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Bowen Yang on why JD Vance having ZERO personality made it hard to play him on 'SNL'
You'd think, as an actor, it'd be easier to play a human man than a baby hippo, but not when that man is JD Vance.
Saturday Night Live star and Las Culturistas cohost Bowen Yang recently broke down why portraying the personality vacuum and Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance on the iconic variety show’s 50th premiere was so tricky.
In an interview with them, Yang was incredibly honest about his own doubts about the cold open for the season premier, a sketch about the upcoming presidential election. Since Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris announced their respective VP picks, there's been wide speculation about who would portray them on SNL. Jim Gaffigan, an unexpected but delightful choice, played Minnesota Governor and Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz. SNL creator Lorne Michaels chose Yang, to portray the Republican VP nominee, Ohio senator and smokey eye devotee JD Vance.
Yang said, “Up until the show, I tapped [Michaels] on the shoulder and I was in the full beard and the full geish and I was like, ‘You can do a buyback if you want.'"
He also attributed so much of his hesitance to his own struggle to find Vance as a character. It's a struggle for any actor. How do you begin to bring someone like Vance, who has the depth of a Dillard's menswear mannequin that got his wish to be a real boy, to life?
For research, Yang watched the Netflix adaptation of Vance's memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Yang then brought up the scene in which a young Vance had questioned whether he might be gay, but dropped the idea quickly after it was shot down by his "mamaw." That's where it all clicked.
"Oh," said Yang, "This guy doesn't have a personality because he's never had the spine to claim it."
During the season premiere, Yang showed that he's a serious triple threat — that's a theatre term that everyone knows means you have the range to play a Republican Vice Presidential nominee, a pop icon, and a baby pygmy hippo.
On a variety show that many had written off, Yang is proof that SNL's 50th season is still worth watching.
Rowan Ashley Smith has often been described as "a multi-hyphenate about town." He loves work that connects him to his cultures as a gay, Jewish, multiracial trans man. Before breaking into journalism, the best days of his professional life were spent as a summer camp professional, a librarian, and an HIV prevention specialist. His work has been featured in GO Magazine, pride.com, and The Advocate. In what is left of his free time, Rowan enjoys performing stand up comedy, doing the NYT crossword, and spending time with his two partners, two children, and four cats.
Rowan Ashley Smith has often been described as "a multi-hyphenate about town." He loves work that connects him to his cultures as a gay, Jewish, multiracial trans man. Before breaking into journalism, the best days of his professional life were spent as a summer camp professional, a librarian, and an HIV prevention specialist. His work has been featured in GO Magazine, pride.com, and The Advocate. In what is left of his free time, Rowan enjoys performing stand up comedy, doing the NYT crossword, and spending time with his two partners, two children, and four cats.
