Colin Jost

Colin Kelly Jost (born June 29, 1982) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He has been a writer for Saturday Night Live since 2005 and Weekend Update co-anchor since 2014. He also served as one of the show’s co-head writers from 2012 to 2015, and later came back as one of the show’s head writers in 2017.

Early life

Colin Jost was born and raised in New York City in the Grymes Hill neighborhood of Staten Island, the elder of two children. His mother, Kerry J. Kelly, was the chief medical officer for the New York City Fire Department, and his father, Daniel A. Jost, is a former teacher at Staten Island Technical High School. Raised Roman Catholic, he attended Regis High School in Manhattan, where he was the editor of the school newspaper The Owl. He attended Harvard University, where he majored in history and literature, with a focus on Russian literature and British literature and graduated cum laude in 2004. While at Harvard, he was president of the Harvard Lampoon.

Career

While at Harvard, Jost won $5,250 on a college edition of Weakest Link. After graduation, he worked as a reporter and copy-editor for the Staten Island Advance. He was then hired as a writer for the short-lived Nickelodeon animated show, Kappa Mikey. After leaving the show, he sent in a writing packet and was hired as a writer at NBC’s Saturday Night Live in 2005.

From 2009 to 2012, Jost was SNL‘s writing supervisor. He was co-head writer from 2012 to 2015, and regained that status in late 2017. He often collaborates with fellow SNL co-head writer Rob Klein. During the summer hiatus following the 2012–13 season, executive producer Lorne Michaels asked Jost if he could do the Weekend Update feature, as co-anchor Seth Meyers would soon be leaving to host Late Night with Seth Meyers. Jost accepted and replaced Meyers on the March 1, 2014, episode.

Jost names Norm Macdonald as a primary influence for his Update anchor work, as Macdonald’s tone was the one Jost grew up with in high school. He also names Tina Fey as an influence. In addition to Weekend Update, Jost made a brief cameo appearance as Ohio Governor John Kasich in a Republican presidential debate sketch.

Jost has worked in multiple roles related to comedy. He has performed as a stand-up comedian, appearing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, TBS, and HBO. He was selected as a “New Face” at the Montréal Just for Laughs festival in 2009, and has since appeared at the Chicago Just for Laughs festival in 2011 and 2012 and the Montréal festival in 2010 and 2012. Jost has published four “Shouts and Murmurs” pieces in The New Yorker magazine and has also contributed to The New York Times Magazine, The Huffington Post, The Staten Island Advance and Radar. He wrote the screenplay of and played a minor role in the 2015 comedy film Staten Island Summer, and he also had a minor role as Paul in the 2016 romcom feature How to Be Single. In late 2018, Jost and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared in an advertising campaign for Izod.

Jost, along with Michael Che, appeared on the March 4, 2019, episode of WWE’s Monday Night Raw, where both were announced as special correspondents for WrestleMania 35. In the March 4 episode, they got involved in a storyline with wrestler Braun Strowman, which resulted in both Jost and Che becoming participants in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. At the event, Jost and Che went under the ring for the majority of the match and then tried to eliminate Strowman while he was trying to do the same to the Hardy Boyz. Jost attempted to calm the situation by using his therapist, but Strowman chokeslammed him and eliminated the two comedians in quick succession, winning the battle royal.

In July 2020, Jost released a memoir entitled, A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir. The book was well received and appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Personal life

Jost began a relationship with actress Scarlett Johansson in May 2017. In May 2019, Jost and Johansson got engaged. They married in October 2020.

Jost was dorm-mates with 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg while the two lived in Leverett House at Harvard. In 2015, Jost donated money to Buttigieg’s mayoral reelection campaign. Subsequently, during Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, Jost portrayed Buttigieg in the 45th season of SNL.

Colin’s brother, Casey Jost, is a writer and a producer for the hidden camera show Impractical Jokers. He also had a role in Staten Island Summer.

Filmography

Film

Television

Bibliography

• “Explaining your Time Warner bill”. Shouts & Murmurs. The New Yorker. 87 (7): 33. April 4, 2011.
• “A few more bank security questions”. Daily Shouts. The New Yorker. July 13, 2012.
• “Olympic story lines to watch”. Daily Shouts. The New Yorker. July 16, 2012.
• “Automatic reply”. Shouts & Murmurs. The New Yorker. 88 (45): 30. January 28, 2013.
• “I will slap you”. Shouts & Murmurs. The New Yorker. 90 (47): 29. February 9, 2015.
• A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir. Crown. ISBN 1101906324.

Awards and honors