Shows like Lip Sync Battle and Drunk History are certainly respectable when it comes to famous people lip-syncing, but nobody pushes it to high art quite like New York–based comedian and SNL writer Bowen Yang. Yang, along with fellow comedian Matt Rogers, hosts the Las Culturistas podcast and previously served as Vulture’s very own video interviewer and America’s Next Top Model/RuPaul’s Drag Race recapper. For months now, Yang has been sharing short clips on Twitter where he lip-syncs over iconic moments from television shows and movies, and, well, I’d just like a network to give him a whole damn show dedicated to this, because it’s pure gold.
The first clip Yang uploaded was back in May, in which he perfectly captured the much-memed America’s Next Top Model moment when Tyra Banks yelled at contestant Tiffany Richardson (“We were all rooting for you!”):
Next up, just a few days later, Yang took on Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich:
Later that month, Yang posted a new lip sync of Bling Ring member Alexis Neiers’s now-infamous tearful voicemails to Vanity Fair reporter Nancy Jo on Pretty Wild:
In July, Yang returned to lip-sync Dr. Cristina Yang’s (Sandra Oh) heartfelt words to Owen from the season six Grey’s Anatomy episode “State of Love and Trust”:
Yang tweeted his most recent clip yesterday, where he flawlessly lip-syncs Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada:
When asked how he prepares for these clips, Yang broke it down for us: “I usually do two ‘sessions,’ each taking a couple hours or so. The best way to practice is actually in the filming itself, just in terms of watching it back immediately in this pseudo way of self-directing,” he said. “The first session is just about portioning off the whole ‘piece’ into manageable sections and running those, and then the second is about smoothing it all out, figuring out the best ways to make it look like you’re pushing air through your lips!”
As for the clip that took the longest to nail down, Yang said the Sandra Oh monologue was the toughest, “just because there’s such an emotional arc to it and she is so … muscularly vulnerable as an actress. She starts off angry and then gets very emotional on TOP OF the anger, which was very challenging to see through in one take, multiple times. That one took several sittings spread out over a few days.”
On to the most important question: When can we expect Yang to get his very own lip-sync television show? “Oh my God, whenever Pop TV can schedule a general with me. They keep having a ‘thing’!!!”
Your move, TV execs.
Update, January 18: Yang has gifted us all with yet another lip-sync video today, this time to pay homage to Cardi B’s instantly iconic Instagram rant about the government shutdown:
