Bowen Yang Reveals What Ariana Grande Taught Him ‘About Overcoming Things’ While Shooting ‘Wicked’

One thing’s for certain, filming the Wicked movies has changed Bowen Yang “for good.”

In a new Esquire interview (Dec. 10), the Emmy-nominated Saturday Night Live reflected on what his co-star Ariana Grande taught him during filming the box office-dominating movies.

“I’ve learned so many things from Ariana Grande,” he gushed. “I’ve learned about overcoming things. I lost a sense of myself while we were shooting Wicked because it was just the back-to-back work of doing SNL and then going to London for Wicked and then doing SNL again and going to London. It really unmoored me. And Ari very gently brought me back to shore.”

Yang stars as Pfannee, a syncophantic friend to Grande’s “Glinda” in the Wicked films. The first film hit theatres last fall, grossing over $750 million at the worldwide box office and earning Academy Awards for best costume design and best production design. For Good, which follows the second act of the smash Broadway musical, debuted atop the domestic and global box offices in November, surpassing its predecessor as the highest opening weekend for a Broadway adaptation in history.

The sequel has already begun its awards season race, earning seven Critics’ Choice Awards nominations and five nods at the Golden Globes. At February’s Grammys, the Wicked compilation soundtrack and score soundtrack will compete in four categories, including best pop duo/group performance for Erivo and Grande’s rendition of “Defying Gravity.”

A five-time Emmy nominee for his writing and performance on Saturday Night Live, Yang filmed both Wicked movies while appearing on the sketch comedy show, maintaining his Las Culturistas podcast with fellow comedian Matt Rogers, and making a cameo in the buzzy Prime comedy series, Overcompensating.

After reuniting for a lie detector test during the Wicked: For Good press run, Grande and Yang will once again join forces on the Saturday Night Live stage when the Oscar-nominated pop superstar hosts the Dec. 20 episode. With Cher serving as musical guest, Grande will complete her third hosting gig.