Bowen Yang talks about ‘mental fraying’ during ‘Wicked’ filming

Bowen Yang dishes on the mental and physical juggle he had to face during Wicked filming and Saturday Night Live at the same time.

Yang, 33, told Vanity Fair that it became “mentally fraying” for him to fly back and forth between the Wicked set in London and SNL in New York City that even comedy show creator Lorne Michaels expressed his worry.

“This is when Lorne Michaels comes in,” Yang said.

“Whatever you think about the situation, however you think it’s unique to you, however you think you might be the exception to the rule, Lorne is here to be like, ‘Actually, it might not be so good on the body for you to fly back and forth between New York and London to go shoot a movie.’”

The Fire Island star elucidated about his movie work, in which he played the role of Pfannee, that he tried his best to maintain equilibrium with other work obligations.

“I’ll say ‘Wicked,’ for example. [It] was an incredible experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I really thought I could hack it,” Yang said.

“I was like, OK, I’ve got my nootropic gels that I’m going to suck on the airplane, and I’m going to take my little CBD potions that are going to help me fall asleep and get over the jet lag. I had all these things in the armory, and then none of it really could beat back that tide.”

He continued, “It really did get to me just on a somatic level — I was just like, Wow, my body is refusing to lift an arm, or whatever. It really got to that point that was a little mentally fraying. It was a tough summer, just between the strikes and the constant bouncing back and forth.”

Elsewhere, in the interview Yang noted that he felt “really emotional” yet relieved at the same time as the Wicked filming wrapped.