Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson’s relationship is one of my favorites, and it's not just because she has an incredible sense of humor when it comes to his brutal Weekend Update bits. Along with that, they hilariously speak about each other often, and most recently, the SNL star had a great reaction when someone asked how to pronounce his wife's last name.

For a long time now, there's been a question about how to say Scarlett Johansson's last name, seeing as there are two common ways. Thankfully, Colin Jost was on hand to provide some insider information about how to say Johansson while hosting Pop Culture Jeopardy! on the 2026 TV schedule. In an Instagram video posted by the show, an audience member asked if his partner's last name was pronounced as “Jo-hansson” or “Yo-hansson,” and Jost had the perfect response:

Now, I am just imagining Jost calling his wife by her last name when he needs something, and it’s definitely an entertaining thought. However, I also can't help but wonder if he's ever pondered the various ways to say it. Meanwhile, I'm over here wondering if this is another Rihanna situation, and I've been saying Johansson's name wrong for a long time.

Anyway, getting back to Jost’s lesson, he went on to explain that the Oscar-nominated actress is Danish, and the name is likely a mix between Danish and Swedish. So, her last name probably was said like “Yo-hansson” or some variation at some point, to which Jost joked that his own last name was probably “Yo-st” at some point, and it was all written in the stars:

This is far from the first question that Jost has been asked about Johansson since he began hosting Pop Culture Jeopardy!, which is streaming with a Netflix subscription.

In fact, he gave a hilariously snarky response to someone who asked if his wife knows he’s there, as the game show films in California while his family is based in New York. He also jokingly shared that she’s back home with the kids, as “some of us have to put food on the table.” So, overall, he keeps it fun when fans bring up his significant other.

Much like how he's unbothered by being the less famous person in the relationship, Jost doesn't seem to mind these questions. However, if Pop Culture Jeopardy! gets renewed for a third season, perhaps his wife can find the time to pop in and give the fans what they really want: the true pronunciation of her last name.

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost are easily one of Hollywood’s funniest couples. Johansson has hosted Saturday Night Live multiple times while Jost mans the Weekend Update desk, which is always a blast to watch. Also, they're always hilariously giving each other a hard time. Even with the playful nature of their relationship, the duo always seem to boost each other and continue to prove their couples goals. Johansson recently showed up to support her hubby at a golf tournament, where he nearly got a hole-in-one.

Every year, a celebrity golf tournament called the American Century Classic is held at Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. All kinds of famous faces participate, but mostly athletes end up scoring high on the leaderboard like this year’s competitors, Tony Romo and Steph Curry. However, SNL’s Colin Jost also made a splash, and Johansson was there to support him every step of the way. He told NBC Sports:

Jost may have not won the tournament, but he played really well, and he deserves serious credit for almost getting himself a hole-in-one. You can see his big moment below as well has his hilarious celebration afterwards:

While Jost was clearly talking about his wife’s support in a bit of a tongue and cheek way, it's evident that the couple have a firm bond and love to advocate for each other. Jost is consistently showing up at movie premieres to support his wife and has brought flowers to hosting stints for SNL as well as The TODAY Show.

Johansson is also a supportive partner and usually has a sense of humor when she happens to be the butt of the joke during Jost and Michael Che’s yearly “joke swaps” on Weekend Update. She also seems to be supportive of Jost’s Staten Island Ferry business venture with Pete Davidson, despite the whole ordeal being a bit of a complicated situation with a lot of moving parts. I could imagine it being a bit easier to support her beau at a golf tournament, especially when Jost plays as well as he did this week.

The couple met on SNL way back during Johansson’s first hosting stint in 2006, yet they didn’t start dating until they were reintroduced backstage at the NBC sketch show in 2017. They had a COVID era wedding in 2020, and welcomed their son, Cosmo, in 2021. Jost and Johansson are over nine years together and still going strong, and I'd like to think that proves that partners who joke together, stay together, and I'd imagine being there to celebrate each other’s accomplishments helps as well.

When Colin Jost isn’t giving an impressive show at golf tournaments, you can see him on Saturday Night Live, which finished airing its 51st season in May. He had a great season, making waves with his viral Pete Hegseth impression, which you can revisit now with a Peacock subscription. Fans of Scarlett Johansson can see the Oscar nominated actress in her 2026 movie release, Paper Tiger, which hits theaters on November 13th.

Everyone always talks about the incredible run Kenan Thompson has had on Saturday Night Live. He’s been on the show for more than two decades and is the longest tenured Not Ready For Primetime Player by a large margin, but for almost that entire stretch, Colin Jost has been right there with him. The writer, turned head writer, turned Weekend Update co-host jointed the show all the way back in 2005, just two years after Thompson. The two even shared an office for almost a decade, and that’s apparently where one of the greatest SNL recurring sketches of all-time came from.

Thompson recently joined The Rundown, which is a fun bit SNL does on its social channels where cast members pick out a sketch from the past, as if they were putting together a show Lorne Michaels style. During the segment, Thompson talked about some of his all-time favorite sketches from other comedians, as well as some of his personal favorites. That’s when the subject of Scared Straight came up, and he gave the backstory, which I had never heard before.

If you haven’t seen any of the Scared Straight sketches before, you’re missing out. They’re a direct nod to the 1970s documentary Scared Straight, which paired troubled teens with prison inmates who told them what life inside was actually like an effort to get them to reevaluate their life choices. In SNL’s version, Thompson plays an inmate who yells at troubled teenagers, but all of the stories he tells are quite clearly references to old movies.

You can watch the magic below…

I’m firmly convinced that one of the secret weapons of Saturday Night Live has always been its unique ability to force hilarious people to hang out with each other almost constantly. The crazy hours, shared offices and all night writing sessions bring people together and allow for all kinds of wacky collaborations and partnerships that you wouldn’t have seen coming like this one.

Exactly how much longer these two continue working together remains to be seen. It’s the summer and like every summer, there’s a thousand rumors about the SNL cast and who might be staying and who might be going. I’m not sure anyone knows what’ll happen over the next few months, but I think there’s a good chance both of these two will be back. Jost has really broken out over the last year and has started appearing in a ton of non-Weekend Update sketches, and Thompson remains one of the most popular and beloved cast members on the show. Fingers crossed we get to see them work together for at least another year.

The joke swap between Saturday Night Live Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che has become one of the most anticipated parts of the show, and we thought we’d seen in the SNL Season 51 finale just how far Che was willing to go. Maybe not, though, because Che paid tribute to Jost on his birthday with a message that may not have been a blind joke swap, but was still trolling of the highest order.

Colin Jost celebrated his 44th birthday on June 29, but just because it was his big day doesn’t mean he was safe from the shots being fired by his Weekend Update partner. Che posted a series of photos and videos to Instagram, along with a couple of frames of text that read:

Undoubtedly, the funniest part of this lengthy message is the fact that Michael Che included receipts for these memories (both real and photoshopped), including an image of the two of them in the ring at WrestleMania 35, a selfie driving past a Whites Drug & Department Store, a doctored image of their 2018 Variety cover, handwritten notes from Harry Styles and more.

Che’s post continued:

Yeah, you have to give Michael Che credit for putting this one together, and then remembering to name some of the best former Weekend Update anchors like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Norm Macdonald, Kevin Nealon, Jane Curtain and others. I definitely think Jost and Che's names deserve to be on the list of greats.

Perhaps the best birthday gift Colin Jost could have gotten from his colleague is that his wife Scarlett Johansson escaped the tribute mostly unscathed. That definitely hasn't always been the case, as Jost has been made to read jokes about the Black Widow star — sometimes even in front of her — during their joke swaps.

The Weekend Update joke swap has a great origin story, and it’s something that Colin Jost and Michael Che reserve typically for their Christmas show and each season finale. During their SNL segment, they write jokes for each other that they don't see until they read them live on-air.

I love that Michael Che didn’t wait for Saturday Night Live to return to the 2026 TV schedule before we got more trolling between the Weekend Update anchors, and it really just makes me more excited for Season 52. While we wait for that, you can catch past SNL episodes on streaming with your Peacock subscription.

Throughout Saturday Night Live’s 51-season run, the sketch series has done quite a few memorable recurring bits. Whether it’s returning characters and/or returning sketches, some of them just never get old. What has perhaps turned into one of the best traditions on SNL is the annual joke swap on Weekend Update, which is headlined by Colin Jost and Michael Che. And, now, I've just learned how it all started.

Longtime Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che began the fan-favorite Joke Swap segment during Season 44 back in 2018. Since then, they have done it for almost every Christmas show and season finale. The segment sees the pair give each other jokes that the other has not seen, and the results are usually both hilarious and cringey in the best way. Che recently appeared on Mike Birbiglia’s An Amateur Therapy Session and revealed that this tradition began with jokes that would bomb during dress rehearsals:

Dress rehearsal is very important, because it’s then that the final decisions on what’s cut and what gets moved around are made. Based on Che's comments, it sounds like some jokes just did not land for him and Jost during that time. Nevertheless, the two found a way to turn lemons into lemonade, and that apparently went down when some famous SNL alums came to host:

The rest, as they say, is TV history. Honestly, now, it's hard to remember a time without Joke Swap. While it sucks that some jokes that went well during the table read completely bombed at dress rehearsal, I am so happy Che and Jost had the idea recycle them for what's become an excellent segment. Che went on to explain how all of that solidified the actual Joke Swap idea for the show and he shed some light on one of the reasons why he finds it tricky to write quips for it:

Of course, one of the best parts about the Joke Swap is seeing how far Che and Jost will go, and it’s usually been Jost that gets the short end of the stick with jokes about race or his wife, Scarlett Johansson, while Che hilariously acts as shocked. Still, Jost has been turning up the heat lately, and he even had Johansson on Weekend Update to roast Che when she hosted the Season 50 finale. All in all, I never know what to expect with the Joke Swap, and that’s what makes it fun.

When Jost and Che eventually leave Saturday Night Live, it’s going to be weird not having the Joke Swap on Weekend Update. It’s always possible the next anchors at the desk might continue the tradition, but it's hard for me to see anyone doing it better than them. As of now, there isn’t any word of either of them departing ahead of Season 52, so hopefully we won’t have to say goodbye to them and Joke Swap just yet.

The 52nd season of SNL is set to premiere sometime this fall amid the 2026 TV schedule. In the meantime, all seasons are available to stream with a Peacock subscription.

Michael Che and Colin Jost are used to roasting each other on the air at this point. Their semi-annual joke swaps are about as vicious as you can get on network television. No family members, eccentricity or social taboo has been off-limits over the years. If you ask Che, it’s all been on the right side of the line, but upon further review, he did admit one prank he pulled on Jost was “really mean.”

The conversation in question happened during an appearance on Working It Out with comedian Mike Birbiglia. Che was first asked about the joke swaps and whether there was ever a joke or a moment he felt went too far or that he pulled back on. He said no but said the writers did ask him to pull back on a bit he did for April Fools’ Day. As a prank, he told the studio audience not to laugh at anything Jost said during Weekend Update. His original plan was to just let it go on the entire segment, but other people “negotiated” with him to tell his co-anchor what was going on after a few jokes.

If Che had followed his original plan, Jost would have been spinning for several more jokes, but instead, he let him off the hook after just a few minutes. Initially, he thought that would lessen the impact of the prank. Maybe it did, but in retrospect, he was happy it didn’t go on any longer. He told Birbiglia he was ultimately glad they didn’t take it any further because it was “really mean.”

If you’ve never seen the bit before, I cannot recommend watching it enough. You can tell the lack of a reaction is messing with Colin’s head during the first few jokes, and it almost throws off his timing as he’s figuring out what’s going on. He’s a professional and works through it, but it’s also obvious he’s down bad. You can watch the prank below…

Perhaps the funniest part of this conversation is what wasn’t discussed. Che and Jost have forced each other to say and do some outrageous things during their decade long tenures on Weekend Update. Jost has been forced to read absolutely vile comments about his wife Scarlett Johansson directly to her face. Che has been forced to roast himself about his dating habits and say outrageous things about race. None of that was too far, but interfering with a comedian’s laughs is considered psychologically damaging.

We still don’t know for sure if Jost and Che will be back for Season 52 of Saturday Night Live. There are rumors about the two every summer, but fans are cautiously optimistic they will return. Che seems to still be enjoying his place on Weekend Update (even if he says otherwise), and Jost has started appearing in a ton of regular sketches. The fanbase clearly wants them back, and in a perfect world, wants to see a few more of these epic pranks.

Colin Jost has weathered quite a few jokes about his wife, Scarlett Johansson, over the years, with most of them coming from his SNL Weekend Update co-anchor, Michael Che, during their brutal joke swaps. But I’m sure he didn’t expect to be catching strays from audience members when he joined Pop Culture Jeopardy!. Jost revealed some of the questions he gets from fans, and I’m dying over his perfect response to one about the two-time Oscar nominee.

As Pop Culture Jeopardy!’s new season continues on the 2026 TV schedule, Colin Jost has followed Ken Jennings and Alex Trebek in the Jeopardy! tradition of answering audience questions during tape breaks. Jost visited the Inside Jeopardy! podcast, where he said he’s often asked about his and Pete Davidson’s Staten Island Ferry purchase, whether he really lost a toe at the Olympics and who the most famous person in his phone is (other than Scarlett Johansson, of course). However, it was another ScarJo-related inquiry that really cracked everyone up, as Jost recalled one fan asking:

Now, with Pop Culture Jeopardy! filming in California and Colin Jost living with his family in New York City, I really don’t understand why Scarlett Johansson wouldn’t know where her husband was. Colin Jost seemed perplexed, too, joking with the podcast hosts:

But that wasn’t the response he gave the audience member. To that person he took a tone of faux bitterness:

The audience collectively understood that Jost knows he is not the breadwinner of the family. Johansson is amongst the highest-grossing actors of all time — she even topped the list until January of this year — thanks to her work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No wonder Jost gets so mad at breaks in the Marvel movie release schedule.

Of course, Colin Jost deserves some of the credit too — when you combine their net worths, after all, they’re probably one of the top couples at the box office, by his logic.

The SNL vet married the Lost in Translation star in 2020, and he recently revealed to Travis Kelce that he actually finds it a “huge relief” to be the less-famous person in his relationship — something the Kansas City Chief knows a thing or two about. Scarlett Johansson is so famous, Colin Jost said recently, that when they go out to eat, they never get the food they ordered, because servers are too starstruck by his wife to write anything down.

Who can blame them?

Saturday Night Live has wrapped its 51st season, but you can relive the fun by streaming episodes with a Peacock subscription. Also, be sure to check Colin Jost out on Pop Culture Jeopardy!, as the current season is streaming with a Netflix subscription.

