’Tis the season for Colin Jost and Michael Che’s annual “Weekend Update” joke swap on Saturday Night Live — and this time Jost’s wife, Scarlett Johansson, was front and center in the audience.
During the Saturday, December 21, episode, Jost, 42, asked, “Why?” when he saw a photo of Johansson, 40, flash on the screen.
“I want to dedicate this next joke to my boo, Scarlett Johansson,” Jost said with a laugh.
The camera then cut to the actress backstage, shaking her head while holding a glass of water.
“No, oh no,” Jost continued. “She’s so genuinely worried. … Hey, boo. Y’all know Scarlett just celebrated her 40th birthday, which means I’m about to get up out of there.”
Jost and Johansson both burst out laughing, with the Black Widow star adding, “Oh, my gosh. Why?”
Che, 41, then pointed out that “there’s a little more” to the joke.
Scarlett Johannsson and Colin Jost SNL/Youtube
“Nah, nah, I’m just playing. We just had a kid together and y’all ain’t see no pictures of him yet ‘cause he black as hell,” Jost read aloud. “S—, I ain’t afraid of you mofos.”
Johansson, who shares 3-year-old son Cosmo with Jost, then took a sip of her beverage and added, “Oh, s—.”
Jost and Che have kept up with their annual holiday tradition throughout their joint tenure on SNL. During the final episode of the year, they secretly write jokes for one another. The two comedians only find out what the other penned live on the air, which often causes “panic” for Johansson.
“I now rarely watch [SNL] without having a sense of … not overwhelming panic, just like a slight underwhelming panic because I just feel like at any moment something’s going to fall apart,” Johansson said during a July 2021 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “And that’s the excitement of SNL and for all audiences, right? Because it’s absolutely live.”
Colin Jost and Michael Che’s annual “joke swap” segment on Saturday Night Live may be a tradition, but it’s one Jost’s wife Scarlett Johansson wanted no part of. Johansson, 39, said she “blacked out” upon seeing her photo during the “Weekend Update” segment where Jost, 42, and Che, 41, write outrageous jokes for each other […]
She continued at the time, “But when you’re emotionally invested in it and not just entertained by it, it takes on a little bit of a different life.”
Scarlett Johannsson SNL/Youtube
Jost and Johansson initially met when she hosted an episode of SNL, later getting married in 2020. On Saturday, she also appeared in the cold open to celebrate emcee Martin Short.
Since the holiday show was former cast member Short’s fifth time hosting, he finally received an invite to the elusive Five-Timers Club. Johansson, Tom Hanks, Tina Fey and Short’s BFF-turned-collaborator Steve Martin helped welcome him to the ranks.
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET.
