it.

[Bowen Yang]

Oh, I haven't seen it yet.

[Jason Bateman]

I loved it a lot. I'm tired. So. Bowen, because I've read this too, and I want you to only want what you want. But that you said it's impossible. You said it's impossible to date during SNL and where you would go on a couple dates and then just vanish. Like, what's going on?

[Bowen Yang]

I would vanish that on me.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, okay.

[Bowen Yang]

Yeah, It's a self call in. Like, I just. I would get swept up in the show and the work and, like, it's just so hard to, like, put any. Any stake in your own life. It felt like. But I mean, that's what I'm saying. But what about it's impossible to do now? Now things are fine. Like, things are normal. I'm like, still. Still, like, unlearning so many things in a way that, like, I am grateful for. And I also mourn how my life used to be. Like, I do miss it so much. And I've been getting dinners and lunches with people on the breaks and, like, who are still there. And I'm like, oh, it's nice.

[Jason Bateman]

And I have to say this because people are listening. It's okay to be single.

[Will Arnett]

Why are you saying it like that? Why are you looking at me?

[Sean Hayes]

You know. You know what I've never heard of. And again, this is a guy that

[Will Arnett]

lives in a cast is long. This list is long of stuff that

[Sean Hayes]

you've never heard of is it's not common to hear about Saturday Night Live hookups and. And and couples in with the cast. Right. I mean, or writers or whatever.

[Bowen Yang]

Gay thing. I don't think it's a gay thing.

[Sean Hayes]

It doesn't get just in general, like, you know, like people who go to school together, like, that's, that's all you have are just your classmates. It's sort of like, you know, I went out with him last year and this year, like, you don't hear about that on snl. And you'd think that you would just based on schedule, like you don't have a chance to meet anybody else. Really. You guys are in there all the time.

[Bowen Yang]

We're in there all the time. Oh, but I thought you were talking about Jason, like intra SNL hookups within snl. People are hooking up.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. I mean, castmates dating one another or a writer with a cast mate. Or writers and writers and. Or you don't. Right.

[Bowen Yang]

I know. I.

[Sean Hayes]

And you think that you would.

[Bowen Yang]

You're right. I. I just wasn't. Yeah, I didn't really encounter that. But I. I don't.

[Jason Bateman]

I don't.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't feel like I missed out.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, not at all. I love that your. Your Instagram handle is a Dunaway. That's your name on Instagram. I didn't know that until recently. Yeah, I laughed out loud at that. I can't. First of all, I can't believe it was available.

[Bowen Yang]

I can't either. And I'm holding onto it for dear life. She wants to. I think she wants it bad.

[Sean Hayes]

How much time does your podcast take from you each week?

[Bowen Yang]

It. It siphons from me like six hours a week, which is not that bad.

[Jason Bateman]

Right.

[Bowen Yang]

And which is fine.

[Sean Hayes]

And with your other time, what do you. What, what's, what's the ratio between work pursuits versus personal? You know, just taking care of yourself. How hard are you working?

[Bowen Yang]

I'm working decently at like a reasonable intensity. I still am exhausted at the end of the day.

[Will Arnett]

Sure.

[Bowen Yang]

I think I'm still kind of like my nervous system is still sort of like resetting from SNL where it just. It just knows a work is done, then it's time to go to bed. Like it's. There was that switch.

[Sean Hayes]

But you have to now self program like you there. There was a schedule. You had to be there a certain time, blah, blah, blah. Now you've got to do it all. Are you. Are you. You finding your self motivation adequate?

[Bowen Yang]

Not yet. It's getting there. How do you guys do it?

[Sean Hayes]

Well, we're old. I'm very good about like, when I'm working, I'm very, very disciplined. And when I'm not working, I could not be worse at doing anything responsible.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Jason's. One of my favorite quotes is Jason says, I want to aggressively do not. Nothing.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah. And then. And then when I'm working, I'm. I'm. I'm an animal.

[Will Arnett]

Well, actually, the truth is, and I mean this. When he's not working, he obsessively plays golf because it gives him something to do. And so he. So he plays it. So he plays it five, six days a week. Yeah. And then he'll say to me, like, hey, do you want to play tomorrow? I'm like, no. And he's like, I got. I've got, like, one thing, but I can't do it all the time. Like, he has to do it because he needs that.

