Bowen Yang’s Saturday Night Live The Emmy nomination came on a day that started off fairly uneventfully. He had spent the morning writing in his journal and folding laundry.

“It was a very beautiful moment that coexisted with my boring, everyday lifestyle,” Yang says of the moment he received the news via text message from his team. But as he speaks, his life seems anything but boring – in addition to SNLHe is co-host of the GLAAD and iHeartRadio Award-winning podcast The culture lovers with Matt Rogers and will appear later this year as Pfannee in the highly anticipated first part of the two-part Evil.

The schedule seems exhausting, but Yang remains calm. “I just plan the week in advance,” he says. Monday and Tuesday are for The culture loversthen he goes to SNL‘s table on Wednesday. When he shot Evilhe flew to London on Sundays, to SNLand then brought back the following Wednesday for the next week’s show. Wash, rinse, repeat!

“SNL “Ultimately, it’s our home base,” he says of the whole movement. “I’m not too insecure about the different hats I put on, because every hat feels very worn at this point. And I probably wouldn’t have that comfort if I wasn’t at SNL.”

This year’s Emmy nomination is Yang’s fourth overall and his third for acting, but just as worn hats can be popular, this one feels extra special.

“I’m more grateful this year,” Yang says. “I feel like the strikes made everything right again. There was this really abbreviated, unresolved feeling (in season 48) when the strikes happened and no one had a chance to say goodbye, and we didn’t think about the season. This year we were able to look back on two full seasons, and it was a very sentimental, interesting process.”

SNL had to end its 48th season early when writers’ and actors’ strikes halted production in Hollywood last summer. In her return for season 49, Yang has hit the jackpot – the “Bowen’s Straight” preview with Sydney Sweeney, the George Santos cold open and the “Doctor” sketch with Ryan Gosling were some of his favorites.

As he reflects on his own work, the comedian can’t help but pause and celebrate that of his peers as well (particularly the viral “Beavis and Butt-head” starring Gosling and Mikey Day). “I’d even go so far as to say that my recognition in this category is a great reflection of the entire cast,” he says. “We’re only as good as the entire ensemble.”

SNL secured four nominations for this year’s ceremony, cementing its place as the program with the most Emmy nominations of all time with 341 nominations.

“I’m constantly reminded of how special this show is,” Yang says. “We have all these opportunities to take a comedic idea to its full creative fulfillment, and we’re so lucky. It’s pretty much the only live show where people still tune in when it happens.”

The Lorne Michaels-led series, known for its Saturday night stronghold, is gearing up to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year and many are eager to know the details of what the big party will look like.

“The funny thing is that even internally, no one really knows,” says Yang. “It’s still this beautiful fantasy in Lorne’s head. We’re going to figure it out, along with everyone else.”

Whatever the celebration will look like, Yang is confident that it will provide some kind of “glimpse of what comes next,” which also raises the question: After half a century of SNLwhere is the world of sketch comedy going next?

“TikTok and all these new media that are instantly gratifying and consumable are wonderful for people, they have democratized many things,” says Yang. “But there are also SNL even more of this unique, tripartite identity. It’s more interchangeable than other television, but it can also be a little more canonized than a lot of internet stuff. It’s like the Venn diagram overlap between those two things, and it’s very flexible.”

Season 50 will be Yang’s seventh with SNLhis sixth as a cast member, having initially come on board as a writer. The job, perhaps one of the most derided in the industry, came with its fair share of difficulties, but Yang says he’s put that behind him.

“I went through something last year where I really hit rock bottom with that idea,” he says. “Since then, I’ve had this really beautiful, holistic view of things and I’m very proud of what I did on the show.”

Recently, Yang referred to SNL as “the most embarrassing thing in show business.” The catch, however, is that it is precisely the embarrassing thing that keeps him coming back.

“There’s this cultural thing of making fun of, let’s say, a ‘theater kid,’ but theater kids have finally gotten over that part of their ego where they know it’s a little embarrassing,” Yang says. “There’s this fear of looking stupid that holds people back (that’s) a necessary spice in terms of comedy, in terms of working on SNL.”

It has been a journey since he started working at 30 Rock. “When I went to my first screen test, I was completely vulnerable,” he says. “I knew no one would laugh – that’s the legend of SNL Screening, nobody laughs – I remember walking away from that first audition and thinking, ‘Well, I’m not nervous. I’ll never be nervous again.'”

Exaggerated? Perhaps, but Yang says it is true nonetheless. “My nervous moments were exclusively SNLAnywhere outside of SNLI’m kind of cool as a cucumber.”

This story first appeared in the August 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter Magazine. Click here to subscribe.