TV

Bowen Yang’s iconic SNL turn as the iceberg that sank the Titanic will make you belly laugh

Bowen Yang iceberg Titanic SNL YouTube

(YouTube/Saturday Night Live)

Bowen Yang has stolen the spotlight and fans’ hearts after appearing as the iceberg that sunk the Titanic during Saturday Night Live (SNL).

Yang – SNL‘s first Asian American cast member – has quickly become a fan favourite with his impressions and speaking his mind about the increases of anti-Asian assaults and harassment during the pandemic. Now, he has taken his place in the pantheon of most iconic SNL sketches by appearing as the sassy iceberg that sank the Titanic.

The sketch, which appeared during the “Weekend Update” segment, was timed to coincide with the upcoming anniversary of the Titanic sinking over a century ago.

Yang – playing the iceberg as a celebrity with a scandal in his past – appeared on the segment rocking blue-white face makeup, a white bedazzled suit and an iceberg-shaped hat. He started the sketch by explaining this time of year is “always really weird” for him before he made a “tip of the iceberg” quip about his feelings.

But then Bowen Yang quickly goes on the defensive when “Weekend Update” host Colin Jost insists on talking about the sinking of the Titanic. Yang insists he wants to promote his “hyper-pop EDM new disco fantasia” album called Music, featuring the single “Loverboy”.

But then, he cracks and starts talking about the deadly maritime disaster. He then goes on to describe the incident from his point of view, and his stellar performance has had fans rolling.

“First of all, you came to where I live, and you hit me! It was midnight. I was chilling, and then I hear this Irish cacophony behind me,” he explains. “And before I turn around and go, like, ‘What?’ Half my a** is gone – which was my best feature – and I’m literally injured, but all anybody cares about is that like 40 or 50 people died or whatever.”

Jost corrects Yang by pointing out that more than 1,500 people are believed to have during the sinking of the Titanic. But Yang insists that Jost is “attacking” him after insisting that he was going to “be my Oprah” – a callback to the infamous Oprah Winfrey interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

Bowen Yang then states that the culpability for the incident lies with the water, not with him as the iceberg. He asks rhetorically: “What did the autopsy say? They iceberged? No. They drowned, b***h.

“That’s not me, that’s water. Nobody is cancelling the ocean.”

When Jost asks again if he wasn’t taking any responsibility for the incident, Yang then passes the blame to White Star Line, who built the Titanic. He says: “You built a bad boat. It didn’t work out. That’s on you, honey.”

Eventually, the conversation does circle around to the iceberg’s new album Music, which Yang insists is “12 tracks, no skips”. The segment concludes with Yang singing a cringeworthy song about having a date and spending the night with a “loverboy”.

Fans have praised Yang’s performance, insisting he is ‘carrying’ the show

Author Kimberly Drew wrote on Twitter: “I wonder if Bowen Yang’s back hurts from carrying SNL”

SNL writer Anna Drezen, who penned the iconic skit, shared her joy over Yang’s performance. She said: “Genuine stupid joy to write this impossibly stupid but with Bowen Yang who is the Celine Dion of comedy. He delivers!!!”

Comedian Jenny Yang shared that she would “backstroke through hot lava for Bowen Yang” after his iceberg sketch.

Writer Sarah Razner called on SNL to make Yang a “repertory player now” because he “consistently nails it”. She continued: “Show me someone else who do an iceberg impression like that. I’ll wait.”

 

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