SNL's Bowen Yang Shares the Story Behind His Photo With Taylor Swift, Sadie Sink and Ryan Reynolds

Bowen Yang is telling the story of us—which in this case, is the story behind his epic photo with Taylor Swift, Sadie Sink and Ryan Reynolds after the singer's Saturday Night Live performance.

By Elyse Dupre Dec 17, 2021 3:25 PMTags

Bowen Yang will remember this moment with Taylor Swift "forever & always."

The Saturday Night Live star told the story behind his epic photo with the  32-year-old singer during the Dec. 16 episode of The Tonight Show.

As a self-proclaimed Swiftie, Yang, 31, was thrilled that the 11-time Grammy winner was the musical guest for the Nov. 13 episode of SNL and performing the 10-minute rendition of "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)."

"I got to meet at her at promos on Thursday," he recalled. "When you're shooting promos for the episode, you do that on Thursday. People at SNL threw me a bone and said that, 'You can stand next to her.' It was a huge deal. I got to tell her that, in an improvised line in a promo, that her song 'Treacherous' is the sound of falling in love, which I believe to be true."

After the show that Saturday, Yang stood outside Swift's dressing room and debated whether he should knock on her door.

"Sometimes they say, like, don't meet your heroes. She's a hero," he continued. "And she was lovely all week, but I was like, 'You know, after the show, she's probably riding high. She doesn't wanna talk to, like, the riffraff like me.'"

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Taylor Swift & Squad at SNL After-Party

Long story short, Yang decided to do it and was delighted to discover Swift "couldn't have been nicer." 

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"I said, 'I don't normally do this, but can we please take a picture?'" he said. "And then, she was like, 'Of course, can Sadie Sink the star and the muse of my music video be in it?' I was like, 'Of course!'"

As fans know, um, all too well, Sink starred in the short film for "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" along with Swift and Dylan O'Brien. And she wasn't the only big name in the dressing room. When it came time to snap the photo, Ryan Reynolds happily offered to serve as photographer.

"She was like, 'Who should take this?'" Yang said. "And then Deadpool himself Ryan Reynolds was like 'I'll do it!'"

In fact, several stars came to support Swift and celebrate her performance, including Blake Lively, Selena Gomez, Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner, Cara Delevingne, and Anya Taylor-Joy.

All in all, Yang described his photo moment with Swift as "pure bliss." Watch the video above to hear him tell the whole story.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family).