Saturday Night Live has concluded its 51st season — complete with a Weekend Update joke swap — thus ending the trolling between Colin Jost and Michael Che for now. However, Jost has not left the 2026 TV schedule altogether. He’s currently killing it as the host of Pop Culture Jeopardy!, where he brings a different vibe to the spinoff. Following in the tradition of Ken Jennings and Alex Trebek before him, though, he still takes time to answer audience questions, and I am amused at his revelation about accidentally calling one celebrity “a lot.”

Pop Culture Jeopardy! is in the middle of its second season, streaming with a Netflix subscription, and in a clip posted to YouTube, Colin Jost was asked by a member of the audience who the most famous person in his phone contacts was. Well, if you’ve heard of a little thing called the MCU, you probably know what the host’s response was. Jost said:

Yeah, Scarlett Johansson is one mega-celebrity Jost is likely proud to have in his phone, but he went on to admit that he ends up getting the digits of quite a few celebs who appear on Saturday Night Live. He dropped quite a pretty big name, too, saying:

That’s when he revealed how having so many famous contacts has led to some trouble — for one rapper, at least. The Pop Culture Jeopardy! host said:

It is absolutely hilarious to think about Jack Harlow getting multiple calls from Colin Jost over the years, and I wonder if Jost is always quick to hang up, or if his blunder has ever turned into a conversation with the “Lovin on Me” artist. How awkward would that be?

Jack Harlow has appeared on Saturday Night Live twice — once as a musical guest in 2021 and then as a double threat (host and musical guest) in 2022. How many of these “accidental” calls have been placed in the past four or five years? I’d love to get the White Men Can’t Jump star’s side of this story.

Until then, be sure to tune into Pop Culture Jeopardy!, with Season 2 episodes dropping on Netflix weekdays through Friday, June 5.

Colin Jost and Pete Davidson are best known as standout Saturday Night Live comedians, but in the past few years, their reputations have been just as closely linked to another New York institution: their Staten Island Ferry. They purchased the retired boat at auction in 2022, spending an initial $280,100 on the giant ferry, which they adoringly named the Titanic 2. While their plans to turn the vessel into a floating event space have slowly started to come together, the project could be a financial drain for the two Staten Island natives as well as the butt of many jokes on SNL. Now, a state representative is offering a solution to put an immediate end to the celebrity owners’ hardship: sink it.

After buying the iconic orange boat, Jost and Davidson have found out the hard way how much it actually costs to not only dock and maintain a giant ferry, but also renovate it. Already, the two comedians have spent around $1 million, including legal fees and the original purchase, on this estimated $34 million project. Chris LaPorta, a coordinator for the New York State Department of Conservation, told The City Reporter he could save Jost and Davidson from any further cash flow by turning it into an artificial reef, and therefore a unique underwater attraction:

Artificial reefs have been a key way of fostering and diversifying marine life in the face of climate change since the 1980s, using primarily old ships and concrete, cleared of toxins, to simulate coral reefs on the smooth ocean floor. They provide a surface for coral and other reef organisms to naturally grow on, and have proven to replenish marine life populations that have dwindled due to the fishing industry.

Currently, New York State manages 16 artificial reefs in its jurisdiction, spread out along both sides of Long Island, but none as large as Jost and Davidson’s Staten Island Ferry. When it comes to artificial reefs, the bigger the better.

Bill Cadden, founder of the Long Island Reef Society, says he and the NYDEC have had their minds set on the Titanic 2, formerly the John F. Kennedy Staten Island Ferry, for as long as the SNL alum, if not longer:

I’m not sure Davidson and Jost would call it a win in hindsight. Although the pair claim they’ve made a significant return on investment from commercial use and ad partnerships, like when Nike wrapped it for the NYC marathon last year, they still don’t have the funds to renovate past the one floor yet. Until they do, the boat will continue to cost money for docking and maintenance, a debt they’ve already been sued for.

Ironically, Jost joked in a recent Weekend Update sketch about paying some Kamikaze Dolphins (played by Mikey Day and Marcello Hernández) to sink his Staten Island Ferry, and as with every joke about the Titanic 2 on SNL, he seems to be only half kidding.

All jokes aside, I do understand the benefit of the comedians killing their darling and letting it sleep with the fishes. An artificial reef could be good for the environment, and it could save the ferry’s integrity and it might help Jost and Davidson save some money. Perhaps they can sink it close to home near Staten Island.

However, that stubborn New York pride might be their downfall, as the Weekend Update host and The Pickup actor seem steadfast in making their entertainment space idea succeed. I hope for their sake they prove me wrong!

The Saturday Night Live season just ended; so, as per usual, we’re all having a conversation about Lorne Michaels’ future. The creator and longtime showrunner has repeatedly said he has no plans on leaving the show, but given he’s over eighty and SNL remains a major pop culture force, it’s still a hot topic of conversation every summer. As arguably the fan favorite to replace Michaels, former head writer Tina Fey was recently asked for her take, and her answer has me thinking a lot about how she would change the show.

Before we get to that though, let’s talk about Fey’s answer, or more specifically, her non-answer. She sat down for an interview with Watch Mojo about the second season of The Four Seasons, the Netflix show she co-created and serves as the showrunner for. During the chat, all that showrunning experience was referenced, and she was asked if she’s the likely successor for Michaels. Here’s the diplomatic take she gave…

There’s obviously almost nothing to that answer. Whether she wants to take over SNL or not, she’s far too thoughtful and experienced to say that in an interview. Plus, I genuinely think she really likes Lorne, feels like it’s his show and wants him to run it as long as he can. In fact, I think that’s how pretty much everyone who has worked on SNL feels. It’s his baby. He’s still doing a good job, and he should decide what his exit plan looks like.

That being said, there was more to Fey’s answer. She also talked about her experience as a showrunner…

Now, by all accounts, SNL has a fantastic crew and is staffed by really nice people. I certainly don’t think her comments were in anyway a reference to those working on the show she was a huge part of for so long. That being said, I do think the wanting everyone to have “a good time at work” part is really interesting and a possible clue as to what Fey might change if she ever were to take over for Michaels.

SNL is a live show that comments on popular culture and geopolitical events that take place the same week or even the same day as the episode. There is always going to be late nights and some stress involved, but Fey and many, many others who have worked on SNL have been open in the past about how chaotic and bizarre the schedule can be.

Most writers and cast members do very little prep work heading into the week, and there is an expectation that you work well into the night as pitches are being prepared. Fey has talked openly in the past about some of her frustrations with the set-up, and a lot of great cast members and writers have left over the years, specifically because of burnout or a frustration with the schedule, which is pretty much the same as it’s been since the 1970s.

I have to think, given these comments and plenty of other ones she’s made in the past, that if Fey ever took over SNL, she would take a hard look at how the week is structured. It’s never going to be the same as working on a more traditional show, but it seems like there could be ways to update how it’s put together that would help people find at least a slightly better work life balance.

Or maybe not? I’m not inside Fey’s head, and none of us, except maybe Lorne Michaels, know what the succession plan even looks like. His biographer has long speculated that he’ll never retire and instead just give up little bits of responsibility to make it more manageable. Maybe that’s what we’ll see. Or maybe he’ll just wake up one morning and decide he’s done. If that happens, maybe Fey would get the job or maybe it would go to someone like Colin Jost (or Seth Meyers or maybe Kenan Thompson), who also has head writer experience and is more directly connected to the current show. We’ll see.

Regardless, expect to hear plenty more about Michaels’ future this summer, as well as plenty of conversations about which cast members may or may not be returning. The season finale didn’t have any obvious goodbyes; so, everyone’s status is pretty much up in the air, except for Ashley Padilla, who is quickly turning into the show’s biggest star.

Back in 2022, Colin Jost had the wild idea to buy a Staten Island Ferry with SNL alum Pete Davidson. To save it from going to the scrapyard, the proud owners of the merchant vessel had plans to transform that space into a live entertainment venue with the possibility of restaurants, clubs, bars, and even hotel rooms. Now, while that plan is in motion, the jokes about it haven't stopped. Recently, in fact, the Weekend Update anchor pitched his ferry as if he were on Shark Tank.

Now, if you're curious how Colin Jost and Davidson’s ferry is coming along, I'm pleased to report that they've done some events on it, and it's all going well. However, now, the Pop Culture Jeopardy! host is humorously trying to make this even bigger, as he gave a Shark Tank-like pitch to Today with Jenna & Sheinelle about how much further they can go with their Staten Island Ferry:

You’ve gotta love the humor in Colin Jost’s pitch. Considering that the ferry was originally $280,000, asking for $40 million is quite ambitious if he was for real. Then again, he and Pete Davidson had other crazy ideas for the large ship, like jokingly calling it Titanic 2. However, overall, this is just a very, very funny joke about this fascinating business venture.

But wait, there's more. Just when you thought asking the sharks to fund $40 million for a $280,000 ferry was asking a lot, Jost had a backup plan if his investment idea fell through that's just as far-fetched:

Ferry Bucks, huh? That would certainly be one way to generate the revenue he needs for his Staten Island Ferry. Would they have Colin Jost and Pete Davidson’s faces on them? That would get a real chuckle out of investors! Now, you can watch the comedian’s funny pitch in full below:

It may not have been on my bingo card to see Colin Jost go full Shark Tank on his Staten Island Ferry wager, but I’ll take it! Again, while he was joking, I would love to know if anyone is interested in investing in Jost and Davidson's ferry.

Until then, watch Jost on SNL with a Peacock subscription, and Pop Culture Jeopardy! with a Netflix subscription.

Colin Jost and Michael Che have forced each other to say and do a lot of crazy things during their semi-annual joke swap segments on SNL, but the two somehow found a way to out-crazy themselves during the season finale by bringing a barber on stage. Che put a stop to the bit before Jost’s head actually got shaved, but everyone left with the impression that Colin was about to actually get rid of his mane. It turns out that’s because he was.

The longtime Weekend Update co-anchor stopped by The Today Show this morning for a chat with Carson Daly. He was, of course, asked about the incident, and he ran through the panicked thoughts that went through his head. He said he assumed they’d cleared it with his wife Scarlett Johansson, who is very familiar with the joke swaps, and the crew for the project he’s about to shoot and was fully prepared to move forward. In retrospect, he has no idea why he was going to say yes, but he was going to say yes. You can read a portion of his quote below…

This was my initial read while watching the show live too. The goal of the joke swap is you can’t show fear. You have to read whatever is on the cue card Ron Burgundy style, and deep down in your soul, you have to know no one will blame you because the other person is in control of your fate. This whole head shaving thing really pushed the boundaries on that, but with almost no time to actually think about it, I’m not surprised Jost screamed internally but also went with it.

You can see what I mean by revisiting the sketch below...

If nothing else, the incident was a great reminder that Che and Jost are just as exciting as ever. In the past, some Weekend Update anchors and/ or partnerships have gotten a little stale at some point. It’s always important to keep SNL feeling fresh, but more than a decade into their tenures, the two friends are still finding ways to push the boundaries and feel fresh. No announcements have been made about their futures, but I sincerely hope they come back, especially because Jost is really coming into his own on the show.

For most of his tenure, the former head writer was known almost exclusively for Weekend Update and his behind the scenes contributions. This season, however, he’s started appearing in a way higher volume of sketches, sometimes playing Secretary Of War Pete Hegseth and sometimes just playing random characters (like Buzz from Home Alone). It turns out he’s quite good at it. Hopefully he gets a chance to keep nurturing that over the next few years, and hopefully he can do so with his glorious hair fully in tact.

Saturday Night Live’s 51st season ended with the show pulling out the big guns last night. Beloved former cast member and major movie star Will Ferrell hosted. Former Beatle and arguably most accomplished musician alive Paul McCartney was the musical guest, and of course Weekend Update ended with one more joke swap, which has arguably become the entire show’s most popular recurring segment. Last night’s bit was a good reminder why it works so well too, as the madness got so out of control Michael Che had to stop his co-anchor Colin Jost from going too far.

Stopping each other from going too far isn’t typically an act of mercy you see on the joke swaps. Inflicting maximum humiliation is normally the point and is also why both Che and Jost can get away with reading ridiculous jokes they’d normally get cancelled for. We all get the joke is on them for having to say whatever they’re saying out loud. In this case, however, this specific bit had the potential to do more long-term damage, at least to Jost’s glorious hair.

Che had him read a joke about Kanye being right about Hitler, then apologize to everyone and make up for it by cutting off his “award-winning” hair. A barber then came on stage and got ready to shave it all off. Jost seemed ready to reluctantly embrace it before a shocked Che shouted, “no no no” and “you were really going to do it?” You can watch the crazy segment below…

For the record, I think he was absolutely going to do it. My guess is Che thought he was going to back down and thus, effectively lose the joke swap, but in previous versions, he’s been forced to read horrible things about his wife Scarlett Johansson literally in front of her. If he was going to power through that nightmare, I’m pretty sure he was going to get rid of his hair. It’s not like it would take him a full year to grow it back anyway. He’d have a few months of discomfort and be back in business by the start of Season 52.

Besides, it’s not like getting through the rest of the joke swap was a picnic for either of the friends. Che had to read a joke about how being molested by Michael Jackson gave him a fetish for older white women. Jost had to volunteer the use of the ferry boat he co-anchors with Pete Davidson to all Black people for free rides back to Africa. Even by joke swap standards, it was all pretty extreme.

Of course, every time there’s a joke swap now, most fans are quietly wondering if it’ll be the last one. The bit has been an every now and again thing for more than a half decade and always follows the same format. The two write jokes that the other is forced to read live on the air for the first time. Invariably, they include punchlines or are about subject matter that would normally be off limits, and the audience can’t get enough of the cringe factor.

The bits really show off their chemistry and make it pretty obvious why Jost and Che are now the longest serving Weekend Update anchors in SNL’s glorious history. Every summer, there are rumors about one or both of them leaving the show. To be perfectly honest, I thought they were probably done after last year, given it was Season 50 and ended with Johansson hosting the final episode. It felt like a fitting send off.

They ended up returning, and I’m so thankful they did. Not only did the duo have another spectacular season on Weekend Update, Jost really broke out for the first time by appearing in more conventional sketches. His impression of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth became a pretty regular thing, and he even started appearing as unrelated characters in some sketches. He clearly has a talent for it, and if he would like to do more acting than writing in the future, it’s now a lot easier to see a more traditional Hollywood path in his future.

Expect to hear more about Jost and Che’s future, as well as the rest of the cast as no one had an obvious goodbye-to-the-show moment during the season finale last night. Typically we start to hear what’s going on later in the summer. Fingers crossed we have at least a few more joke swaps in our future.

Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson have a great sense of humor about their relationship (and his Staten Island Ferry), and he continued to prove that while talking about how famous his wife is. While admitting he’s totally cool with being the “less famous” person in their relationship, he also revealed a unique problem they face because of how well-known his partner is. And I gotta say, while it’s an inconvenience for them, it’s also quite funny.

As I said, it’s not lost on Colin Jost just how famous his wife is. I mean, Scarlett Johansson is the all-time highest-grossing actor. While her accolades and filmography speak to that fact, the way her presence impacts fans does too. While on New Heights, the Weekend Update anchor spoke to that second point by revealing a challenge they often face when people get starstruck around the Black Widow actress:

Listen, I’ve been starstruck before. I know what it feels like to have your mind go blank as you fathom the fact that someone you’re a fan of is standing right in front of you. So, I get why these poor sandwich makers could easily mess up their order.

However, I do hope the comedian and actress can get their correct order. They deserve it. And while I get that these workers’ minds could easily go blank when they meet such big stars, I would also hope they can take good enough notes to get their food right.

Anyway, all this is to say, it's pretty funny that of all the things Jost could observe about the challenges of fame, this is one of them.

He and Johansson got married in 2020, and their son, Cosmo, was born in 2021. Over the years, they’ve both been quite open about their relationship, and it’s always very fun to see the comedian and the actress poke fun at each other. From joking about Jost’s Olympics coverage to providing updates on his ongoing Staten Island Ferry project, it’s delightful to see the couple talking about each other. So, it makes sense that he’s now sharing anecdotes like this many years into their relationship.

Now, I just can’t stop thinking about the wrong orders these two have gotten because of how famous the Avengers star is. I get that people get frazzled around stars they adore. However, I also hope the couple gets what they want for their meals, because constant changes like this have to be mildly inconvenient at best.

I guess it’s one of the prices of fame. And I imagine it’s one the couple will have to keep dealing with as Jost continues to star on Saturday Night Live and host Pop Culture Jeopardy on the 2026 TV schedule while Johansson prepares to release Paper Tiger and Ray Gunn on the 2026 movie calendar.

While Colin Jost and Travis Kelce are very well-known and successful, there’s no question that their respective partners, Scarlett Johansson and Taylor Swift, are more famous. It’s an objective fact, and they both know it. They also got real about it when the football player asked the SNL star about being the “less famous person” in a relationship.

Listen, when you’re married to the all-time highest-grossing actor or engaged to one of the biggest pop stars in the world, I can see why you’d identify as part of the “plus-one fraternity.” And Travis Kelce, who got engaged to Swift last summer, brought that up during an episode of New Heights, as he asked Jost:

Again, Kelce and Jost are by no means not-famous. In fact, they’re very, very, very well-known. Jost has been the longest-reigning Weekend Update host since 2021, and Kelce has won three Super Bowls. However, their partners are a movie star and a pop star, so they are, technically, “less famous.” And according to Jost, that’s a “relief,” as he explained:

I love that take. However, this wasn’t what surprised me about his answer. That’s because, while Jost is not as big of an A-lister as his wife, he actually thinks he gets approached more than she does. That’s what shocked me, as he explained:

You know what, this actually makes sense. I totally see what Jost is saying. He’s best known for his work on television – in fact, you can see him on the 2026 TV schedule with both SNL and Pop Culture Jeopardy. His work is watched in people’s homes, while his wife’s work is typically seen on the big screen. That could create a different relationship for viewers, and, in a way, it makes Jost more approachable.

The other surprising revelation from this conversation about the “plus one fraternity” member has to do with passports. Yes, passports. Jost explained that sometimes, when he’s traveling with Johansson, the attendants won’t even recognize her (even though they’re looking at documents that say her name). Recalling what has happened, the Weekend Update anchor said:

Listen, I’ve watched the Marvel movies in order (yes, all of them), and if I saw the Black Widow in real life, I’d question if it was really her. However, if I were checking her passport, I’d hope I realized that before I asked if she knew that she looked like Scarlett Johansson.

Anyway, all this is to say, Jost is very aware of his wife’s fame, and the impact it has on them is quite surprising and funny. However, they’ve always both maintained a very positive outlook on it all.

Now, if you’d like to see this power couple in action, you can catch Jost in new episodes of Saturday Night Live every Saturday on NBC (or with a Peacock subscription) at 11:30 p.m. ET, and you can stream Pop Culture Jeopardy with a Netflix subscription. Then, to keep up with Scarlett Johansson, make sure to check the 2026 movie schedule to stay up to date on her upcoming films.

Saturday Night Live is about to wrap up Season 51 on the 2026 TV schedule, and while I think the talented cast deserves a break just as much as any other show, I will miss them these coming months. That's especially true after seeing Michael Che and Colin Jost troll each other on Weekend Update, with the same goofy joke tied to a classic summertime game.

Che and Jost had their usual banter during Weekend Update, but rather than do something like a joke swap, it turned into a somewhat dumb joke that kept getting better as the segment continued. It started when Colin Jost did a joke about Secretary of State Marco Rubio going to visit the pope, the transcript of which could be read below:

• Colin Jost: "This week secretary of state Marco..."
• Michael Che: "RUBIO!"
• Jost: "Marco Rubio traveled to Italy to meet Pope Leo in an attempt to repair U.S. relations after the pope requested anyone but J.D. Vance. During their meeting, Marco...
• Che: "RUBIO!"

For those who don't get it, Che was responding in the same way a person would reply when playing the game "Marco Polo." For the uninitiated (there's gotta be at least one), it's a game of tag in which the person who is "it" has to wander the pool with their eyes closed. To seek out the people in the pool they shout "Marco" to which everyone else playing will yell "Polo" back in response giving them an idea of where to swim.

It was a goofy joke, but I never would've expected it to come back into play later. After a few jokes, Colin Jost got his revenge by cutting into the middle of the intro to one of Michael Che's jokes, to keep the bit going:

• Che: "FBI director Kash..."
• Jost: "PATEL!"

A rarer win for Colin Jost, who I feel like is often willingly the butt of the joke for the sake of comedy. Admittedly, I'm still wondering if the entire bit was something they scripted into this episode, or if it was something they just did on the spot and kept it going.

I'm not sure it matters either way, because they absolutely killed it with the final joke in the sequence. Colin Jost kicked off a joke about Jeffrey Epstein, but Che wasn't about to take the bait:

• Jost: "Jeffrey...[waits]"
• Che: "Even I have limits."

Che likely remembered the backlash Nikki Glaser received after her hosting stint on Saturday Night Live for invoking Epstein's name, and didn't want any part of that. Either that, or it was the ultimate way to end the joke on a high note, and redeem it from how forgettable it might've been had it ended with the first exchange.

Ultimately, it was a great installment of Weekend Update, and one I imagine will be hard to top as we press onward to the upcoming season finale for SNL. Not that it's a rule that the last Weekend Update of the season has to be the best, but you'd think they'd want to go out with the energy we saw in this latest episode:

I like to think Michael Che and Colin Jost were swinging for the fences this week, as rising star cast member Jeremy Culhane also popped up to reprise his role as Tucker Carlson on Weekend Update. "Carlson" sharing his thoughts on the Met Gala was even better than the initial skit in which he dismantled the Oscars.

Overall, it was a strong episode for Matt Damon, who had some memorable sketches that'll stand the test of time. He may only be a three-time host, and The Odyssey is nowhere close to its release date at the time of hosting, but this will be one that people will appreciate when they're hanging out with friends and talking about some of the funnier bits.

As mentioned, Saturday Night Live will close out Season 51 on May 16th with Will Ferrell and Paul McCartney. I'm excited for the season finale and to see if there are still any surprises in store for this closer before the break.

Jeopardy! fans like myself don’t like to think back to just a few years ago when the best game show of all time chose to replace Alex Trebek with more than one host. Those were dark days, and Ken Jennings has since settled into the role quite nicely of leading both Jeopardy! and Celebrity Jeopardy!. So how does he feel about Colin Jost as the host of Pop Culture Jeopardy!? The SNL Weekend Update anchor revealed the four-word, all-caps warning he supposedly received.

Colin Jost was picked over Ken Jennings — and Mayim Bialik, too, for that matter — to host Pop Culture Jeopardy!, whose second season is set to premiere May 11 on the 2026 TV schedule. While answering audience questions during a recent taping, Jost was asked if he and Jennings hang out, and I’m cracking up over this response:

Colin Jost looked legitimately interested in golfing with one of Jeopardy!’s biggest winners before he was informed that Ken Jennings does not golf. He said the two have not yet met in person but that they have texted. He said:

I honestly can’t tell if this was an actual text exchange between Colin Jost and Ken Jennings, or if Jost is making a joke. It seems like the kind of thing the SNL writer might say in jest, but Jennings has quite the comedic edge himself, and this seems on-brand enough from the Jeopardy! GOAT to be real.

Either way, they may not be hanging out, “stunting on hoes” at bar trivia, but Ken Jennings seems to have only positive things to say about the Pop Culture Jeopardy! host. He even thinks Colin Jost would do well on Celebrity Jeopardy! — given his Harvard education and how successful comedians have been on the show — if he were allowed to compete (hosts are banned from taking part in future games).

I’m thrilled to see the longtime Saturday Night Live writer returning for the spinoff — which, unlike last season, can only be streamed with a Netflix subscription. Colin Jost crushes as the Pop Culture Jeopardy! host, but that doesn’t mean Ken Jennings’ job is at risk. Rumors circulated in the early days of the pop culture quiz show that not only was Jennings upset he’d been passed over as host, but that Jost could be good enough to take over as the one true host of all Jeopardy! formats.

I don’t believe a word of it, and I think they’re both perfect in their respective lanes. Whether they’re fighting over space in the dressing room, though, I guess I can’t be so sure.

Donald Trump has been a recurring character on Saturday Night Live since Phil Hartman started impersonating him in the late 1980s. Since 2015, however, he’s gone from occasionally showing up to being the most consistent character on the show. Between Darrell Hammond, Alec Baldwin, James Austin Johnson, President Trump himself (he hosted) and others, he’s been featured more than a hundred times. That makes sense given he’s the President and most famous person on Earth, but you could also make a case that SNL has relied on him a little too heavily to scratch the political itch. Thankfully, we got a good reminder this past weekend that he’s not needed for every political sketch.

The cold open of the Olivia Rodrigo episode of SNL 51 was all about politics, but it did not include President Trump, at least outside of references. Instead, it featured Colin Jost doing his terrific impression of Secretary Of War Pete Hegseth, which is basically just a combination of him bullying the press with middle school insults and making outrageous claims like getting a tattoo of Jesus choking out Jimmy Kimmel. He was joined by guest star Aziz Ansari who gave us a really fun take on FBI Director Kash Patel, which featured a lot of hilarious denials to really specific allegations.

Together, the two gave a press conference which provided an opportunity to comment on recent events, which is the sort of basic structure we often get from a President Trump sketch. It was refreshing to see that done with different voices. You can watch it below…

To be clear, James Austin Johnson is fantastic as President Trump. I liked Hammond and Baldwin’s versions, but his take is, in my opinion, the best we’ve ever gotten from the show. It really captures the essence of the businessman turned politician, from his comedic timing to his stream of consciousness detours to the relationships with many of his subordinates. It’s fantastic, and I want to see it on a regular basis for as long as President Trump is a main character in our lives.

One impression cannot be the totality of SNL’s political coverage though. To be fair, the show obviously talks about President Trump on Weekend Update on a regular basis and does the occasional political sketch that doesn’t involve him, but an overwhelming majority of the coverage over the last decade has been aggressively focused on President Trump. Even during the four year window when he lost the presidency, the show worked him in more than two dozen times and notably, switched President Biden impressions on multiple occasions to try and find something that clicked.

Colin Jost’s impression of Pete Hegseth, however, is clicking. There’s a reason it’s been included as a key support to Johnson’s President Trump in a bunch of recent sketches and why it’s sometimes now getting time to shine on its own. It’s the sort of thing you’d tune into the show hoping to see, and there’s something there with Aziz Ansari’s impression of Kash Patel too. It’s got a really fun spirit to it, and the audience really seemed to enjoy what he was doing with it. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him bring it back.

When SNL is at its best, it’s doing a lot of different things. It’s blending different styles of humor. It’s featuring different cast members, and it’s commenting on a variety of things going on in the world, both high brow and low brow. It’s not enough for politics to be part of that diversity. There should be diversity within the political coverage. It should be more than just Johnson’s President Trump. Thankfully, that seems to be happening, and I hope the show sticks with more of a balance moving forward.

SNL only has two episodes left in Season 51. They'll air on the next two consecutive Saturdays and have some exciting guest hosts. You can watch them on NBC or stream via Peacock.

I truly cannot get over the fact that we’re still learning the lore behind that time Colin Jost and Pete Davidson bought a Staten Island Ferry. Every time it comes up, it’s entertaining, and every time it comes up, I feel like I learn something new that makes me laugh. This time, the Weekend Update host revealed the one-word response Scarlett Johansson had to the purchase he made.

So, this all came up again because Sean Hayes asked Jost to tell the story about the ferry on the Smartless podcast. The Saturday Night Live star explained that this ferry they bought was literally the one he’d ride to high school, and he decided to text Pete Davidson to see if they should buy it. Explaining that Davidson is “the wrong person to text when you have an idea like this,” the comedian went on to recall the text he sent his dad about the purchase and the reaction the Avengers actress had to it, too, saying:

Well, that’s hilarious, and I can’t say I blame her for questioning the “we” of her husband’s statement. Plus, this is by no means the first time Johansson has joked about the ferry purchase. In fact, she’s trolled Jost on Today by saying they could use a GoFundMe.

Overall, she’s maintained a great sense of humor about it all. However, she's also given them advice, as Jost recalled during an interview with People in 2024, she said the comedians “should take [the ferry] seriously and figure out the best version of it.”

In the same 2024 interview, Jost joked about the boat as well. However, he also justified the purchase, saying they actually got a good deal based on “price per square foot,” considering the ferry is 65,000 square feet. He used that line of thinking on this new podcast, too, as he explained that he bought the boat for $280 thousand.

Now they’re in the process of finding a “dedicated spot” for it. It seems like they're getting there, too, as he said he thinks they’re “actually getting close” to finding it a home. All jokes aside, the SNL cast member said on the podcast:

He also explained that the “goal” of the massive Staten Island Ferry is to either turn it into “an operating entertainment club” or some kind of accessible space that’s like “a cruise ship that doesn’t leave” that’s made for “families.”

These ideas go along with the updates Davidson has given too. A little over a year ago, he said they were “a lot closer than people seem to think” with getting the boat up and running, and he detailed some of the plans they have for it.

