SNL fans are used to Colin Jost being forced to deliver zingers about his wife on Weekend Update. We’ve all seen enough joke swaps to brace for the worst during the recurring segments whenever Scarlett Johansson’s name comes up, but last night, poor Colin ended up eating it again after an exchange with Mr. Wonderful turned into a roast about the monetary dynamic in his relationship.
The bit started as an excuse for James Austin Johnson to do his fantastic impression of Kevin O'Leary/ Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank. In character, he came onto Weekend Update to talk about his plan to build a data center in Utah. When Jost pushed back and said people don’t want to live next to data centers, Mr. Wonderful said it was fine because he himself doesn’t live there. When Jost pushed back again, Mr. Wonderful accused him of being poor, to which Jost replied that he’s not poor because his wife gives him plenty of spending money.
The comment almost seemed to surprise Jost himself and received a huge round of applause from the audience.
I can’t say for sure since there’s no footage from dress rehearsal that’s made its way online, but it almost feels like someone changed the cue card here on Colin Jost. He seemed surprised when he started reading the line and had to fight off laughter as he tried to get through the joke. Then after the applause break, he very clearly said, “That’s not nice.” Maybe he was just playing up the bit for the cameras, or maybe the cue card got changed on him like John Mulaney used to do for the Stefan sketches with Bill Hader back in the day.
Regardless, one of the reasons Jost and his longtime co-anchor Michael Che have had such a great run on Weekend Update is because of their ability to laugh at themselves. Everyone always talks about the Joke Swaps which are obviously the clearest examples of that, but on a week to week basis, they show they’re not above being the targets. Obviously Jost had his moment here and gets it all the time via repeated references to his very famous and very rich significant other, but Che is also willing to play the victim on the regular too. During another bit on last night’s Weekend Update, he used his own picture while talking about Halle Berry needing to find someone to choke.
I have no idea how many more years we’re going to get Che and Jost on Weekend Update. Every summer, there are rumors about the two moving on to other projects, but each time, they wind up coming back, much to the delight of fans. I get it though. They clearly love working together and are having a blast, which is probably why they’re both so willing to take jokes at their own expense.
