Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang thinks he took a recent skit with Ariana Grande too far. On the Nov. 6 episode of his Las Culturistas podcast, which he hosts alongside Matt Rogers, Yang spoke to his Wicked co-star Grande about her SNL episode on Oct. 12, which featured the sketch “Charades with Mom.”
Grande played Diane in the Saturday Night Live bit, the competitive mother of Yang’s boyfriend, played by Michael Longfellow. At the end of the skit, Yang’s character, Josh, confronted Diane about her erratic behavior and the pair unexpectedly locked lips.
“I really have to apologize to you in person,” Yang told Grande on the podcast, revealing that he “opened up my mouth too much” during their SNL kiss.
“You absolutely did,” the singer quipped back. “I was shaking after. Not in a bad way. Just in a disarming way.”
“I’m so sorry. I kissed you too much,” Yang added through laughter as the singer reassured him she was “all for it.” She continued, “It felt like what these people needed at that time. It felt like what these characters required.”
Surprisingly, the mom character was inspired by Grande’s own mother, Joan (whom she calls “the kindest, most generous person in the entire world”), after a competitive family game night involving Grande’s brother-in-law, Hale Leon, and his brothers. When Joan shocked her daughter with a quip about “tiny d*ck syndrome” in response to some light taunting from one of Leon’s brothers, Grande saw the SNL sketch potential.
“I was like, ‘Bowen, we have to do something with this, please. It’s just so silly,’” she said.
On the Las Culturistas podcast, the “Yes, And?” songstress also revealed that the kiss wasn’t in the original script, and both she and Yang came up with the idea separately.
“When we rehearsed it, [I had] a little thought in my head,” the Grammy winner recalled. “I didn’t say anything because I was like, ‘Everyone’s going to think I’m absolutely insane and too comfortable.’ But I [thought to myself], ‘How funny would it be if we kissed at the end?’”
Speaking to podcast hosts Yang and Rogers, Grande explained that the SNL star messaged her later in the day suggesting the same thing.
“Bowen texts me a few hours later, ‘It’s totally fine, if this is way too crazy, but we were talking and thought it would be so funny if we kissed at the end,’” Grande continued. “And I was like, ‘Wow, I was thinking that.’”
Ariana’s SNL “Espresso” Parody
Grande and Yang’s smooch wasn’t the only viral moment of the Saturday Night Live episode, which she guest-hosted on Oct. 12.
In a bridesmaids-themed sketch, the singer performed a comedic rendition of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” with SNL cast members Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, and Sarah Sherman. As a group, Grande and the bridesmaids sang at their friend’s wedding reception, exposing her bachelorette party exploits with a doctor-slash-model named Domingo.
Carpenter later reacted to the parody of her hit song, sharing a clip of the skit to her Instagram story. “Very nice and on pitch,” she captioned the post, giving a nod to Grande’s purposely off-key vocals.
