Bowen Yang reflects on his 'Saturday Night Live' exit

Bowen Yang reflected on his journey with Saturday Night Live at an edition of the 'Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang' podcast on January 7.

The Chinese-born comedian signed off from SNL after a seven-season run with an emotional final sketch featuring Ariana Grande and Cher on December 20.

Yang joined in 2019 and became SNL's first Chinese American cast member.

Three weeks after his last appearance on the sketch, On the podcast titled "Exit Interview (The Cathartic Episode)," talked about his experience.

"This is honestly what's behind it: It's time. You would do seven seasons, and then you would scoot," he said.

"COVID and the current media landscape, the current entertainment ecosystem, is so turbulent that people have completely valid reasons for staying longer, or, in a lot of cases, don't have the privilege of staying on as long as they would like to."

He continued, "I have this very beautiful thing where I get to say that I stayed on exactly as long as I wanted to."

Previously, Yang told PEOPLE that he would surely leave the show "at some point" but didn't know "what the vision is yet."

"I was maybe unsure about going back in the summer, and I'm so glad I did," Yang marked on the podcast.

Yang also revisited his final sketch, in which he played a Delta One Lounge employee working his last shift. However, the star added being unsure whether the segment would air.

"I was like 'there's a million reasons why I could get cut. Nothing is guaranteed," he recalled.