Name: Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on Becoming Friends, Career Journeys and More
Uploaded: 2026-05-28T15:45:00Z
Duration: 9 min 59 s
Description: "Las Culturistas" hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers sit down for The Job Interview with WSJ. Magazine, where they interview each other about their early careers, the origins of their podcast and their friendship.

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How Robinhood Reshaped the Trading Landscape for an Entire Generation

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Envestnet’s ‘Bullseye’ Strategic Approach  

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How Envestnet Is Harnessing AI and Data 

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Oil and Gas in a Volatile World

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"Las Culturistas" hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers sit down for The Job Interview with WSJ. Magazine, where they interview each other about their early careers, the origins of their podcast and their friendship. Photo: Grant Bell

https://m.wsj.net/video/20260528/ed4ba98f-8f9d-4737-aa44-599a6bd1ea04/2/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

"Las Culturistas" hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers sit down for The Job Interview with WSJ. Magazine, where they interview each other about their early careers, the origins of their podcast and their friendship.

Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers on Becoming Friends, Career Journeys and More

What is the most important rule of culture?

If you don't love Lady Gaga, you don't love yourself.

All right, Bowen, I am excited you've come in for this job interview.

You are exactly qualified. You're on the knife's edge. This interview will make or break whether or not you get hired here.

Bowen, you were pre-med studying chemistry, moved into graphic design, launched Las Culturistas, broke out Saturday Night Live, and now you're acting in major film and TV projects. Looking back at that path, what's been the most exciting part of it for you?

The most exciting part of my illustrious career has been the many airport lounges of the world.

Favorite one?

Delta One New York? No, Delta One LAX.

I was looking for Minneapolis. Luckily that's not a requirement in this job.

Matt, you started out performing in college, waited tables in New York while building your career, also trained at Upright Citizens Brigade. Created Las Culturistas with me, and built a career across live performance, podcasting and acting. What feels like the turning point that made all of this possible?

I think that when Padma Lakshmi showed up to our podcast recording with a bottle of-

A Veuve Clicquot.

Yep. In a full black catsuit and was ready to party with us.

She thought it would be at a venue with an admiring crowd.

Yeah, she thought she was like, I thought there was gonna be an audience. That's my Padma.

And then left that episode saying, this was bitching.

This was bitching.

Hi Padma.

Hi Padma.

Earlier in your career, like truly early, you were apparently dominating Dance Dance Revolution at a Best Buy. If this job interview had a skills test, what song are you picking to prove you still have it right now on the DDR.

This is true. I was at the Best Buy in Park Meadows Mall in Colorado and the song back then, as it is now is will be, was Love At First Sight by Kylie Minogue.

I think I remember that one.

I mean it's gotta be, Kylie started it all.

Started it all.

By the way, I am hiring you to be my doula.

You really should hire another doula.

No, It's gotta be you. Back when we were both at NYU, what did you think your job was gonna look like after you graduated?

I'm going back to do the commencement speech and I think one of the things I'm gonna say is, you can't just do this, you have to do a million other things and you have to throw everything at the wall. I would've hoped to be in like a 30 Rock type writer's room. I think the dream was, boring, to work at SNL.

Yes.

How did Saturday Night Live first come into the picture for you?

Like you get to college, we do comedy, it's kind of like-

Yeah, the thing, the Mecca.

The Mecca. I knew even before I started working there that it was just a very hard job no matter what department you're in. My manager at the time tells me to put together a tape. I'm like, they'll never hire an effeminate Asian man. I do it anyway on a lark expecting no one to see it. And then that I think was the way that like I made something that I thought was funny and that then it translated to someone else internally thinking it was funny. I just kept going and then wrote for a season. It was amazing, I learned so much, then got moved to the cast, knew that it was time to go because it felt like there was just this amazing new crop of people coming in.

It says on your resume that Sandra Oh on Grey's Anatomy inspired you to pursue pre-med. Was there a specific scene that stuck with you? This is hard because she's got so many memorable sticky scenes.

Yes.

When people in the hospital at Seattle Grace, at the time was Seattle Grace had to report all sexual activity that they had with other doctors and Cristina Yang had to confess to a board that she had relations with Preston Burke.

Her attending.

Her attending.

He said, I want to go into medicine.

I said, I wanna go into medicine.

He has a huge thing for Isaiah Washington to display.

I do.

Problematic king.

Problematic king. And she goes, isn't that difficult?

It's unbearable.