[Sean Hayes]

I have addiction issues. Bowen.

[Will Arnett]

I'm much better. I find I'm much better when I'm not working at being able to just kind of. Of chill. Like, I did my little stuff this morning, then kind of like, go to the gym and kind of. I find it, like, easy to watch some soccer, take a nap.

[Sean Hayes]

Those are just saggy days, though, right? Where you, like, it doesn't matter if you wake up at 8:00am or 11:30am like, those days are like. I feel like I'm being irresponsible to another day of life.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, I'm still up at 6. I'm still up at 6am every day. But, yeah, get the kids to school. All that kind of stuff you have to do. The kids give you that, too. They, you know, know.

[Jason Bateman]

So Sean's on a.

[Will Arnett]

On a strict chocolate cake schedule that

[Jason Bateman]

I do not stray from.

[Will Arnett]

Never stray from.

[Jason Bateman]

That's got a mixing bowl by 10:30, so.

[Will Arnett]

Really quick, what you have for breakfast today?

[Jason Bateman]

I. I had blood work done, so I couldn't eat, but then when I came home, I had.

[Sean Hayes]

Now you were angry.

[Jason Bateman]

I had a peanut butter sandwich. This is a glass of milk, chips. Yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

Before 11am it was a peanut butter sandwich.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Yep.

[Bowen Yang]

At 10:30, there's no bad time for it.

[Jason Bateman]

Not at all. There's always a good time for peanut butter sandwich. So Las Coltristas, which is huge, just hit 10 years. Amazing. They've been doing that podcast for 10 years.

[Bowen Yang]

10.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. It's great. Congratulations. Yeah. That's huge. It's really cool.

[Bowen Yang]

What year are you guys on?

[Sean Hayes]

Six.

[Bowen Yang]

Half that.

[Sean Hayes]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Lovely. We're about to hit six.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. And then you have Cat in the hat coming out November 6th with Warner Brothers, which is amazing. I love that Bill Hader, Quinn and Did you see it yet?

[Bowen Yang]

No, I love it. I forgot that I'm in it.

[Jason Bateman]

I think that's going to be huge. And then the last thing I want to do with you, which is so. It's such a great thing you do on your podcast. It's called. Oh, what is it called?

[Bowen Yang]

I don't think so, honey.

[Jason Bateman]

I don't think so, honey.

[Sean Hayes]

Good, Sean.

[Jason Bateman]

Which is similar to. Who's that guy that Jason you brought on? The taxi cab guy who films. Oh, the subway.

[Sean Hayes]

Oh, Kareem.

[Jason Bateman]

Kareem Karim. It's a similar thing to what Kareem does, which is you have. I don't want to put you on the spot if you don't have one, but do you have a. I don't think.

[Bowen Yang]

I'm sure I do. I've got one.

[Jason Bateman]

Or your favorite one.

[Bowen Yang]

I've got one.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay. What is it?

[Bowen Yang]

I don't think so, honey. Outdoor furniture. It's a scam. It is only meant to be dirtied. Your cushions are flying all around. You gotta, like, bring down the umbrella. The rugs get dirty. There's no maintenance on outdoor furniture. But we feel compelled, it is compulsory that we buy it to fill out our outdoor spaces. And yet it never aesthetically looks pleasing. It's a terrible, terrible cycle. It's almost Faustian. I don't know how, but it's like we give up something. We give up our. It's so. The indignation of outdoor furniture is terrible. And I know this is a very, like, champagne problemy thing to have, but it's just awful. We have to cover it when it's raining.

[Sean Hayes]

It should give you a power washer with. With it.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, I love that. That's a great take.

[Jason Bateman]

Mine. Mine is. I just thought of this, knowing you were coming on because it just happened to me yesterday. Is pulling up to a parking spot where there's a meter or trying to find a parking spot. Somebody comes out, they get in their car, so you put your clicker on because they're about to pull out, and they never pull out. They're on their phone. They take 20 minutes.

[Sean Hayes]

This is their time.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

I don't. I don't think so.

[Bowen Yang]

I don't think so now.

