Bowen Yang is "grateful for every single minute" he has spent on Saturday Night Live.

The 35-year-old star will depart the long-running NBC sketch comedy series after seven seasons following Saturday's (20.12.25) episode and has hinted at the "dreamiest" farewell with this weekend's host, his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande.

In a statement posted on Instagram, Bowen wrote: "I loved working on SNL, and most of all I loved the people.

"I was there at a time when many things in the world started to seem futile, but working at 30 Rock taught me the value in showing up anyway when people make it worthwhile.

"I'm grateful for every minute of my time there. I learned about myself (bad with wigs). I learned about others (generous, vulnerable, hot). I learned that human error can be nothing but correct. I learned that comedy is mostly logistics and that it will usually fail until it doesn't, which is the besssst."

Yang expressed gratitude "to every single person who showed up there", including friends, audiences and hosts.

The comedian wrote: "Thank you to every cast member for making me laugh and cry. Thank you to Ari for sending me off in the dreamiest way I could imagine."

Bowen added: "Thank you to Lorne (Michaels) for the job. For the standard. And for bringing everyone at work together. They all care deeply about people in the room, any room, enjoying themselves. I can't believe I was ever included in that.

"The show doesn't go on because it's ready, but s***, I hope I am."

Bowen revealed earlier this year that he was persuaded to remain on SNL by the show's creator Lorne Michaels - following the departure of stars including Devon Walker, Emil Wakim and Michael Longfellow.

He told People: "I've always gone by the instinct of, do I have more to do? And I feel like I do. Even Lorne [Michaels] and I talked about it, and Lorne was like, 'You have more to do,' and that means a lot, because I even confessed to him. I was like, 'I feel the audience is maybe getting sick of me.' And he was like, 'That's not true. There's more for you to do. I need you.'

"That man has changed my life, and I owe a lot of my life to that show. And I love working there, the people are the best. I really love each of them so much."