At this point, Jost and Davidson have been fielding questions about the ferry for years, and the jokes just keep on coming about it, too. Of course, this includes the hilarious short responses Scarlett Johansson has dropped about it, too. Hopefully, we’ll get some more of those in the years to come as the two comedians continue to make waves with their Staten Island Ferry.

Michael Che is quite popular on SNL these days, but when he first started out, things weren’t nearly as set in stone. In fact, Che really struggled during the early days on the late night NBC series. What I really mean by early days is more like early years, honestly.

In fact, the comedian recalled his early experiences on Saturday Night Live during a recent chat with fellow funnyman Mike Birbiglia. He said he owed a gratitude of debt to his “Weekend Update” co-star Colin Jost for helping him get the gig on the big stage, but his early memories of the show were honestly “terrible.” Yeah, like he literally used the word terrible.

So, why did working on Saturday Night Live suck so much for him early on? Apparently, there were two big reasons.

Reason SNL Stunk #1: Che Inherited Seth Meyers’ Writers

First and foremost, Michael Che was inheriting types of jokes when he started out. There was a weird transition period on the NBC series for a while there. Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler had been the long-standing “Update” hosts, then Seth took the desk by himself, and then for a brief moment Cecily Strong and Seth Meyers took the desk. When Seth left, Colin Jost worked with Strong for a while, but Che was brought in as a replacement.

In short, a lot of change was going on at “Weekend Update” at the time. One constant seems to have been the writing staff, but Che told Mike Birbiglia that didn’t really work for them at first because the writers hadn't been hired specifically for them.

I do get it. Seth Meyers is nothing like Michael Che. His sense of humor is different. He’s got an adorable laugh. He’s funniest on his own late night show when he’s lightheartedly day drinking. Che is also great, but he does not have the same energy as Meyers in the least. People like to describe his comedy as raw, and he and Jost’s most popular “Joke Swap” segment intentionally goes hard in the paint.

Reason SNL Stunk #2: Michael Che Is A Standup Comedian

I did not know the two had inherited Meyers’ writers, but I can see how that might have made things harder early on. However, Che’s second point has to do with standup, and it's something those who have done stand-up will get far more than I do:

What he seems to be talking about is comedic timing, and making sure the wording lands in a way a large swathe of the audience finds funny. Actors read and then figure out how to deliver, but from what he seems to be saying is he needs to do things differently in order to be successful and SNL, and in extension Update, don’t lend themselves to that. He’s not the only stand-up to have that problem, either.

He’s clearly doing something right these days. He and Colin Jost have owned the “Weekend Update” desk since 2014, and it's a well-known fact they are both in high demand elsewhere. There’s no word on whether Colin Jost or Michael Che will be exiting anytime soon, but they have said it’s “hard to imagine.” Season 51 is currently airing on the 2026 TV schedule, and we have a few more upcoming hosts and musical guests before the season wraps, but the end of each season brings some shakeups, so we’ll keep you posted when it comes to Fall TV.

Colin Jost has spent most of his time at Saturday Night Live telling jokes behind the Weekend Update desk, but over the last year or so, he’s started appearing in more traditional sketches. Most prominently, he’s started playing Secretary Of Defense Pete Hegseth in many of the show’s political bits. To viewers, he’s looked really comfortable doing the impersonation, but apparently below the surface, he’s wrestled with some feelings.

Jost was joined by former SNL star Kate McKinnon for a public conversation at the History Talks event at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on Saturday. Put on by Comcast, the extravaganza also included panels, discussions and Q&As with Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Nicole Kidman and more. During Jost and McKinnon’s chat, the subject of political impressions came up, which McKinnon has a ton of experience with. She said she spent a lot of time thinking about the feelings of the person she was playing, whether she agreed with them politically or not.

Jost joked that he doesn't worry about them at all because they’re “sacks of meat” before getting really honest about how he deals with the emotions. Here’s a portion of his quote, which references Slaughterhouse Five author Kurt Vonnegut, per Deadline…

You can interpret his quote a lot of different ways, but personally, I see it like this. Everyone came from somewhere and was born into various circumstances that changed them. You might agree or disagree with them because of their personality or their takes on a particular issue, but it’s important to remember they’re human beings that got to this particular place in their life for a reason.

That being said, to do impressions well, there has to be a balance between honoring their humanity but also having a little fun at their expense. It is supposed to be comedy, after all, and you can also recognize someone’s humanity while also pointing out the more ridiculous parts of their personality and worldview.

Jost has really come into his own on Saturday Night Live recently. The former head writer and longtime Weekend Update co-anchor has evolved into being more of a regular cast member. He’s now sometimes in multiple sketches and is a way better actor than the fanbase thought. I suspect he’s going to stick around for another year or two in order to continue developing his on-screen method, but afterwards, it’s possible he could go to Hollywood and become a traditional actor. I’m not saying he’s going to rival his wife Scarlett Johansson, but he could get to the point where he’s paying for his own ferry boat.

Saturday Night Live is currently on hiatus, but it’ll return at the beginning of May with the three final episodes of the season. Fingers crossed in addition to the exciting slate of hosts, we also get to see a few more great celebrity impersonations from Jost.

Michael Che and Colin Jost have been sitting opposite one another on the “Weekend Update” desk for more than a decade now, and have been one of the most memorable presences on SNL during this run. However, I just learned that it would never have happened without a program (then) head writers Jost and Seth Meyers had put together, and a chance encounter in a club in New York.

In fact, Che recently revealed Colin Jost is the entire reason he got a shot on Saturday Night Live. Unlike most cast members, he does not have Lorne Michaels to thank (at least not mostly). He has his “Weekend Update” buddy to thank. The comedian told Mike Birbiglia that he used to frequent bars and clubs like The Knitting Factory to check out comedy. He saw some greats, and made unexpected connections.

It sounds like the start of a joke, but this is literally how Che got hired.

How Colin Jost Hooked Michael Che Up With SNL

So, what happened? Apparently, he and Jost hit it off, and because it was a unique period in Saturday Night Live history where guest writing stints (like guest host stints) were happening, he got a shot. It’s honestly wild to think about landing a gig as prominent as SNL at a comedy show, so, when Che told the story, I wasn’t surprised to hear Mike Birbiglia respond with, “That’s crazy.”

The days are past when front of house names were also the head writers on the show. Seth Meyers has moved on to late night, and Colin Jost has taken a step back to do weird side projects like bits for the Olympics and more. You always hear stories about how back in the day, it was easier to break into things, and I think Che is very much confirming that’s true, here. He also told Birbiglia on his “Working It Out” podcast:

Che stayed on as a writer on SNL during 2013, before getting announced to be joining Jost on the “Weekend Update” desk for Season 40. At this point, he’s now been a part of the 40th and 50th anniversary, though once a year, people want to know if Jost and Che are ready to quit. They’ve said it’s “hard to imagine,” and much like Kenan Thompson, I really hope the time doesn’t come soon. They’re such a perfect fit for as long as they can manage the crazy SNL hours.

Not too many episodes of Saturday Night Live are left in the spring 2026 TV schedule, and NBC is already hyping Colman Domingo as the next Season 51 host with Anitta as the musical guest. That said, there are still laughs to be had from last week, as one sketch that was cut for time was actually fairly elaborate with Mikey Day, Chloe Fineman, and a tattoo grouped together to troll Colin Jost over Scarlett Johansson. Who said only Michael Che could mock Jost over his movie star wife?

The sketch that was cut for time didn’t include host Jack Black or musical guest Jack White, but featured Mikey Day as A Guy, Chloe Fineman as His Girlfriend Who’s Always Cold, and Colin Jost as the unwitting butt of the joke who definitely didn’t see the Scarlett Johansson punchline coming. Take a look:

Honestly, the sketch was pretty great even before it got to Mikey Day stripping off his last layer to display his tattoo of Colin Jost’s wife, and I have to give it to Day for his deliveries. It’s a shame that a sketch that required so much physical comedy – not to mention what I assume was a specially-made temporary tattoo of Scarlett Johansson – wasn’t part of the NBC broadcast and isn’t streaming with a Peacock subscription.

Colin Jost was laughing harder than anyone, and I have to wonder if that’s partly due to Mikey Day going a lot lighter on a joke about the Jurassic World star than Michael Che does in their Weekend Update Joke Swaps. Then again, maybe it’s just because he’s come to expect the worst from Che when they swap jokes, and there was no reason to expect Day to rip off his shirt to reveal that tattoo.

For her part, Scarlett Johansson is no stranger to the live comedy of SNL, even if she might not always be prepared for how far Michael Che will go to make Colin Jost insult her on camera. Not only did she join the Five-Timers Club back in 2017, but she’s currently at seven hosting gigs and counting, and explained why she keeps coming back to the “fantastic” experience.

Jack Black, host of the episode that would have featured the sketch if it hadn’t been cut for time, is also a member of the Five-Timers Club, unlike Ryan Gosling, as the Project Hail Mary star realized in promos for his March episode of SNL. Maybe next year, Ryan! He’ll need another few episodes to catch up to Scarlett Johansson.

Colman Domingo is next up as host, before SNL takes a few weeks off. It will return on May 2 with Olivia Rodrigo as host and musical guest, followed by host Matt Damon and musical guest Noah Kahan on May 9, and wrapping on Season 51 with host Will Ferrell and musical guest Paul McCartney on May 16, all on NBC. You can also revisit early episodes streaming on Peacock.

While there are certainly downsides to fame, the part where you have a lot of money and can basically spend it on whatever you need (and maybe occasionally do silly stuff with it just for fun) does sound pretty cool. Pete Davidson certainly seems to enjoy his money, as he used to get a lot of tattoos and get a lot of tattoos removed. Unfortunately, like the tattoos, Davidson’s investments have a tendency to look like not-so-great ideas after the fact.

Pete Davidson Is Taking A Big Loss On A Staten Isand Property

Back in 2020, Pete Davidson bought a condo in his hometown of Staten Island. It must be a pretty nice place, as according to the New York Post, it cost him $1.2 million at the time. Davidson originally put the property back on the market in 2022, and he was asking $1.3 million for it. However, in the intervening two years, the market in the area apparently shifted quite drastically.

The higher price, and seemingly the property itself, were not attractive to potential buyers. This reportedly led to significant renovations from Davidson, transforming the property from a two-bedroom into a one-bedroom with a loft and renovating the kitchen. At the same time, Davidson lowered his asking price.

The property is now in the middle of the sales process. While the final sale price is unclear, Davidson had lowered his asking price to $850,000, meaning he's out significant money when the $350,000 sales loss is added to whatever the renovation work costs.

Davidson’s Staten Island Ferry Purchase With Colin Jost Has Also Struggled

This is far from the only money Pete Davidson has spent in Staten Island that hasn’t quite panned out as he likely expected. Several years ago, fellow SNL star Colin Jost went in and purchased a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry. The idea was to renovate and turn it into an event space, and while it has been used for events, as well as for filming locations for Steamboat Willie-inspired horror movies, it’s also been called an “eyesore” by those who live nearby.

There have been claims that Davidson has been having financial difficulties of late, in part because of investments like these that haven’t worked out. Davidson has denied the claims. One might see a willingness to take a significant loss on a condo as evidence that the comedian needs money, but with Davidson having only recently become a father, it may simply be that he’s moving on with life, and his bachelor pad just sin’t something that he needs to be part of his life anymore.

I’m the kind of Jeopardy! fan that can present as being slightly bothered by the increasing number of tournaments and spinoffs being ordered, all while secretly wishing that the all-time great game show could replace at least half of what’s currently clogging up the 2026 TV schedule. We’re currently living large with not just the daily series, but also Celebrity Jeopardy! airing on ABC and Jeopardy! YouTube streaming on the titular service. I’m also patiently waiting for SNL’s Colin Jost to return as host of Pop Culture Jeopardy!

When I talked to Ken Jennings about the current season of Celebrity Jeopardy!, where he explained to me the logic behind the returning all-star approach, I asked if he thought Jost might ever pop over onto a future season of the primetime spinoff. True to form, Jennings first addressed whether that could even be possible from a rule-based perspective, saying:

Crushing out as the winner of the GOAT tournament against James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter turned out to be Jennings’ final moment in the sun as a Jeopardy! champion, as it was latter that same year when Alex Trebek passed away, and the door was eventually opened for Jennings to take over show-leading duties. Though there was never a real reason to previously have a rule in place barring Jeopardy! hosts from competing, the game show’s new era does include that mandate.

However, it remains somewhat unclear whether or not that hosting directive extends from Ken Jennings onto the variety of others who served as guest hosts following Trebek’s death, from Aaron Rodgers to Robin Roberts to another former champ, Buzzy Cohen, who currently serves as a writer for the main series. The way the record-breaker sees it, though, it probably wouldn’t take much arm-twisting behind the scenes to convince the producers to bring Colin Jost in if he wanted to. As Jennings put it:

Blammo! We obviously can't count that as gospel just yet, since they're just Jennings' opinions and don't reflect either the show as a whole, or Jost's potential interest. However, it sounds like Jost asking about an appearance would be met with minimal blowback, if any. So how do we go about convincing him to do it? Is this a case where getting Michael Che to antagonize Jost about it on Weekend Update could successfully cause the writer/actor to agree to compete on the trivia series? It can't hurt to ask him, I guess.

Why Ken Jennings Thinks Colin Jost Could Excel At Jeopardy

Whether or not Colin Jost's Pop Culture Jeopardy! commitment makes him ineligible to try to win money for charity on the Celebrity edition, Jennings pointed out the pretty inarguable reason why he believes the Saturday Night Live mainstay would be a success. As he put it:

It's a stellar bit of evidence, and even though it's obviously possible for a non-comedic contestant to win out, the first three seasons of the tournaments were conquered by those most well-known for that genre.

• Season 1 winner: Ike Barinholtz
• Season 2 winner: Lisa Ann Walter
• Season 3 winner: W. Kamau Bell

It clearly doesn't hurt to be well-versed in what makes people laugh, though Ken believes it's less about the humor and more about how comedians' brains work. That certainly tracks for Jost, as it takes a lot of quick thinking and emotional stability to keep steady with Saturday Night LIve's Weekend Update segments for so many years on end. Not that reading jokes from a teleprompter or cue cards is indicative of trivia-related genius, but it's not evidence against, either.

First thing's first: someone needs to ask Colin Jost if he does actually ever want to compete on Celebrity Jeopardy! Are there any upcoming SNL guest hosts who could do it? Should we send him a singing telegram?

New episodes of Celebrity Jeopardy! air Friday nights on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET, and stream via Hulu subscription.