[Jason Bateman]

But you know what I think? Bow and Yankee, you are brilliant. You are hilarious from the first time I saw you. Thank you for being here today.

[Bowen Yang]

I love you guys. I love that a lot.

[Will Arnett]

You're a treasure. You're not just a national Treasure. It turns out you're an international treasure of many countries

[Bowen Yang]

continentally. North America. The Commonwealths.

[Will Arnett]

Commonwealth. Commonwealths.

[Jason Bateman]

Thank you for being here.

[Bowen Yang]

Bowen.

[Jason Bateman]

Bowen.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you, man.

[Bowen Yang]

Thanks, guys.

[Jason Bateman]

And thanks for Bowen. Yeah, I love it. Thank you.

[Sean Hayes]

Nice guy.

[Bowen Yang]

I know Jason hates. He hates an afternoon record.

[Sean Hayes]

I do.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, my God, you're so right. You're so right. This is staying in.

[Sean Hayes]

You made it worth it, though.

[Bowen Yang]

Keep it in.

[Sean Hayes]

You made it worth it. You was the. You. You've changed my attitude about it. If they can all be like Bowen, Yang Records, let's do it then.

[Will Arnett]

That was really fun. Thanks, Bo.

[Jason Bateman]

Thanks, Bow.

[Bowen Yang]

Thanks, guys. All righty.

[Sean Hayes]

Thanks, buddy.

[Jason Bateman]

Bye.

[Bowen Yang]

See you.

[Will Arnett]

Have a great.

[Sean Hayes]

Have a great rest of the day.

[Jason Bateman]

Bye. Oh, great.

[Sean Hayes]

I like him. I like him a lot. I want to be his friend.

[Jason Bateman]

I know. I think we are his friend.

[Will Arnett]

He's really funny.

[Sean Hayes]

He has any openings for.

[Jason Bateman]

I think so. I think he does.

[Sean Hayes]

I would. I would underperform. I'm. I'm a terrible.

[Will Arnett]

Let's have dinner with him.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, he's. He's. He's one of those people that. Super intelligent and super funny, and I think the two often go hand in hand. Not in my case, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then also I think, oh, sorry.

[Will Arnett]

Do you want to push back on that? Sorry.

[Jason Bateman]

No, I don't want to.

[Will Arnett]

No, no.

[Sean Hayes]

I get better about going out to dinner, don't I? To. In order to be just a halfway decent friend, I need to actually get out of the house.

[Jason Bateman]

You go, though. Sometimes.

[Will Arnett]

I mean.

[Sean Hayes]

But I don't even take your phone calls.

[Will Arnett]

I know.

[Sean Hayes]

It's like, this is true. You guys tried to FaceTime me the other day, and I just wouldn't have it.

[Jason Bateman]

You know what happened today? It was you and Josh.

[Sean Hayes]

Willie.

[Jason Bateman]

No. You know what happened today is the three of us were on a texting chain and then I stopped because I know you don't like to get pinged constantly.

[Sean Hayes]

Well, just build the paragraph and send that. I don't need 17, six.

[Will Arnett]

But sometimes you need a conversation to go back and forth. So we're going back and forth with the thing we were all talking about. And Sean's like, I feel bad because I feel like Jason doesn't want to get annoying.

[Jason Bateman]

So I took you off and I

[Will Arnett]

just went to me and went, we have to manage gramps.

[Sean Hayes]

Really?

[Will Arnett]

Because he has a breaking point. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sean Hayes]

What about. What about if I'll just leave the conversation? I'll just hit that button if it gets too much.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, what would you say?

[Will Arnett]

Jason got so mad at me because he kept leaving Nurdle when we were doing a few years ago because he didn't want the full back and forth. And then I kept asking, adding him back. He's like, off.

[Sean Hayes]

It's like the fish that wiggles off the hook and you keep gaffing it, pulling it into the boat.

[Will Arnett]

It was so funny. I'd be like, guys, watch this. And then I'd add him into the conversation. That is so funny.

[Jason Bateman]

Jason, what would you say if you left the conversation?

[Sean Hayes]

I would say, bye bye.

[Will Arnett]

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[Sean Hayes]

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[Bowen Yang]

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