Image source: Getty / Rich Fury and Getty / Todd Williamson
Bowen Yang’s star power is perpetually on the rise. Since making history as the first Chinese-American cast member to join ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2019, the comedian has landed roles in several shows and movies, including ‘Girls5eva’, ‘Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens” and “The Lost City”. “, in addition to a scripted podcast series, “Hot White Heist”. His latest project, however, is shaping up to be a career highlight.
In June, the Emmy nominee will star as Howie in Hulu’s “Fire Island,” a gay romantic comedy that puts a modern spin on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” The film not only provides needed queer representation on screen, with an all-LGBTQ+ main cast, but it also provided Yang with the opportunity to work with his longtime best friend Joel Kim Booster, who has both written and acted in the film. The experience can only be described as surreal, Yang told POPSUGAR during an interview about Absolut’s Out & Open campaign, which aims to elevate LBGTQ+ bars amid increased closures.
“This project is his little baby, and I’m really happy to be a part of it,” Yang said of his work with Booster on “Fire Island.” “The fact that he even thought of including me in this is so surreal. I mean, we used to arrive together in the basements of bars, or we didn’t see each other for weeks, but then we saw each other to a show and check in. I feel like I was so lucky just to have him around.
Image Source: Fox Projector
It turns out that their friendship is more likely due to fate than just a fluke. Almost a decade ago, a comedian from Chicago, where Booster was living at the time, virtually hooked them up in a pretty grumpy way. “This comedian who wasn’t Asian brought us together in this Facebook chat and said, ‘You need to meet because you’re both Asian comedians. And it immediately felt like, ‘OK, this is weird. I don’t know how to go about it,'” Yang recalled. “We were both a little wary of each other at first, just because of that background.” About a year later, they met in person when Yang booked Booster for one of his New York comedy shows, and their connection felt “cosmically” destined.
“There was just something so fateful about meeting him.”
“I feel like I saw a shower of stars when we first met,” Yang said. “There was just something so fateful about finally meeting him that it all kind of melted away. We were like, ‘Oh, OK. It doesn’t matter what the origin story is; we found each other. It’s going to mean something.’ We were able to transcend that moment for each other.”
For Yang, acting alongside Booster in “Fire Island” was like having a built-in sounding board and a cheerleader on hand at all times. “We might have been vulnerable with each other, like, ‘Hey, am I doing this right?'” he says. “I think in a lot of these situations you’re constantly doubting yourself. It exemplifies all of our friendship over the years, which is that we’ve had the other person close by to say, ‘Hey, I wouldn’t tell anyone else this, but do you feel weird about this?'”
Booster is just one of Yang’s many sources of comfort. The Australian-born star also cites ‘Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens’ co-host BD Wong and ‘Las Culturistas’ podcast co-host Matt Rogers as longtime confidants. “The thing about the queer community is that there’s a very special sort of hybrid relationship that you have with these people where, of course, you admire them, of course you’ve adored them for as long as you’re aware, but a once you get to know them on an authentic level, you realize it’s a lot more nuanced than that,” he says. “There’s all these people who really just cut a little line in the mold of how people view queer people.”
Wong in particular once uttered a few words of wisdom that stuck with Yang — wisdom about the slow progress of the entertainment industry with highlighting LGBTQ+ talent and stories on screen. With over 30 years of acting experience under his belt, Wong has seen a front row seat to the improvements made over the past few decades and understands that it doesn’t come easily.
“BD always says the reason the change has been so slow is that it hasn’t been inevitable,” Yang told POPSUGAR. “Change isn’t always inevitable; it’s something you need to build development pathways towards. For more LGBTQ people to find themselves in entertainment, you need to make sure people can touch the poles of the tent along the way so you can ensure their success over time. [Wong] was someone who planted so many of these tent pegs.”
Despite the upward trajectory of her career, Yang jokes about changing after “Fire Island” premiered on Hulu on June 3. “It’s one of my first feature film experiences, and I feel like it’s all downhill from here now,” he told POPSUGAR. “Not downhill, but I cherish this moment in that it gives me context on what a film set can be like, so hopefully if I can do that in the future, whatever the cast or crew composition, I know how to envision the best-case scenario and get as close to it as possible.”