Bowen Yang Had ‘Imposter Syndrome’ on ‘Wicked’ With Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum

Bowen Yang opened up about his experience shooting Wicked in a conversation with fellow SNL alumnus Will Ferrell this week, reflecting on working alongside his star-studded cast while recalling his crazy travel schedule to shoot the musical and television show at the same time.

“I feel like I conned my way into this movie, because they gender-flipped my role,” Yang, who’s emerged as one of SNL’s brightest stars in recent years, told Ferrell in their conversation for Interview magazine. “I’m like, ‘Why am I in a scene with Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum?’ I still have impostor syndrome.”

Ferrell agreed, noting that the feeling “never goes away, which I think is a good thing.”

Shooting the film itself was daunting as Yang had to balance between shooting his scenes in London and going back to New York each week for SNL. He told Ferrell that Lorne Michaels gave his blessing as long as he didn’t miss any shows.

“I’m like, ‘No problem. I have my CBD tinctures to adjust to the jet lag, and I have these great green tea caffeine nootropic gels to wake me up. I’ve got this.’ And then I had a mental breakdown,” Yang said. “Because I would do shows on Saturday, then fly first thing Sunday morning, land at night in London, then shoot Monday and Tuesday, then fly back Wednesday.”

Yang said he endured the back and forth enough times “to actually drive me insane.”

“Even though I have no regrets about it, and it’s the honor of my life to do this movie and SNL at the same time, I will never again do the weekly eight-hour round trip,” he said.

It’s not the first time Yang’s harkened back to the challenges of making the schedule work. Speaking with Vanity Fair back in May, he called the experience “a little mentally fraying.”

“It really did get to me just on a somatic level — I was just like, Wow, my body is refusing to lift an arm, or whatever,” he said at the time.

That challenge certainly seemed to pay off. Wicked opened to a $112 million box office opening last week, one of the best debuts of 2024.