Bowen Yang Apologizes to Ariana Grande for Mouthy Kiss in 'SNL' Sketch

Bowen Yang got a little too comfortable during an intimate moment with his friend Ariana Grande when she hosted Saturday Night Live. 

Grande, 31, acted as host on the October 13 episode of the show, where she and Yang, 34 — who costar in the film adaptation of Wicked — appeared in a sketch together that required a kiss. 

“I really have to apologize to you in person,” Yang told Grande on the Wednesday, November 6, episode of his “Las Culturistas” podcast. “I opened up my mouth too much when we kissed on SNL.”

Grande played Diane in the sketch, the ultra-competitive mother of Yang’s boyfriend, played by Michael Longfellow. When Yang’s character, Josh, stood up to Diane’s antics, the two shared a passionate smooch, which drew a raucous reaction from the studio audience. 

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“You absolutely did,” Grande told Yang. “I was shaking after. Not in a bad way. Just in a disarming way.”

Yang laughed and said, “I’m so sorry.”

“I kissed you too much,” he added. 

Grande, who helped write the sketch and based Diane on her own mother, Joan, was a good sport about the entire thing.

“It felt like what these people needed at that time,” she said. “It felt like what these characters required. I’m all for it.”

The pair revealed there wasn’t even supposed to be a kiss in the sketch originally, but it came about via serendipity. 

“When we rehearsed it, [I had] a little thought in my head,” Grande recalled. “I didn’t say anything because I was like, ‘Everyone’s going to think I’m absolutely insane and too comfortable.’ But I [thought to myself], ‘How funny would it be if we kissed at the end?’”

It turns out she and her scene partner were on the same track. 

“And then Bowen texts me a few hours later, ‘It’s totally fine, if this is way too crazy, but we were talking and thought it would be so funny if we kissed at the end,’” Grande continued. “And I was like, ‘Wow, I was thinking that.’”

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Grande, who hosted SNL for the second time after first hosting in 2016, gushed about her triumphant return to 30 Rock. 

“I had the time of my life,” she said. “I would have done it right after we finished at 1 a.m. again. I really love being there. I love every single person there. I just had the loveliest, best time with everyone.”

Grande added, “When it comes to doing big, exciting things, sometimes it can become a scary, daunting thing. But if you hold onto excitement and gratitude and let that fuel the entire experience, it can really change the tone of everything.”