Bowen Yang Returns to 'Saturday Night Live' To Play Ex-NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang in John Mulaney Episode

Bowen Yang made a surprise return to Saturday Night Live on 14 November, playing former NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang in a cold open hosted by John Mulaney. The sketch imagined technology executives attending a CIA briefing on how to spot a woman who might be a spy.

Yang's appearance was his first on the programme since leaving the cast in December 2025. He joined as a writer in 2018 and became a cast member the following year. Mulaney, a former SNL writer, hosted the episode, with Phoebe Bridgers as musical guest.

The sketch used reports about Huang's departure from NVIDIA and alleged relationships, including one with a woman suspected of spying for China, as its premise. Those claims were not established by the comedy segment, and the allegations should not be mistaken for findings of fact.

Bowen Yang's Return Turns a CIA Briefing on Silicon Valley

John Mulaney played a CIA instructor briefing technology executives on how to distinguish a woman genuinely interested in them from a spy. 'America needs you to learn the difference between a woman who would actually want to have sex with you and a woman who is clearly a spy,' he said.

Andrew Dismukes played Mark Zuckerberg, Jeremy Culhane portrayed Elon Musk, James Austin Johnson played Peter Thiel, Jane Wickline portrayed Dario Amodei and Ben Marshall played Sam Altman. Thiel is a PayPal co-founder, while Amodei leads Anthropic and Altman leads OpenAI.

Asked what the executives should learn from the story involving former NVIDIA chief Jensen Huang, Zuckerberg replied, 'Never date a human woman.' Thiel said, 'Never date anyone, lest they become the antichrist.' Mulaney then used a Venn diagram to illustrate his point.

The diagram showed no overlap between 'beautiful women' and the executives' interests and opinions. Mulaney also asked them to recall their lives before becoming rich and famous, then questioned why someone very beautiful might suddenly be interested in them.

The Briefing Turns to Tech's Recent Disruptions

Zuckerberg suggested the woman might be 'comforted by my Meta glasses recording her at all times'. Mulaney replied, 'No.'

Thiel then asked the CIA instructor to name a time technology had let the country down. Mulaney cited a nationwide flight ground stop on Friday and a global Microsoft outage on Thursday.

Yang appeared near the end of the sketch as Jensen Huang, introducing himself as 'Jensen "Hide Your Wife" Huang'. He joked that his interest in BDSM meant 'breakin' da stock market', then said, 'Women don't like guys like us. That's how we became guys like us.'

The sketch referred to reports that Huang had resigned from NVIDIA following allegations about relationships, including one involving a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. The allegations have not been independently verified, and the sketch did not establish that company information had been compromised.

Bowen Yang Takes on Mary Todd Lincoln, Too

Yang also appeared in Little Park of Horrors, a musical spoof about New York's horse-drawn carriages. Marcello Hernández and Kam Patterson played men who reconsider a carriage ride and head for the Lincoln Tunnel instead.

Yang played Mary Todd Lincoln, singing about the tunnel's delays and expense. 'No way it's taking less than two hours,' she sang, before warning, 'you and you and you — you're going to pay me.'

The role echoed Yang's Broadway debut in September as Lincoln in Cole Escola's Oh, Mary! Bridgers performed as the episode's musical guest, making the broadcast a return to SNL for Yang and a second appearance in a separate sketch.