How do you think our college comedy backgrounds, mine in improv, yours doing sketches, shaped our partnership in ultimately Las Culturistas?

Well, famously you were the gay guy in the improv group at NYU and I was the gay guy in the sketch group at NYU and this gave license for everyone else in those groups to be like, do it, be best friends, come on. And then I think we looked at each other and we're like, I'm not gonna be friends with him because I'm not gonna do what they say just 'cause of my sexuality. And then I think we knew like the same Taylor Swift B sides and then we were like quickly friends just 'cause we were gay.

It's like when arranged marriages are actually beautiful.

After college, you were using your graphic design skills for your own comedy. What were you making for yourself at the time?

I was making everything. I was loading up the Q decks. I was talking to the tech people at every theater in New York. I was making show posters.

He would make mine.

I would make yours.

My favorite posters I've ever had were Bowen Yangs.

Do you think you'd be at the top of the graphic design field had you really?

I was so bad at my day job. People would be like, so you were gone for like an hour and 45 minutes for lunch.

Right.

I was at an audition.

Matt, after graduation you were waiting tables in New York. What did that teach you about performing?

It helped me get over a social anxiety that I do have. It doesn't, it may not seem like I'm a socially anxious person, but I think that just the ability to go up and approach a table of strangers and introduce yourself and ask how you can take care of them, in a way sort of got me to commit to situations and also learn how to engage with people no matter what they were throwing back at you.

And it also helps when they're liquored up

For sure. It really helps when-

In the audience or at the table.

Yeah. When we first started Las Culturistas what were your hopes for it? Did you ever think it would lead to where we are now?

No, no, no. We always say this. We would not have called it Las Culturistas, a name that no one is able to say.

No, my dad can't say it. He says Las Costa Ricas.

There you go.

I was like, well that's just a country twice.

That's just a country, that's just multiple of the same country.

Yeah.

We had no hopes and dreams. I'll speak for you.

None.

None. We were just like, this is a play date with my best friends.

Yeah.

And then somehow the numbers kept growing. I mean like a year in, we would like look at the numbers and be like, oh my gosh, like 67 people listened this.

I remember 67. When you decide to do a podcast with someone when you're 27 and you're best friends, you don't realize what that could become, which is you're also deciding on like your business partner 10 years later, 11 years later, like the person you're gonna be in all these situations with. But we were lucky that we picked the right person for that too because-

Arranged marriage's work.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

He's nailing this job interview, by the way.

Where do you see the Las Culturistas Culture Awards going? What's the crazy dream version?

It's gonna sound like a cop out answer. I feel like this is the crazy dream.

I have the same answer. Yeah.

It's like we already get to do the grotesque blown out, stupid, ridiculous version of this thing that we both love, which is award shows. I think this is already peak.

Yeah.

We're gonna keep doing it. It's not to say that like, alright, we've hit it, we're done. I think we're, I think we're gonna keep it going as long as they let us.

And I would agree a hundred percent in an ad that if it got more legit that would feel not as good.

I said this to Tina Fey, our friend, our advisor, she came to SNL earlier in the fall and she was like, Will Forte's wife is going around bragging everyone that he's a Culture Award winner. And I was just like, oh my God, that's ridiculous. Doesn't she know that it's not a real award? And she goes, no Bowen, you guys have done whatever your award show does, which is you create a little club and then you just hand out these statues to whoever you decide to go to. And I'm like, oh, she gets the essence of what this is, which is kind of why the Oscars even started was just like a way to bust unions and also to like, to like give, to kind of like affirm all these people from within and have it be a circle jerk and don't censor that Wall Street Journal.

It's the most widely viewed circle jerk in the world.

I'm so jealous.

What is the most important rule of culture?

If you don't love Lady Gaga, you don't love yourself. I was singing Donatella yesterday.

Of course.

But yes, to answer the question, if you don't love-

Both: Lady Gaga.

You don't love yourself.

Finally, Matt.

Mm-hmm.

This is really what's gonna determine whether or not you have this job. Do you have a personal favorite Las Culturistas Culture Awards category or nominee where you felt we nailed it? You have multiple answers.

The category is scariest moment in history and the winner is-

Both: Hereditary, little diva head come off.

I remember when that pops into my mind and then pops onto the page. I did not know what would do, what it's done, which is-

Started a movement.

People's independent merch. We became our official merch there.

I would like to offer you the job.

I would love a parking stipend.

That we can do that.

Yeah, we can work that.

Come on now.

Over there.

That's my coworker.

My guy.