I’m not saying the Saturday Night Live crowd likes it when the cast members are mean to each other, but I will say they get a kick out of the stars having a little good-natured fun at each others' expense. It happens now and again in sketches, especially when James Austin Johnson rambles as President Trump, but the most common time it happens is on Weekend Update. The co-anchors occasionally take some shots at the cast members who show up to do bits and vice versa, but more often than not, they take shots at each other.

This week’s SNL attracted a lot of notice thanks to Harry Styles hosting, but it was Weekend Update that had my attention. The segment was another great example of perfectly-timed trolling when Michael Che turned a joke about a “wife-carrying contest” into a joke about a “husband-carrying contest.” I bet you can guess who was the unfortunate recipient of that left hook. Colin Jost. It was obviously Colin Jost. Here’s the text of the joke…

I have no idea if the joke was discussed in advance. Jost and Che are well-known for going off script to take a shot at each other. Sometimes it’s via planned segments like the recurring Joke Swaps and sometimes it’s via a random joke one of them just decided to stick in there to have a little fun at the other’s expense.

Either way, Jost reacted with a positive spirit. Here’s the face he made after the comment…

That’s the face of a man who knows he’s been hit with a good joke. There’s no point arguing or firing back aggressively. Sometimes you just take a sassy comment from one of your friends and there’s nothing else to do but mentally accept you got roasted. You basically have two options. You can file it away for a time in the future in which you can roast that same friend back with an unrelated comment or you can admit you’ve been bested by dunking on yourself a little bit to show you don’t care.

Jost picked the second path, though I assume he also took note and is planning to get Che back in the coming weeks. Here’s a look at his comment…

The line between being mean and taking a humorous shot at a friend is hard to explain, but it’s easy to understand when you see a specific interaction. It has to do with body language and tone and what we perceive as the unsaid sentiment behind the comment. Che and Jost are masters at finding that line. Even when they say the most horrible things about each other (or make each other read the most horrible things about their partners), they always use their faces, body language and word choices to convey there’s a lot of love there.

It’s a dynamic that has served them well for years, and it’s why, despite co-anchoring together since 2014, fans still want to keep seeing them return each year. The dynamic just works and likely will continue to work as long as they stick around. You can see what I mean in the segment below, which includes the joke in question…

No announcements have been made about their futures, but as an SNL superfan, I actually feel better about them coming back than I did last year. Jost has started appearing in sketches outside of Weekend Update on a regular basis, and he looks like he’s having a ton of fun. I’m not sure if his long-term plan is to continue as a writer or an actor or a ferry boat captain, but if he wants to be an actor, he would be well-served by putting in another year or two in front of the camera.

Even though SNL does a full dress rehearsal just hours before going on the air, cast members are never quite sure how things are going to land. The audience is made up of entirely new people, and they’re going to have different reactions, sometimes for the positive and sometimes for the negative. Last night’s SNL was a good reminder of that, as Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost was so amused by the response to one joke that he stopped and roasted people in the front row for it.

The joke in question was delivered by Michael Che, and it was about an airline seat cushion. The Japanese Airlines version apparently has a cheek splitter designed to go in the middle, which attracted a lot of attention on social media. The Weekend Update anchor showed a picture of it and then turned the curiosity into an unexpectedly graphic joke about Heated Rivalry.

The joke got one of the bigger laughs of the entire Weekend Update segment, but it apparently killed in particular with some people sitting in the front row. Colin Jost couldn’t get past how over the top their shocked faces were; so, he stopped the segment and called out the people sitting directly in front of him by showing them what their expressions looked like…

The best SNL cast members are always the ones who are calm and witty enough to respond in the moment to what’s going on. I’m not saying the average sketch should be a call and response with the audience, but sometimes a bit, especially on Weekend Update, can be improved by acknowledging the crowd responding in a way that feels out of the ordinary.

Sarah Sherman showed that earlier this season when she called everyone out for not giving any woos to her coat reveal. Ego Nwodim had an all-time example last season after several members of the audience swore, and she said they’re going to get fined. Back in the day, Weekend Update anchor Norm Macdonald used to say jokes a second time if he didn’t feel like people laughed enough. Che and Jost are clearly both comfortable doing that, and if you watch enough Weekend Update bits, you’re bound to see them doing some editorializing if a reaction is unexpectedly good or unexpectedly bad.

You can watch the portion of the Weekend Update segment in question below, which begins roughly at the 4:15 mark...

Not surprisingly, the rest of the SNL episode was expectedly good. Ryan Gosling hosted for the fourth time, and he jumped into some outrageous characters including a cyclops. He also broke character a few times in funny and unexpected ways, which is basically what people want to see from him at this point. It’ll be fascinating to see how long he has to wait to get his Five-Timers Club jacket. My guess is it’ll happen next season or the year after at the latest.

The 2026 Winter Olympics proved to be quite eventful, and there were plenty of memorable moments both on and off the field of competition. Among the most entertaining aspects of the event was the occasional commentary shared by Colin Jost, who returned as a correspondent following his injury-laden stint at the Summer Olympics in 2024. When the festivities ended in February, Jost signed off and, as he did so, he made a joke nodding to the condom situation that reportedly befell the Games.

Colin Jost wasn’t actually based in either Milan or Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy (where the games were held) while providing his coverage. The Saturday Night Live cast member was, instead, assigned to cover the event from Lake Placid, New York. Upon the end of the games, Jost took to Instagram to share a reel, which included his final statements on this year’s Games. Check out the video, which includes several chuckleworthy one-liners regarding the competitions:

Jost’s dry delivery here is so great, and his jokes are solid as well. One of the quips I’m still chuckling about, though, does indeed seem to relate to that condom situation:

During the Games – which hosted 2,800 athletes in total – it was reported that the Olympic Village ran out of condoms, with the athletes having reportedly gone through 10,000 of them at that point. This news garnered considerable attention and sparked beliefs that many of the best competitors in the world were getting it on during their time in Italy. However, that assumption may have been a little too cut and dry, as American figure skater Adam Rippon said that in many cases, athletes may also take condoms and later give them to friends as mementos.

Olympic officials eventually confirmed that the condoms had been restocked in the village, and they also revealed they’d take measures to ensure that an outage didn’t happen again. In their statement, it was specified that the contraceptives would be “continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.” That may or may not have come as a relief to those in the Olympic Village, especially given the original batch of condoms was reportedly depleted in just three days.

It does surprise me at all that Colin Jost would poke fun at this condom craziness, especially given the way he covered other aspects of the Olympics (which were streamable with a Peacock subscription). During the events, Jost shared a funny take on “Crotchgate,” which apparently involved ski jumpers stuffing their crotches with acid to achieve more air time. Jost joked about injecting himself with hyaluronic acid and presented a visual gag that even had presenter Mike Tirico laughing.

What this all comes back to is the point that this year’s Winter Olympics sparked some big viral moments and ongoing discussions, from Taylor Swift’s sweet message to the U.S.’ athletes to Mikaela Shiffrin’s “back abs.” If anyone were to ask me, I’d say it’ll be hard to forget moments like those or the “condom conundrum” (which is what I think it should officially be called moving forward).

Saturday Night Live is legendary for its intense schedule and chaotic timeline. The brave souls working on the show pitch, write, re-pitch, rehearse, build sets, make costumes, do a full runthrough in front of a live audience and then go live for ninety minutes of television in front of a separate audience. It all starts on Monday morning when they meet the guest host for the first time, and it ends when they go live on Saturday night, whether they’re ready or not.

The cast and crew, even though they complain about it, have adhered to the same basic rigorous schedule for more than fifty years in order to make sure everything gets done, but now and again, forces outside their control get in the way. That happened this week when The United States bombed Iran in the early morning hours on Saturday. Suddenly, the original sketch they prepared for the show’s cold opening, which involved President Trump delivering the State Of The Union, didn’t make sense anymore. It obviously didn’t mention bombing Iran at all since that hadn’t happened when it was written.

The only solution was to write a new sketch, which they did on Saturday. It involved President Trump further explaining his decision to bomb Iran, as well as some thoughts from Secretary Of War Pete Hegseth. It also included a hilarious complaint about how much “fear, rage and chaos” it caused in the SNL writers room when they realized the OG sketch wasn’t going to work. Here’s a direct quote…

I have to say, for being pitched, written and executed in less than a day, this week’s cold opening was terrific. As an SNL superfan, of course I loved the glimpse behind the scenes that referenced how much everyone was freaking out about what to do, but even if you throw that out, the sketch got constant laughs throughout its nearly five minute run. It’s got just the right number of jokes, and it has a good sense for when to get off a topic when they’ve mined what they can get out of it.

It helps that James Austin Johnson is so funny as President Trump. I know Alec Baldwin generated way more headlines because of how monstrous and mean-spirited his version was, but Johnson’s more realistic take captures the personality and demeanor of the President so well. He’s able to get laughs with the material, but he’s also able to get laughs with his inflection and creative choices.

Colin Jost is really starting to come into his own too. I’m not surprised they called on him with little notice here. He’s been appearing outside Weekend Update more regularly, and he seems to be getting more confident by the week.

You can check out the sketch everyone is talking about below…

Not surprisingly, the rest of the SNL episode was a ton of fun. Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie took the next step in his meteoric rise by appearing on the pop culture staple, and he rose to the moment, taking on a wide variety of characters including a dude at a bachelor party having way too much fun ice skating, an injured stripper and an upperclass Victorian in a slap fight. He also played Armie Hammer in a sketch cut for time where he claimed Tourette’s Syndrome led to his cannibalism texts.

SNL is live the next two weeks with Ryan Gosling and Harry Styles serving as the upcoming guest hosts. Fingers crossed the show is able to maintain its usual schedule, and we won’t see any desperate morning-of re-writes because of world events getting in the way.

I’ve been dialed into the Winter Olympics since the Milan-Cortina Games kicked off on the 2026 TV schedule this month, and there’s been one predominant thought running through my head — all of these events look like so much fun. Watching the athletes flying and flipping in the halfpipe competition and navigating the twists and turns of the bobsled and luge tracks is so thrilling, but Jason Kelce and Colin Jost are here to prove these events aren’t for the faint of heart.

When you’ve got the best athletes in the world showing off their skills, of course they’re going to make it look easy, but I’m not sure which of these guys would be quicker to refute that argument after trying their hands at bobsledding. Colin Jost got in on the action, and you can tell from his screams and shouts of, “Oh my God!” just how rough the experience was. Check out the video here. Jost acknowledged how ill-prepared he was for that ride, saying:

I was honestly worried about Colin Jost’s neck, because it looked like he was getting banged around pretty good there. (Do we call that bobblesledding?) If the Saturday Night Live comedian isn’t careful, he could find himself getting pulled out of Olympics coverage again like in 2024. I’m sure after that, he was happy to get back to covering ski jumpers stuffing their crotches.

Jason Kelce, meanwhile, appeared to go through a bit more training before experiencing the bobsled’s 5G forces. I was impressed to see the former Philadelphia Eagle in such good shape two years after retiring from the NFL, as the Park City, Utah, team had him doing sprints, long jumps, vertical leaps and more just to prove he wasn’t going to injure himself in the bobsled.

The retired athlete also gave us some good screams on his ride down the ice, but I have to admit I was a little distracted by the Travis Kelce sticker on Jason’s helmet:

Once he reached the bottom of the track, I was surprised to hear that the bobsledding experience does not equate to a rollercoaster, as I thought it would. According to Jason Kelce:

You can see Jason Kelce’s full indescribable experience here:

For those of us whose bobsledding knowledge doesn’t go too far beyond Cool Runnings, watching Jason Kelce and Colin Jost try their hands at it has been a pretty eye-opening experience. It’s not surprising in the least that all of these events are a lot harder than the Olympians make it look (you don’t get back abs for nothing), but it still makes me appreciate their work in a new way.

You can continue to catch the Winter Games on NBC or stream the Milan-Cortina Olympics on Peacock through February 22.

NBC viewers and Peacock subscription holders have had considerable access to the 2026 Winter Olympics, which are being held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy this year. As part of that, the media company has enlisted a large roster of correspondents to cover the various developments related to the games. Colin Jost has been on Olympics duty again, and he provided some commentary on a major topic – the notion of ski jumpers stuffing their crotches. As could be expected, Jost dropped some very funny thoughts.

Unlike his peers, Colin Jost isn’t currently taking in the sights and sounds of Italy, as he’s been assigned to cover some activities in Lake Placid, New York. That’s where the Saturday Night Live star was when he caught up with sports analyst Mike Tirico for a humorous check-in. After Jost detailed a truly wild (and hilarious bobsledding experience he had), Tirico asked him about the claims that ski jumpers were injecting their crotches with acid to achieve more air time. Jost was aware of the “Crotchgate” situation and shared this take:

While the notion of skiers using drugs to supposedly enhance their performances is a serious matter, I love the way Jost injects (no pun intended) some humor into the discussion (which is on YouTube). Jost’s pixelated crotch gag is also great, though I’m not sure if his wife, Scarlett Johansson, would actually be thrilled with all of that bulge.

Colin Jost’s Olympic experiences have become somewhat legendary at this point, and that’s greatly due to what occurred when he covered the 2024 summer games. At that time, Jost – a longtime surfer – was sent to Tahiti to cover surfing, though the experience proved to be less than ideal for him. While covering the games, Jost sustained several toe injuries (but did not lose a foot as speculated) and experienced several infections. With that, Jost was sent home, away from his janky setup and any other potential obstacles.

This time around, the Tom & Jerry star continues to be delightful when it comes to his sports coverage. Of course, “Crotchgate” isn’t even the wildest development to have surfaced amid the Winter Olympic Games. Olympic Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin commented on her viral “back abs” and provided an excellent response. Meanwhile, much has also been said about the condom shortage that’s apparently struck the Olympic Village.

It goes without saying that these games have been quite eventful and not just for the sporting events themselves. With that, viewers should consider themselves fortunate to have someone like Colin Jost who can provide hard-hitting analysis on crotches and more. Here’s hoping Jost’s Olympic experience continues to be eventful.

Check out continued coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, which are set to conclude on Sunday, February 22. At the same time, keep up with the major titles that are premiering and returning amid the 2026 TV schedule.

We normally think of Saturday Night Live’s topical sketches as being about politics or celebrities doing something crazy, but now and again, the weather is just too noteworthy not to comment on. We got a good reminder of that this week after Weekend Update decided to kick it to Sarah Sherman as a correspondent to talk about how ridiculously cold and snowy it has been in much of the country. Her report included some shots at anchor Colin Jost (which she loves to do) and a surprise 30 Rock cameo, but it was her scolding of the audience that I can’t get enough of.

