Whether audiences and critics found Colin Jost funny after he replaced Seth Meyers on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” or thought he had a very punchable face, it’s beyond debate that he’s half-responsible for drawing the long-running segment’s biggest laughs since the late Norm Macdonald era. He and Michael Che struck a chord when they started writing jokes for each other that would have to be read on air, without the teller having prior knowledge of the joke’s content.
Thus, an ongoing game of one-upmanship was launched, with each comedian seeing how far the boundaries of standard and practices—and perhaps good taste—could be stretched before breaking. If it’s not humor without a net, it comes close. Co-head writer Jost was the write guy in the right place at the right time to help send the SNL pendulum in a critically acclaimed direction again, and he’ll headline this week at Resorts World Theatre, joined by SNL alums Punkie Johnson, Andrew Dismukes and Devon Walker.
Jost joined the show as a writer in 2005, a job he dreamed of while growing up in Staten Island. Jost attended a private Catholic school before attending Harvard alongside dormmate Pete Buttigieg. He wrote for and became president of venerable humor publication The Harvard Lampoon, which includes Conan O’Brien, B.J. Novak and screenwriter Douglas Kenney (Animal House, Caddyshack) among its alumni.
The student of Russian and British literature graduated cum laude in 2004, then worked for the Staten Island Advance, which he had made comically edged contributions to as a teenager, and Nickelodeon. It wasn’t long before his ambition led him to send a portfolio to SNL. A year out of college, he had his dream job.
Jost became co-host of “Weekend Update” in 2014. Like Macdonald, a strong influence, he seemed slightly out of step with the rest of the cast. He looked clean-cut and camera-ready, drawing more on a sharply honed dry wit than improv experience.
Now he scores points with critics for impressions of Buttigieg and George Santos. He also scored points with Scarlett Johansson, whom he met in 2017, married in 2019 and has built a successful and private family life with. (Although she does occasionally become the butt of “Weekend Update” joke swaps when Che writes material about her for Jost to helplessly repeat on air.)
Jost segued into writing his own material for the stand-up stage and is spending a good portion of this summer touring clubs and theaters. His first book of humor, A Very Punchable Face, was released in 2020 and is a good conduit directly into the way Jost’s mind works. He’s funny, self-deprecating, nonabrasive and aware of his audience. He writes because it’s how he best communicates.
He states, in the book’s opening paragraph, that verbalizing his thoughts causes anxiety where writing does not. There is no fear when it comes to being creative: “The act of writing allows my brain to function in a different way. I can write and not be afraid of what I’m going to say.”
Resorts World Las Vegas. 9 p.m. July 20, starting at $75 plus tax and fee. axs.com
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