‘We were all in trouble’

He also shared a touching story about how the musical and the show have been connected for him since he was 13.

Bowen Yang looked at the latest version Bad with some of his Saturday evening live costars — and the movie left them all a blubbering mess.

The comedian, who plays Pfannee in the new big screen musical, has revealed he first saw the film with his SNL castmates at a private screening around the time Ariana Grande hosted the show in October.

“We were all a mess at the end,” Yang told PEOPLE. “Sarah Sherman sobbed and said, ‘I didn’t expect to love it so much.’ It’s going to get you. It’s going to flatten every demographic. It’s going to catch everyone off guard, no matter what they’re doing, and I’ve never been part of something like this… having this universal impact.”

Although Yang said the experience was “so special,” he initially did not want to see the film with his TV colleagues. ‘I was so determined not to go [to the screening]because I was like, ‘I think I need to see this for the first time with other friends who aren’t professionally involved, and I just need to have a pure experience,'” he explained.

Related: Bowen Yang’s First Screen Test for SNL was a ‘disaster’ because of Lorne Michaels’ interaction: ‘I didn’t get the job’

However, Yang reconsidered when he remembered how Bad And SNL have been associated with him for 20 years. “My first trip to New York when I was 13,” he recalls. “Bad had just come out, but I begged my parents to go to the Gershwin so I could touch the glass and look into the lobby. We couldn’t afford tickets, but I just wanted to feel it in my hand and look at the signs.”

That moment wasn’t the only foreshadowing of that journey. “That same day we went to 30 Rock at NBC and did the studio tour, and I sat in the seats SNL” said Bowen. “So I thought, ‘If those two things happened on the same day, I want them to cross paths one more time.'”

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Related: Bowen Yang Continued to Apologize to Cynthia Erivo for Bullying Her Bad: ‘I feel so bad in my soul’

The two projects crossed paths again SNL last week, when host and musical guest Charli Bad roll. Yang played Fran Lebowitz and, at another point, Charli

SNL also joked Bad during Grande’s hosting stint. In her monologue, the pop star, who plays Glinda in the film, joked: “I’m not going to talk about it Bad‘, but is interrupted by Yang wearing her character’s outfit. ‘Didn’t anyone tell you that? We cut the Bad sketch!” she said.

Related: Jon M. Chu teases second Bad film: ‘If part 1 is about choices, part 2 is about consequences’

“Oh – that’s okay, I didn’t want to do it anyway,” Yang replied unconvincingly.

Bad now playing in theaters. Saturday evening live returns December 7 with host Paul Mescal and musical guest Shaboozey.