For years now, Colin Jost and Michael Che have served as the co-anchors of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update. But, aside from their desk gigs, the two also had other important posts on the storied sketch comedy show. Che and Jost both served stints as the head writers for the series, before ultimately stepping down. Now, the pair have provided some insight into why they don’t hold those important posts anymore. Unsurprisingly, the reasons are very personal.
The 2018 Emmy co-hosts held down co-head writer duties over different stretches of time. Colin Jost initially served in the position from 2012 to 2015 after joining SNL in 2005. He then took up the job once more from 2017 to 2022, at which time Michael Che was his co-head writer. Both comics stopped by The Howard Stern Show, where they reflected on their past duties. After Jost discussed the stints, Che also offered some praise for Jost:
Colin Jost: It felt like it was kind of over a couple of years (that we stepped away) because I feel like I did it at least 8 years or something, maybe more. Then we did it together at least 5. And then we were sorta not doing the job for the last couple years because we were being torn in a lot of other directions.
Michael Che: Colin is really good at it, and he’s always stayed as a leader in the writers room, but I wasn’t doing the job.
As the How to Be Single star went on to explain, there were non-work-related factors that also led to his decision to shift away from the big job. He also cited the strain that the gig was having on his personal life, which consists of his marriage to Scarlett Johansson. As heard in the YouTube clip, the actor specifically recalled how his attempts at self-care were impacted:
I also started doing less just out of self preservation. I used to sleep at work twice a week, straight through 24 hour tours twice a week… (Scarlett was like) ‘get home.’ And also, for my own well being, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, it makes more sense to sleep for some hours and not be there all night.’
One would imagine that the situation really wasn’t easy given that Colin Jost and the Avengers icon share a son, Cosmo, who was born in August 2021. Though, at the time, Jost didn’t just think that he was putting a strain on his loved ones:
It sorta felt unfair to the other people who were really doing head writing jobs and running re-write tables which we weren’t doing for the last year that we were doing it. It was sort of a conversation we had with Lorne.
Despite no longer being the head writers, Colin Jost and Michael Che remain major fixtures at SNL via Weekend Update. The two occasionally manage to break their Internet with their gags, and that’s especially true whenever they write inappropriate barbs for each other as part of their annual joke swap. (One of the latest swaps involved a brutal shot at Scarlett Johansson.) The two also have other projects on their plate, with one being a comedy special from Peacock, which will showcase up-and-coming comedians. So, while they may no longer be head writers, they still have a lot going on.
You can see the two anchors back at the Weekend Update desk when Saturday Night Live Season 50 premieres on September 28 at 11:30 p.m. ET amid the 2024 TV schedule. Also, stream past episodes with a Peacock subscription.
