How Bowen Yang (‘Saturday Night Live’) could win Comedy Supporting Actor Emmy on 2nd try

Bowen Yang made history last year as the first featured player from “Saturday Night Live” to score an acting Emmy nomination. The funnyman led multiple viral sketches last season, from the iceberg that hit the Titanic to an earnest piece on the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, resulting in a huge boost in his profile the likes of which are virtually unheard of for a featured player. Yang was promoted to repertory player ahead of the current 47th season, where he has continued to be one of the funnier presences on the NBC sketch show. This boost in status could help him score not only his second Emmy nomination for Best Comedy Supporting Actor, but possibly a win. (Yang was also nominated in 2019 for writing “SNL.”)

Heading into the 2021 Emmys, some awards experts were predicting Yang to win the Comedy Supporting Actor Emmy following his buzzy breakout year. The award ultimately went to “Ted Lasso” standout Brett Goldstein, who defeated three of his costars in the process (Brendan Hunt, Nick Mohammed, Jeremy Swift). With Yang’s fellow “SNL” cast member Kenan Thompson also nominated, this continued the pattern of no “SNL” players being able to win that category.

This year, Yang may face even tougher competition with Goldstein in the mix for Season 2 of “Ted Lasso” on top of two other previous champions — Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) and Henry Winkler (“Barry”). All three are currently at the top of the Comedy Supporting Actor nomination odds, with Yang in fourth place. But if Emmy voters are in the mood to crown new winners, Yang seems to be the likeliest beneficiary.

While Yang may no longer have the discovery factor he had last season, he played a number of fun characters in Season 47 that justify another nomination. Such moments included a Weekend Update piece as a “proud gay Oompa Loompa” (watch below) and another in which he returned as Chen Biao, Chinese trade representative, to talk about the Olympics. Also this year, Bowel put a fun spin on the numerous headlines about his various history-making accomplishments as an Asian actor in a sketch with host Simu Liu.

Now that Yang has been welcomed into the club with a nomination, it is possible that, like his promotion to main cast member, he could see his status rise from Emmy nominee to Emmy winner.

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