Ariana Grande was the latest guest on Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang’s podcast, Las Culturistas. In the episode, she and Bowen shared the story of how he got permission from Lorne Michaels, the creator and long-time producer of SNL, to work on both Wicked and SNL at the same time.
Ariana said to Bowen, “I was so, so over-the-moon excited that you were gonna be able to do it. I called Lorne [Michaels].” She then asked Bowen, “Did you know about this?” to which he confirmed that he did.
“Well, because I knew that it was a huge, massive ask and also, probably an impossible one,” she shared. “And I didn’t have anything — any sort of resolution to pitch him.” She then said that she nervously called Lorne and asked him if there was any way Bowen could be allowed to do the movie. “But, um, you know, he made it work,” she said.
Bowen then said, “It’s the only time that I’ve ever pulled, like, a pouty face in front of him, to be like, ‘I really wanna do this.’ And then he was like, ‘Okay.'”
Ariana added, “But it was really tough what you put yourself through,” referencing Bowen’s tough schedule and constant traveling required for him to film the movie and SNL simultaneously.
In an interview with Vanity Fair earlier this year, Bowen explained how taxing it was constantly flying between NYC for SNL and Wicked‘s London set.
In the interview, Bowen even mentioned how Lorne warned him it might be too stressful to film the movie. “Whatever you think about the situation, however, you think it’s unique to you, however, you think you might be the exception to the rule, Lorne is here to be like, ‘Actually, it might not be so good on the body for you to fly back and forth between New York and London to go shoot a movie,’” Bowen shared.
“[It] was an incredible experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I really thought I could hack it,” Bowen said. “I was like, OK, I’ve got my nootropic gels that I’m going to suck on the airplane, and I’m going to take my little CBD potions that are going to help me fall asleep and get over the jet lag. I had all these things in the armory, and then none of it really could beat back that tide.”
He finished by saying, “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. It really got to that point that was a little mentally fraying. It was a tough summer, just between the strikes and the constant bouncing back and forth.”
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