During the three minute segment that featured Sherman desperately trying to end it as quickly as possible since she was outside and it was cold, the comedian took off her fun food jacket to reveal a party dress with a lower neckline than we’d normally see her in. It got some light applause, but instead of continuing with the sketch, she decided to rip the audience for not giving the reveal a bigger reaction.

Fans, of course, responded with plenty of ‘woos’ and loud cheers after she scolded them, but it was too late for the applause to count. She half-smiled and told the audience to stop before continuing on with her segment which involved her yelling at Colin for making her wear a thin dress so her nipples would be “standing at attention like two West Point graduates.”

You can watch the sketch in its entirety below, which includes one woman in the audience getting a little excited about the dress but clearly not the pronounced 'wooooos' Sherman was looking for…

The other big story here is obviously Jack McBrayer. The longtime 30 Rock star played a page on the hit show who worked in the same building as SNL; so, he was the perfect person to ask to let her back in. It was nice to see him get a little shoutout, and unlike some celebrity cameos, this one made very specific sense for it to be played specifically by him.

In a related note, I just want to hype Sarah Sherman. She doesn’t always lead the show in screentime or get tapped for the most celebrity impersonations, but I really like the off-beat sensibilities she brings to the show. She’s a true original who does things her own way, which is probably why she’s often a source of conversation when former cast members return to the show.

SNL is about to go on an extended hiatus. The show will be off the air for much of February, but it’ll return during the last weekend of the month when buzzy fan favorite Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie rides his breakout stardom to a hosting slot. Given what we normally see from the show, I think there’s a strong chance we’ll see a cameo there too, likely from popular co-star Hudson Williams. I can’t wait.

Not every Saturday Night Live sketch is going to be a winner, but at least it has the honor of making it to air. These days, even some of the sketches that couldn’t be fit into the live broadcast are still able to be seen when they’re uploaded to YouTube and become available to stream with a Peacock subscription. But there are plenty of SNL sketches that don’t make it past the conception stage or are cut for time, though there’s one in particular that Weekend Update anchor and writer Colin Jost refuses to let die.

In the latest episode of The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast, Meyers, who worked on SNL from 2001 until he took over Late Night in 2014, told cohosts Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, who made the SNL Digital Shorts with fellow podcast cohost Andy Samberg as the Lonely Island trio, about how Jost has been trying to get a sketch called Manny Manimal on the air numerous times over a span of more than 15 years. The first attempt was when Taylor Lautner hosted SNL in December 2009, with Meyers explaining:

Yeah, I have to agree with Seth Meyers on this one. While I’d certainly be interested in seeing the Manny Manimal costume, the recurring joke of Manny getting sick because of all the animal craziness going on in his body would quickly get old. So the sketch was cut from Taylor Lautner’s Saturday Night Live episode, but Colin Jost decided to give it two more shots: once when Meyers hosted in October 2018, and then when Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard was hosting just last week on the 2026 TV schedule. Meyers continued:

While Seth Meyers was telling this story, Akiva Schaffer wondered if Colin Jost changed the Manny Manimal script between when Taylor Lautner was on SNL and when Meyers returned to the show. Then, after learning it’d been revived for Finn Wolfhard, only to fall through once more, Schaffer suggested that he and the other podcast hosts watch all three Manny Manimal dress rehearsal sketches to see if there are any notable differences. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if at least one of them was made available for the public to see.

Still, at this point I think Colin Jost should call it quits on Manny Manimal for good. If this sketch bombed three times within 16 years, then I doubt waiting another decade will improve its chance, assuming Jost is even still around on Saturday Night Live by then. Let’s close the book on this sickly superhero and dedicate more attention to the upcoming SNL hosts and musical guests.

SNL veteran Colin Jost is used to taking some friendly fire from other cast members, as well as his Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che, but those shots aren’t typically about how old he is. At just forty-three, he’s objectively young for life, but compared to some of the younger Not Ready For Primetime Players, he’s practically a boomer. At least that’s what he found out this weekend when breakout star Marcello Hernández stopped by to explain some terms to him that he’s out of the loop on.

The Weekend Update bit was a fairly straight ahead premise. Hernández stopped by the desk to serve as the official Gen Z Translator and promised to go through prominent slang terms the kids are using to help old people understand. Of course, it quickly turned into a chance to repeatedly roast Jost himself, as he was the butt of a lot of the jokes.

Hernández even found an old picture of Jost and talked about how he's gone from "busted to hear me out though." You can check out the hilarious segment in its entirety below…

As a fellow Millennial, this entire sketch feels like shots are being taken at me too. Just yesterday, it felt like we were the cool kids with our humblebragging and YOLOing and sick clapbacks, and now, we’re taking shade from the new generation that highkey thinks they’re better than us. It makes me shook AF, and I do not ship it.

Fortunately, Jost is always happy to be on the receiving end of some zingers for a bit. His recurring joke swaps with Michael Che are, of course, the most famous and popular example of that, but if you watch enough Weekend Update, you’ll notice he gets victimized in a lot of random bits like this too. Now and again Che takes one for the team, but there’s just something about the way Jost reacts to taking some abuse that makes it all the funnier. He’s a really enjoyable victim, and I promise I mean that as a compliment.

SNL is officially past the Christmas hiatus and once again in full swing. We’ve gotten two episodes so far in 2026. The first with Finn Wolfhard wound up being way more controversial than expected after many Stranger Things fans (mostly Gen Z) freaked out after a relatively harmless sketch that took shots at the much-discussed coming out scene. This week’s episode hosted by Teyana Taylor has been well-received online and has not attracted nearly the same level of scrutiny.

SNL will return next week with upcoming host Alexander Skarsgard. Given his range and willingness to work with a variety of material, it should be yet another fantastic episode that may or may not include some shots at Colin Jost and his fellow Millenials.

Saturday Night Live generates a lot more headlines for its topical political coverage and impressions of pop culture figures, but the lifeblood of the show has always been evergreen weirdness. Many of the best sketches of all-time involve original characters just living their lives or parodies of movies and TV shows that have been off the air for decades. The recent Christmas episode was a good reminder of that, as arguably the most viral sketch of the entire night was a parody of 1990’s Home Alone.

Given the popularity of the spoof, SNL dropped a behind the scenes video of the breakout sketch this week, and it’s a fascinating look into what it takes for the show to produce such a sophisticated pretape. Extensive work is needed from the production design team, the costume team, the effects team and, of course, full buy-in from the host.

The host part might sound like the easiest, but fifty years of SNL lore have told us that’s not the case. What gets on the air tends to be the material the host responds to and wants to be involved with. That’s why they used words like “luckily” behind the scenes when describing her reaction to the sketch. Not only was she into it, she wanted to take it even further.

The entire behind the scenes video, which runs a speedy three minutes, is a great overview of all the effort that went into the sketch. They talk about having to make their own green bathrobe because no one sells green bathrobes anymore. They talk about trying to mirror the set and camera shots of the house from the original movie as much as possible, and they talk about Colin Jost realizing how much he looks like Buzz and that he needs to be the one to play him.

You can watch the video in all its glory below…

The Home Alone sketch is, of course, the latest in a series written by Mikey Day and Colin Jost that have made classic movies more violent. The most famous of the first four is definitely Dead Poets Society, which is an absolute gem, but this Home Alone one already has three million views in just a few weeks and is climbing. I suspect it’ll carve out its own long-term reputation, as fans really enjoyed how it was put together and the performances from the various cast members.

SNL is currently off for the holiday break, but it’ll return next week with Finn Wolfhard from the recently concluded Stranger Things, followed by subsequent episodes featuring One Battle After Another’s Teyana Taylor and Alexander Skarsgard for the last week of the month. I can’t wait.

The Jurassic Park/World universe has seen plenty of actors play characters who’ve had dangerous experiences with dinosaurs. Some managed to come out of their respective situations relatively unscathed, while others ended up meeting their demise at the hands of the dinos. Scarlett Johansson’s Zora Bennett survived the events of 2025’s Rebirth, and I’d like to think the actress herself could’ve, too. When it comes to whether her husband, Colin Jost, or his buddy, Michael Che would live, though, Johansson has a very clear answer.

Surviving in a dinosaur-inhabited world is no small feat, and I’m not sure many would be able to handle it. It’s because of Johansson’s physicality and cleverness that I’m tempted to believe the Marvel alum could hold her own against some of the most ferocious prehistoric beasts. When she appeared on The Tonight Show (as shared to YouTube), Johansson played a game in which Jimmy Fallon had her choose between a pair of stars and determine whether they could survive the beasts. When faced with Jost and Che, Johansson said:

So the Phoenician Scheme star attributes her hubby’s survival to the fact that he’s from Staten Island and has the potential to deal with dangerous situations. That’s a fair answer (though I’m not sure I’d advise Colin Jost to use his and Pete Davidson’s Staten Island Ferry to navigate Mosasaurus-infested waters). I’m now wondering whether Jost himself believes he could survive in a place like Île Saint-Hubert. Considering Jost’s self-deprecating nature, I imagine he’d have a funny take.

I suppose this means that – at least in this case – Michael Che would be dinosaur chow. However, Scarlett Johansson also named a few others who would fall prey and meet grisly ends comparable to those who’ve lost their lives in the Jurassic Park saga. When faced with longtime co-stars Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth, Johansson gave the advantage to Aussie Hemsworth. The actress also took (marine-turned-actor) Adam Driver over Bill Murray, Brie Larson over Florence Pugh and Sofia Coppola over Wes Anderson.

Jurassic World/Park has delivered some truly visceral deaths and, while they can be brutal, they certainly add to the spectacle. Scarlett Johansson’s own foray into the franchise also included some bloody kills. For Johansson, joining the film was actually a dream come true, as she was a longtime fan of the franchise and even got to have a full-circle moment with her brother at a premiere. Rebirth also proved to be a box office success, as it grossed over $869 million worldwide against a reported budget between $180 and $225 million.

Another big-screen Jurassic follow-up has yet to be announced, so it’s unclear if Johansson will be reprising her role anytime soon. Should she do it, though, I’d now love to see Colin Jost play a character alongside her. I’d like to think audiences would pay to see the real-life couple trying to evade dinosaurs on the big screen. Alas, that’s just a pipe dream right now, though I’d still love to see Jost play a character who may or may not be able to survive.

See Scarlett Johansson’s Zora tangle with dinos in Jurassic World Rebirth by streaming the movie with a Peacock subscription.

If Michael Che was looking for a way to make Weekend Update’s Christmas Joke Swap even more uncomfortable than usual, he certainly found it this year thanks to an all-time swerve. Apparently he told co-anchor Colin Jost that he didn’t want to do the Joke Swap this year. Then, live on the air, he surprised him by saying they were doing Joke Swap segment anyway.

A visibility confused and blindsided Jost said he hadn’t prepared any jokes, and Che, smirking like a kid that just got one over his parents, told him he’d just have to read the jokes he prepared. Jost played along and read the off-color jokes that touched on race, sex abuse and his wife Scarlett Johansson getting old. He clearly wasn’t a happy camper about it though. You can watch the bit in its entirety below…

The Joke Swap is, of course, the most popular recurring segment on Weekend Update. The long-time anchors typically force each other to read absolutely vile jokes the other has never seen before during the Christmas episode, as well as the final episode of the season. Typically Che is a little more vicious with what he makes Jost do, but after this one-sided dunking, you know Jost is going to be coming for the throat later this season. I’d imagine he’ll get his revenge during the final episode of the season, but it’s certainly possible he works with the writers and crew to throw up some middle fingers sooner than that.

The best thing about Jost and Che, who have been together behind the Weekend Update desk longer than any other duo in the show’s long history, is they quite obviously have a ton of natural affection and chemistry together. That manifests itself in them being able to take shots at each other and eliciting reactions that feel like brothers rather than co-workers.

That’s why these Joke Swaps always feel on the ride side of the line, even though, objectively, they’re saying horrifying things. They’re quite clearly trying to punish each other, not whatever racial group or gender or subject matter they’re hammering.

It’s unclear how many more Joke Swaps we’re going to get. I would certainly imagine we’re going to get one during the last episode of the season after this chicanery, but beyond that, it’s an open question mark. Rumors swirled that the duo might finally leave Saturday Night Live over the summer. They both wound up coming back, but it’s entirely possible we won’t get so lucky this coming summer, given how many other opportunities they get. We’ll just have to wait and see.

SNL will be off the next several weeks for the Christmas holiday, but it’ll return in the new year with exciting new hosts and the same Weekend Update greatness we’ve come to expect.

There is no current Weekend Update segment that gets more buzz than the Joke Swap. The vicious twice yearly segment in which Michael Che and Colin Jost write hidden jokes for the other to read live on the air typically breaks out in a big mainstream way. If tradition holds, we’ll get another one on next week’s episode of SNL, and thanks to a single look Che gave Jost during this week’s Update, fans are bracing for it to be particularly vicious.

Last night’s Weekend Update segment started out harmless enough with the usual stream of Trump jokes and random musings about current events, but it took a bit of an unexpected detour when Jost hit Che with a joke about how the movie with the least Golden Globe nominations was his Hold Up, Madea Got A Daughter?! You can watch the moment in question below…

The anchors, of course, regularly take shots at one another. On paper, this one definitely isn’t over the line compared to their usual banter, but fans felt like they saw a little glimmer in Che’s eye. They felt like they saw his mind turning in a way that said, “I’m gonna tag you back during the joke swap next week.” I saw the same thing. Look at this sideeye…

It’s unclear if Jost blindsided Che by secretly creating that graphic and replacing whatever the written joke was that he was expecting or if he was just playfully acting like he was mad. Fans certainly think it was the former, as the top comment underneath the video on YouTube is someone saying you can tell Che is making a mental note to be “extra savage” during the upcoming joke swap.

The joke swap, of course, forces each anchor to read jokes written by the other that they’ve never seen before. More often than not, that means Jost is forced to read a lot of risky racial jokes that are the type of thing that could get a man cancelled, as well as risky jokes about his wife Scarlett Johansson that are the type of thing that could get a man divorced. Che, conversely, tends to get a lot of jokes that make fun of his colorful dating history, as well as jokes about really contentious religious and world politics issues that people typically want no part of commenting on.

The show hasn’t announced the joke swap is coming, but we typically get it on the last episode of the year and the last episode of the season. The former is coming up next week, as SNL returns with its annual pre-Christmas episode this coming Saturday night with host Ariana Grande. Given the popularity of Wicked, it should be one of the more popular episodes of the season, but I guess for the purposes of the joke swap, it really doesn’t matter. History would say it’ll be one of the most shared videos on social media and one of the most watched videos on YouTube of the season.

