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Saturday Night Live pays tribute to John Bowman, Emmy-winning former writer who died at 64

Near the end of this week's Saturday Night Live hosted by former cast member Will Forte, the show took a moment to recognize another past member of the SNL family, Emmy-winning writer John Bowman, who died last month.

Just before the show cut to goodnights, a tribute card appeared for Bowman, who died suddenly at home on Dec. 28 at age 64. Bowman was a writer on the NBC sketch show during season 14 (1988-1989), and was part of the team who took home the Emmy Award in 1989 for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, sharing the win with show creator Lorne Michaels, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Conan O'Brien, Bob Odenkirk, and more.

'SNL' pays tribute to former writer John Bowman
'SNL' pays tribute to former writer John Bowman

NBC 'SNL' pays tribute to former writer John Bowman, who died on Dec. 31.

After leaving SNL, Bowman joined the writing staff on Fox sketch-comedy show In Living Color, created by Keenen Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans. For his work there, he earned two more Emmy nominations in 1991 and 1992, losing both times to the Oscars broadcast.

He went on to co-create the sitcom Martin, with star Martin Lawrence and Topper Carew.

"The language on this show is more uncompromisingly Black than it is on any other show," Bowman told EW in 1992 of Martin. "But you find yourself in the most absurd discussions with censors. I think we're all frustrated."

He also co-created sketch comedy shows Cedric the Entertainer Presents and Frank TV, and had writing credits on Murphy Brown, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, It's Garry Shandling's Show, and The Hughleys.

Bowman was elected to three terms as a member of the WGA Board of Directors and led the WGA's negotiating committee during the 2007-08 writers strike.

Saturday's Forte-fronted SNL episode featured musical guest Måneskin, and cameos from Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, and Willem Dafoe, who is set to host next week.

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