Bowen Yang wants to add two more words to his “Saturday Night Live” scripts.
“We should be able to say at least five ‘shits’ and five ‘fucks’ on ‘SNL’ per season,” the cast member said on his podcast “Las Culturistas” during the “I Don’t Think So, Honey” segment, in which he and co-host Matt Rogers, as well as their guest, present a hot take or cultural opinion in the span of one minute.
Sitting opposite Rogers and “SNL” veteran Amy Poehler, Yang referenced a recent moment on the show in which a “Weekend Update” bit from Ego Nwodim inadvertently prompted the studio audience to yell the word “shit.” (“SNL” appeared to come out unscathed by the FCC for that potential violation.) Yang called the bit his “favorite moment in televised history.”
“We are so hampered in our comedy at ‘SNL,’ by not being able to say shit and fuck,” Yang continues. “It’s us, it’s ‘Abbot,’ it’s ‘Ghosts.’ We’re the last network comedies. Can you give ‘SNL’ an exception?”
“If we’re dismantling the FCC because of Trump, can one boon, can one silver lining be that we get to say shit and fuck? It would bring a sketch to the next level,” Yang contended. “Shit and fuck are so comedically powerful.”
Poehler then proposes that NBC could monetize the swear words, making people vote like “American Idol” on who gets to say the shit and fucks, while Yang suggests they could fundraise in case the show needs a legal defense fund.
Rogers suggests that when Kenan Thompson, the longest-running cast member, finally leaves the show, he should be allowed to say all the shits and fucks he wants for his last episode.
Poehler also contends, however, that not being able to swear does add comedic tension. “You want it because you can’t have it,” she says.
Yang goes on to explain that cast members on “SNL” can say ass, but not asshole, while “taint” is also permissible since it’s a body part.
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