I have no idea how many more joke swaps we’re going to get from Che and Jost. There should be another one to end the season, but beyond that, it’s an open question. Rumors swirled at the end of last year and into the summer that the longest tenured Weekend Update hosts in the history of the show might finally be leaving. They ultimately came back and have said nothing about the future. Personally, I’d love to see them just keep coming back, but at this point, nothing is promised and we need to appreciate every last jab the two are able to land on each other.

When it comes to celebrity baby names, fans have come to expect something unique. Don’t count on seeing Olivias and Noahs running around the playground, but watch out for MGK and Megan Fox’s daughter, Saga Blade, and X Æ A-Xii, the son of Elon Musk and Grimes. One has to wonder how the families of these famous parents react when hearing these choices, because you know those grandparents have opinions. Scarlett Johansson discussed this very issue, revealing how her and Colin Jost’s moms felt about them naming their son Cosmo.

In 2021, Scarlett Johansson gave birth to her first child with Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost (she also shares a daughter, Rose Dorothy, with ex-husband Romain Dauriac). When it came time to announce the new baby’s name to their loved ones, they had two totally different experiences with their mothers. The Eleanor the Great director said on Today with Jenna & Friends:

Oof, that is a tough one! Did Colin Jost’s mom hate the name Cosmo as much as Scarlett Johansson hates the nickname ScarJo? Hard to say, but she seems to have disliked it enough to look into slightly similar names that were more recognizable. Maybe she should have taken it up with “Cosmo’s publicist” Michael Che.

For the record, I’m actually kind of surprised that Scarlett Johansson’s mother was able to relate the name back to a childhood memory. Who knew there were actually Cosmos running around in the world outside of Seinfeld?

It sounds like the Marriage Story star was apprehensive to announce their baby name choice to the world because she didn’t want to deal with any negative reactions. She continued:

I get it — having a child is one of the biggest moments of your life, and you don’t want others’ opinions to tarnish that experience. She and Colin Jost clearly loved the name, and that should be enough, so to have his mom actually suggest alternate options is kind of brutal.

One can hope that when ScarJo’s mother-in-law met the baby, who has apparently developed into a funny little guy, just like his dad, the name matched up with his personality and she came around on it.

Celebrities like to be trendsetters, not followers, and they’re probably not consulting the list of most popular baby names when they’re expecting. The world will continue to be graced with offspring like North West, Apple Martin and lots of Finns.

When Scarlett Johansson isn’t being a mom to her two kids, she’s keeping pretty busy. After making a few movies this year, she will continue to appear on the 2026 movie calendar, so keep an eye out!

Colin Jost’s Saturday Night Live tenure has mostly been known for his work on Weekend Update and his work behind the scenes as a writer, but thanks to his impression of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, that’s starting to change. The comedian made yet another appearance as the embattled official on this week’s show, and after another charismatic performance, a lot of us are starting to come to the same conclusion: he needs to appear in more sketches.

The sketch in question was the Cold Open, and it was structured like a press conference. Jost’s Hegseth gave a little opening speech and then answered questions from the press for most of the runtime. As usual, he talked fast, was endlessly combative and gave off the frat house energy we were all looking for before turning it over to James Austin Johnson to do his terrific Trump impression. You can watch the madness below…

You can tell how much trust Loren Michaels and company have in Jost because of the format of the sketch. When SNL doesn’t feel great about an impression or is worried that the person doing the impression won’t be able to pull it off, they always hide it by giving other people more lines and only cut to the impression for the occasional zinger. It’s the show’s way of giving the audience a topical impersonation of someone famous but not letting it get old. The idea is to get in, show they can do it and then bail before anyone realizes it’s not that good.

That’s not the case with Jost’s Hegseth. This sketch was clearly built as a vehicle for him to show off how good he’s gotten at playing the Secretary. After watching the bit, you can see why too. Apart from approximately 3 seconds where it seems like he might break character, he’s completely in control the whole time, delivering really fast and emotionally aggressive dialogue without ever seeming clunky or in over his head.

It naturally begs the question why he doesn't do this more often. That’s not to say Jost never appears in non-Weekend Update sketches, but during his two decade or so tenure with the show, those appearances have been extremely rare. Sometimes they’ve needed a random white guy to portray a famous person in a sketch when other cast members are committed elsewhere. Sometimes it’s been to poke fun at his personal life or his ill-fated ferry boat purchase. Lately, it’s been the occasional appearance as Pete Hegseth.

Mostly, though, he’s only appeared in front of the camera for Weekend Update. Until this season, fans widely assumed that just wasn’t in his skill set, but after showing how good he’s been as Hegsweth, X and other social media platforms are starting to blow up with fans calling for him to be a more regular presence in random sketches. I couldn’t agree more. Sure, he doesn’t have the zany energy or the range most improv players turned cast members have, but that only makes him stand out as a nice contrast. It would be a joy to see him in one or two non-Update sketches every week moving forward.

I probably wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen though. Most of the stories about Jost the last few years have been rumors claiming he might leave the show. He stepped down as head writer, and there were a lot of whispers he might depart this summer. He eventually returned alongside longtime co-anchor Michael Che. There are already questions swirling about next year.

Personally, I’ll be happy to have him as long as he’s willing to do the show. If he can work in at least a few more non-Weekend Update sketches along the way, I’d consider that a huge bonus.

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost are one of the more popular Hollywood couples around, and honestly, it’s not that surprising considering the two of them have apparently been adorable since the very beginning. ScarJo recently talked about their first date, which was arguably the first date she’d ever been on, meaning she didn’t quite know what to do on it.

In an appearance on Today with Jenna and Friends, Scarlett Johansson talked about the first time Colin Jost asked her out, which she said was the first time anybody had actually done that. As wild as that is to believe, Johansson says that, perhaps due to her somewhat unusual Hollywood upbringing, she just never had that experience. The actress explained…

So Colin Jost broke new ground when he asked Scarlett Johansson to have dinner. In 2017, Johansson hosted Saturday Night Live, and Jost apparently asked her out following the stint. They had first met almost a decade earlier when she hosted for her first time, but it wasn’t until the later appearance that both stars were single at the same time.

They went to an Italian restaurant, and it sounds like dinner went well. Afterward, Jost asked if she wanted to join him in grabbing a drink with some friends. This is where Johansson's dating inexperience apparently reared its head, as she says she “panicked” and had to excuse herself. She continued…

She says that Colin Jost believed that any relationship was over following her quick departure. He thought she’d been acting weird and assumed that meant she wasn’t having a good time. It’s perhaps understandable. Generally speaking, dates that go well go on longer. Running off after dinner is usually a warning sign. I’m not shocked the babysitter was surprised.

Johansson and Jost seem to be a solid Hollywood couple, both working in an industry where real relationships are clearly difficult. The pair have kids, go to Disney World as a family, and do all the things that we expect couples to do. While he may occasionally do crazy stuff like buy a Staten Island Ferry, she seems to be supportive.

I’ve been covering TV for long enough to know the talk of the town each summer, at least in regards to Saturday Night Live, is always about who is coming and going. Each year, newbies and longtime cast members alike tend to exit, and when Season 50 aired on NBC last season, the cast was literally stacked (as was the "terrible" audience). So, it came as no surprise when a slew of longtime names were bandied about as possibly exiting ahead of Season 51, including notable names like Bowen Yang, Michael Che and Colin Jost.

Now, if you’ve been watching the lovely guest hosts pop into Season 51, you should already know these rumors were much ado about nothing. Yang, Che and Jost are all back on the 2025 TV schedule, even amidst a slew of other gigs, like Yang promoting Wicked: For Good as part of the cast. However, the longtime comedians on the show are asked about leaving a lot, and Che and Jost have spoken about potential exits in the past.

Speaking to Howard Stern, Che and Jost got candid about “wanting to leave” the late night sketch series. Che told the shock jock it was mostly because he misses “stand-up.” Jost also appeared during the same episode, and countered what Che was saying a bit, noting his fellow “Weekend Update” co-host does find their 30 Rock work “rewarding.”

So, it's clear they occasionally think of leaving, but will Season 51 be the last?

One Big Reason Considering Leaving SNL Is Hard For Che (And Jost)

As longtime cast members, SNL isn't just a blip in the two mens' careers. Che noted he and Jost have been in the position for so long now, “it’s hard to imagine” what would come next.

For reference, Michael Che joined SNL in 2014 after hopping from The Daily Show specifically to take over the “Weekend Update” desk. Jost has been there significantly longer, joining the NBC series as a writer all the way back in 2005. He received more prominent billing when he sat down at the anchor desk with Che, however. They’ve been at the newsy gig for more than a decade now, which is crazy to think about, and it’s apparently colored their ability to consider doing much else.

It probably doesn’t help there’s so much pressure on the show to deal with all the time. Both men spoke with Stern about trying to “enjoy” their time on set that “year,” despite it often being stressful. At the time, this made it sound at the time like they might have been heading into their last season.

However, whenever this fall’s cast was announced, while the likes of Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim exited, Che and Jost were still behind the desk. Other OG’s like Bowen Yang have said they have “more to do” at SNL. All of this meant the changeover between Season 50 and 51 wasn’t as intense as expected, even with some notable departures.

Now, come Season 52? We’ll have to wait and see. Saturday Night Live is currently on a brief hiatus, but will be back on December 6th; I'd recommend keeping an eye on Saturday Night Live's new breakouts, and not just OGs like Che and Jost.

SNL favorite Pete Davidson made a surprise return to Studio 8H this weekend. The former cast member was brought out during a segment of Weekend Update, and not surprisingly, the audience sounded very stoked to have him. He did about four minutes or so of jokes, and not surprisingly, he got a ton of laughs poking fun at anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che, himself and of course, his much-discussed ferry boat.

A few weeks ago, The New York Times ran a story on the aforementioned boat, which the pair have named Titanic 2, and in it, the revered paper called it a “money-losing fiasco.” Given the decommissioned ferry boat, which the two have dreamed of redeveloping, has become an occasional source of comedy on SNL itself, it’s not a huge surprise to see the show address the article. You can watch Davidson absolutely crush in his Classic Pete style below, which involves outlining a new scheme: turning the ferry boat into a new home for Staten Island voters mad about the results of the mayoral election…

This appearance is a great example of Davidson’s unique style and pacing. He writes and delivers clever, well-written jokes about taboo subject matter, but he does so in a very good-hearted troublemaker kind of way. Whether joking about his former boss Lorne Michaels needing to step aside or Michael Che finally looking old or Colin Jost looking like a Kennedy or his own dad tragically passing away, he intentionally seeks out difficult subject matter and then smiles at you while he’s delivering his jokes in a way that’s like half-apologizing and half daring you to get mad.

The ferry boat, of course, isn’t such a sensitive topic. The two, who both have deep connections to Staten Island, bought the State Island ferry boat along with a third investor on a whim with plans to turn it into an event space. Unfortunately, they’ve run into numerous expensive problems, and those issues have been widely discussed in the New York papers, which enjoy making light of the situation. Jost’s own wife Scarlett Johansson has even taken shots at her husband and Pete for their purchase, and SNL has regularly gotten in on the fun as well. Fortunately, the two comedians seem very much in on the joke, and the ferry boat has actually had some high profile wins recently.

Davidson’s appearance was a surprise, but it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who watches SNL regularly. The ex-Not Ready For Primetime Player was a very popular cast member for eight seasons and has returned once a year since he left the show in 2022, either as a host or to do a cameo. He was also in multiple sketches during SNL 50 and clearly has a great fondness for the show, the cast and longtime showrunner Lorne Michaels. He’s also still revered by fans.

It’s why, despite not being a traditional cast member, he thrived on the show for so long. You always felt like you got a different presence from him, and to its credit, Saturday Night Live figured out how to showcase that presence really well.

That’s actually a good reason for SNL’s incredible longevity and success. Some cast members, like Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Kenan Thompson and Phil Hartman types, are very easy to showcase in sketch comedy. They’re able to play multiple characters, do impressions and appear in sketches with different comedic sensibilities. Others like Davidson, Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg aren’t that same kind of performer. They’re more aggressively themselves, but the show still found a way to make them co-exist and in the proper moments, stand out and show their natural charisma.

This SNL episode in question was hosted by comedienne Nikki Glaser. The show will return next week with guest host Glen Powell, who fans are really fired up to see. He previously cameoed on the show during Sydney Sweeney’s hosting appearance, but it’ll be his first time as the star. Given his comedic work, he should be a fantastic fit. Olivia Dean will be the musical guest.

The New York City Marathon took place this past Sunday, and the runners were not the only ones chugging along the route. In a rare outing, Colin Jost and Pete Davidson’s Staten Island ferry was spotted as part of a collab with Nike, potentially revealing what’s next for the infamous vessel, as well as its owners.

We may not see Pete Davidson posting on social media anymore, but thanks to his girlfriend Elsie Hewitt, sometimes we get snaps of the comedian via her Instagram. Even less frequent are updates on the Titanic 2, the Staten Island ferry Davidson and Jost bought at an auction in 2022. The boat has been in limbo for years now, but Hewitt just came through with a pic of the ferry on her Instagram, and it may give us some context on potential plans for the vessel:

The image above was posted to the Industry actor’s Story on Sunday. It shows the boat wrapped in pink and sporting the Nike Run logo, alongside the slogan “NYC won’t carry you. It pushes you.”

The message was in support of the 50,000+ people who ran the New York City Marathon, with the ferry seen floating along the marathon route. Hewitt’s Instagram Story captured the boat in front of the Statue of Liberty, with a thought bubble extending from Lady Liberty with the word “iconic” inside.

I have to agree that this is pretty iconic, and a necessary win for all involved. Let’s just say, this boat has been drowning in poor press the past couple of years, with locals calling it an “eyesore.” Originally, the SNL stars planned to turn the ferry into an entertainment event space, with ideas like a restaurant, a concert venue, and hotel all being floated out. However, the ferry has resulted in little more than some easy punchlines aimed aimed at Davidson and Jost, while the two leak money to keep it afloat.

At least, that was the case! It seems the tide may be turning for the Weekend Update host and the Riff Raff actor, if Hewitt’s story is any indication. This partnership with Nike is one of three recent deals the boat’s captains have made to bring in revenue, the other two being the horror movie Screamboat Willie, and Tommy Hilfiger fashion show. Now TMZ sources are saying that the two Staten Island natives are reportedly no longer planning to resell the boat, after previously looking to offload their “whimsical” purchase.

This also provides some context into where the former SNL castmates stand in their personal relationship with each other. Rumors of a rocky relationship between them started last year, with inside sources allegedly saying Jost did not want to be in the same building as Davidson, and that there was an awkward interaction between the two men when The Pickup actor returned to Studio 8H to cameo on John Mulaney's SNL50 episode.

However, perhaps this continued partnership on the Staten Island ferry is a sign of water under the bridge (or the boat in this case). If I was no longer friends with someone, I wouldn’t want a $280K financial anchor tying me to them.

The same TMZ sources said the two comedians are reportedly on good terms as of right now, and have the same professional goals in mind when it comes to their expensive passion project. But the source claims they are not close anymore, and allegedly never were.

Regardless of where they stand as friends, I’m kind of glad Jost and Davidson are no longer selling the ferry, and that finally something is happening with this darn boat. The potential is there, and this Nike collab has me excited for the next chapter. I can’t wait to see what other companies or individuals seize this opportunity. Just think of how epic an SNL afterparty would be on that boat.

Anytime a former Weekend Update anchor hosts Saturday Night Live, there’s an anticipation that they might bust out their church clothes and make an appearance behind the desk to read a few jokes. As such, it wasn’t a surprise to see Amy Poehler join Colin Jost and Michael Che this week, but it certainly was a surprise to see multiple other ex-Weekend Update anchors join her for a joke-off.

That’s right. This week featured a good old fashioned joke off between Jost, Che, Poehler and special guests Tina Fey and Seth Meyers. Both Fey and Meyers, of course, were co-anchors alongside Poehler at various points during her tenure; so, the cameos made a lot of sense, even if they were unexpected.

The joke-off set-up was a woman in Tennessee breaking a hospital record by having a thirteen pound baby, and to the surprise of no one, her massive kid proved to be good subject matter for a lot of rapid fire jokes. You watch all the current and former anchors in action below…

Together, these five all place in the top six of total episodes anchoring or co-anchoring Weekend Update. Jost is first with 226 episodes, followed by Che with 219 episodes, followed by Meyers with 154 episodes, followed by Fey with 118 episodes, followed by Poehler with 80 episodes. Only Dennis Miller slots into the above with 111 episodes, though I suppose we should give Jimmy Fallon a shout-out, as well, as he’s tied with Poehler’s 80 episodes.

In addition to being a bit of good fun, this Weekend Update segment is also a good reminder of how similar, yet different the segment can be under different anchors. The basic conceit of reading news stories like a traditional anchor and telling jokes about them has never changed since Chevy Chase launched the segment back in the 1970s, but the tone, subject matter and delivery can change quite a bit with the sensibilities of each anchor.

This current version of Weekend Update has represented the longest period of stability in the long-running segment’s history. Jost and Che have shared the duties for more than ten consecutive seasons, which has never happened before. Exactly how much longer that stability will last, however, is an open question. Rumors swirled near the end of last season that Jost might walk away over the summer, and there were similar whispers about Che, as well. The two are no longer head writers on the show, and with plenty of opportunities for each outside SNL, many fans thought they’d walk away.

Fortunately, they did not. They’re back for another season. At some point soon-ish, however, they’ll exit Studio 8H, and it’ll be fascinating to see whether showrunner Lorne Michaels and company pick someone currently on the cast or bring in someone new. Either way, they’ll evolve the segment to their own tastes, and we’ll get a new and exciting take on the old classic to watch.

The rest of Poehler’s episode was, of course, great. There was even an A+ spoof for a Hunting Wives Season 2 trailer, which featured a cameo from Aubrey Plaza. I’d highly recommend throwing the whole thing up on Peacock or via your DVR and giving it a watch. The show will return next week with an all new episode featuring upcoming guest host Sabrina Carpenter, who, more than likely, will not read the news on Weekend Update.

Colin Jost has been at SNL for twenty years and has been in his on-air Weekend Update role for more than a decade. During that time, he’s worked with hundreds of A-list celebrity hosts and prominent musical guests, and for the most part, he’s kept it entirely professional. In fact, there’s only been one time during his entire tenure at Saturday Night Live in which he asked someone for an autograph. Not surprisingly, the person in question was a New York City sports legend.

Jost is a well-known fan of many of the NYC sports teams, and in particular, he’s a huge New York Giants fan. So, when Super Bowl-winning Giants quarterback Eli Manning hosted back in 2012, he couldn’t help himself and asked the legend to sign a ridiculous 8x10 of him lying in a bed of footballs. Here’s a portion of the quote he gave People while talking about the autograph…

Fortunately for Jost, that wouldn’t be his last interaction with Manning. He’s currently at The Ryder Cup hosting a special three day morning show called Breakfast At Bethpage. It’s a daily prepper for the huge every other year golfing competition between The United States and Europe, and it’s being produced by Eli and his brother Peyton Manning (along with NBC Sports and T-Mobile).

Jost and Manning also got a chance to play some golf together earlier this week when they competed in the Celebrity Ryder Cup. The two partnered in a winning effort alongside teammates Miranda Lambert and Noah Kahan. Assumedly, Jost didn’t ask the quarterback for any more autographs, but perhaps he worked it into the contract he signed w/ the Manning Brothers’ Omaha Productions, which is involved in the upcoming Chad Powers series and had a hand in WWE's well-received Unreal series.

Jost, of course, famously grew up on Staten Island. I say famously because his purchase of a Staten Island Ferry Boat alongside buddy Pete Davidson has become a regular source of roasting at times, even fodder for SNL sketches. Trying to steer the ship back to profitability has been a work in progress not unlike his beloved New York Football Giants, who have had exactly one season with a winning record since 2017. They’ve started this season 0-3, but with fourteen games left, there’s still time to turn things around.

Reviews for Breakfast At Bethpage have been quite positive, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given Jost’s surfing coverage at the Olympics was also received very well by fans. He’s got a knack for blending together sports and popular culture, and whenever he decides to leave Saturday Night Live, that seems like a possible next step in his career.

You can catch Jost when SNL officially returns for Season 51 in early October. He'll be joined by a ton of bunch of fun guest hosts, who assumedly, he won't ask to get an autograph from.

As Scarlett Johansson keeps chugging along as one of the most high-profile actors in Hollywood, her husband, Colin Jost, will continue hosting Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update segment with Michael Che when Season 51 premieres on the 2025 TV schedule next month. However, Johansson wants in on that Weekend Update action, too, and she already has the perfect for borrowing the desk. Even better, it would involve her partnering up with someone just like Jost does.

Johansson has been making the press rounds for her directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, which stars June Squibb and is now playing on the 2025 movies schedule While the two of them were being interviewed by Entertainment Tonight, it was brought up how Johansson had once joked about hosting Weekend Update. She’s still game for that, but only if Squibb is by her side. Watch the exchange for yourself:

While I would certainly welcome seeing Scarlett Johansson and June Squibb together behind the Weekend Update desk, there are two obstacles they noted that could prevent this. For one thing, it’s a big ask for Squibb, who turns 96 in November, to stay up for an episode of Saturday Night Live, which runs from 11:30 pm-1:00 am ET. However, Johansson thinks this problem is easily solved by giving her an espresso shot at 10 p.m.

More importantly, though, is that June Squibb is getting ready to perform in the Broadway production of Marjorie Prime as the title character. Preview showings begin on at the Helen Hayes Theater beginning November 20, and opening night is December 8. So doing both a Saturday performance and then heading over to 30 Rock to participate in a Saturday Night Live episode would be a challenging endeavor. But if on the off chance something can be worked out, Squibb is game to re-team with Scarlett Johansson for Weekend Update.

Johansson’s interest in Weekend Update comes following her amusing association with the segment during SNL Season 50. Last December, as part of Colin Jost and Michael Che’s joke swap, Jost had to read some pretty off-color jokes about his wife, and because she was at 30 Rock that night, the public saw her shocked reactions. Then at the joke swap that during the Season 50 in May, Johansson came back on so that Jost could force Che to apologize to Johansson. She’s taken it all in good fun, but I can understand why she’d want to try out hosting Weekend Update with June Squibb for a night.

Check out Scarlett Johansson’s directing chops in Eleanor the Great, which also stars Erin Kellyman, Jessica Hecht, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rita Zohar. Earlier this year, Johansson starred in Jurassic World Rebirth, and that will eventually become available to stream with a Peacock subscription, which is also how you can watch the entirety of the Saturday Night Live catalog.

As we know, back in 2022, Saturday Night Live pals, Colin Jost and Pete Davidson, bought a decommissioned ferry. Lovingly named Titanic 2, the vessel and its saga to be revived has taken on a life of its own. From annoying Staten Island locals to hosting a Tommy Hilfiger fashion show, the two comedians have apparently only just begun to make headway with the project. Davidson provides Seth Meyers with the latest while the host marvels at just how massive those ferries can be.

Since 2022, the funnymen have been working on their $280k bid and have slowly made progress updating the boat. As mentioned, they’ve begun to host events, other creative endeavors and have future happenings ahead. New details about the infamous purchase arose on Late Night with Seth Meyers after the host shared that he was on a Staten Island ferry for the first time for his kid’s field trip. While boarding, Meyers couldn’t help but laugh thinking about Jost and Davidson:

Sometimes I feel bad for the comedian investors being the butt of many jokes about their ship. It’s become a running gag in Hollywood, and even Scarlett Johansson has trolled the Titanic 2. But, then again, they grew up around a comparable boat, so those like Meyers who can't help but laugh aren't too far fetched.

The Bupkis star confirmed the gigantic scale of their purchase by referencing its seat size and multiple levels. As they’ve always talked about, they’re chipping away floor by floor. And whenever they’re financially prepared, they’ll move into the next remodel, as he said:

The numbers are mind boggling. I haven’t ridden a true Staten Island ferry but have been on comparable ships and even a smaller sized one is no joke. I can only imagine the planning that goes into it, especially with Davidson having three 2025 movie schedule titles and Jost returning once again as an SNL Season 51 cast member.

Still, they are percolating with plans amid the ongoing rebuild of the interior of the Titanic 2. Meyers humorously summed up their agenda as they forge ahead on levels, saying:

He said what we’ve all been thinking perfectly light hearted. The whole journey thus far has overall remained part mysterious part joke, and I think that’s exactly what they want. Though, anytime either have a special 2025 TV guide appearance, they generally get asked about it, which may get annoying.

Regardless, I’m glad to hear that even though it's a typical monstrously sized Staten Island Ferry, Jost and Davidson are continuing to make progress. Even with Seth Meyers and co. razzing them about it along the way.

Saturday Night Live’s Season 51 cast will include some fresh faces but, luckily, Weekend Update is staying the same. Despite rumors that longtime anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che would be among those leaving SNL amid changes to Update, they are both sticking around for at least one more year, meaning another season of roasts, jokes and the fan-favorite Joke Swap. The show's team seems to likes working with the pair, yet one writer admitted the hardest part of working with them, which is honestly hilarious.

Jost and Che have been the Weekend Update co-anchors since Season 40 and are the longest-tenured stars in their positions. Past cast members like Norm Macdonald, Tina Fey and Seth Meyers were praised for anchoring the satirical news segment, Jost and Che have certainly put their own flavor on it, and it helps that they work so well together. Which is why after being asked whether Che or Jost is more challenging to work with, staff writer KC Shornima shared on Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast that her job is both chill and kind of stressful, in a funny way:

I'm chuckling just imagining Jost and Che just running around 30 Rock, trying to complete tasks, while Shornima and other writers are trying to get a hold of them. Of course, staff writers have deadlines, and it's easy to think that it might be difficult to hit such cutoff points when you can't get a hold of two of SNL's top stars. However, Shornima doesn’t seem to mind too much and just expects it from the Weekend Update stars at this point, which honestly makes this even more hilarious.

That being said, aside from trying to find Jost and Che, KC Shornima says she has “such a chill job,” explaining that she submits jokes anonymously, and the quips told on Update are just from a compiled sheet. Shornima shared that their week mostly consists of writing and submitting 20 to 30 jokes and then going over and picking the final jokes with Jost and Che that Friday which she says is “stressful."

From there, the group compiles them on Saturday before the show and writes more if need be. Even with the stress, Shornima couldn’t say enough good things about writing for Weekend Update, which she dubbed the best part of SNL:

With Colin Jost and Michael Che returning as Weekend Update anchors, I'm curious about what out-of-pocket jokes might be told this season and how much (unintended) stress they’ll put on the writing team. Series alums have surely talked about how frantic the show can be, but I love hearing KC Shornima's lighthearted and funny take on the chaos.

Saturday Night Live will soon be back, so fans won’t have to wait too long for more Weekend Update. Season 51 premieres on October 4 at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC amid the 2025 TV schedule, and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.

The latest round of reports about Colin Jost potentially exiting Saturday Night Live started circling in April, and specific rumors about “Weekend Update” change-ups have been swirling in the months ahead of the sketch show’s return to the 2025 TV schedule. It’s perhaps no big surprise, given the near-constant Season 51 casting updates of late, but I think everyone would agree that SNL would feel quite different with either one or two new hosts delivering the headline-centric segment.

Thankfully, Jost’s highly significant other Scarlett Johansson — Hollywood’s highest-grossing star — has a bit more insight than the average Saturday Night Live fan, and she shared her expert take on the matter when promoting her directorial debut Eleanor the Great while at the Toronto International Film Festival. Speaking with EW, the actress seemed to confirm Jost will indeed return to the “Weekend Update” desk for another season. As she put it:

Obviously, this off-the-cuff comment about Colin Jost's sketch comedy future isn't a full-on confirmation without either the comedian himself acknowledging it, or Saturday Night Live sharing a finalized list of Season 51 cast members. But it's perhaps the closest thing anyone could hope for outside of those two instances.

As well, Johansson addressing Jost's involvement doesn't necessarily speak to whether or not he'll once again be joined at the "Weekend Update" desk by Michael Che. I can't imagine either talent would continue on without the other's involvement, so this update has me optimistic that Che will be agreeable to return.

Just because she's able to talk about Colin Jost's SNL return doesn't mean she can say whether or not she'll also be involved. A member of the sketch comedy's lauded 5-Timers Club, Johansson made her seventh guest-hosting appearance for the Season 50 finale, which included a most excellent and apology-worthy "Joke Swap" segment. As such, it's not likely she'll be tasked with hosting one of the first Season 51 eps, but it would be a fun distinction that she could share with stand-up comedian Dane Cook.

When asked if she could return, Johansson responded by saying:

We may also be waiting until the Friday night before the premiere to learn everyone we'll be watching in new episodes. To date, the list of exiting cast members includes Devon Walker, Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow and Emil Wakim, not counting the dissolution of sketch troupe Please Don't Destroy. The latter's Ben Marshall was one of five new cast members announced, but it's unclear if more big news is on the way.

So stay tuned to Scarlett Johansson's comments to see what else we might be able to glean about the upcoming Saturday Night Live season, which will debut on NBC on Saturday, October 4, at 11:30 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, her new movie Eleanor the Great (starring June Squibb) will hit theaters on September 26.