Colin Jost is an American comedian, actor, and writer who is known for being the host of SNL Weekend Update, a fictional news program that comments on and parodies current events.
Wiki/Biography
Collin Kelly Jost was born on Tuesday, June 29, 1982 (age 38 years; as of 2020), in Grymes Hill, Staten Island, New York. His zodiac sign is Cancer.
He studied at Regis High School in Manhattan, and in 2004, he graduated cum laude from Harvard University, where he pursued his majors in history and literature, with a focus on Russian literature and British literature. While studying at Harvard, he was president of the Harvard Lampoon, an undergraduate humor publication.
Physical Appearance
Height [1]IMDb: 5′ 10½”
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Dark Brown
Family & Ethnicity
He was raised in an Irish Catholic family. [2]Vulture
Parents & Siblings
His mother, Kerry J. Kelly, was the chief medical officer for the New York City Fire Department.
His father, Daniel A. Jost, is an engineer and former teacher of mechanical drawing at Staten Island Technical High School.
His younger brother, Casey Jost, is also a writer and comedian.
Relationships & Wife
He was once in a relationship with Carmel Lobello (a journalist) and Rashida Jones (actress).
Colin Jost started dating the actress Scarlett Johansson in May 2017 and got engaged in May 2019. They married in October 2020.
Scarlett has a daughter named Rose Dorothy Dauriac from her previous marriage to the journalist Romain Dauriac.
Career
Writer
While pursuing graduation, Colin won $5,250 on a college edition of the Weakest Link, an American general knowledge-based game show. After graduation, he began working as a reporter and copy-editor for the Staten Island Advance. He then worked as a writer for the short-lived Nickelodeon animated show, Kappa Mikey (2006).
When he left Kappa Mikey, he was hired as a writer at NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) in 2005. Jost worked as a writing supervisor from 2009 to 2012, co-head writer from 2012 to 2015, and regained that status in late 2017. He has often collaborated with fellow SNL co-head writer Rob Klein. Following the 2012–13 season of SNL, he took a hiatus from the show after which he was asked by the executive producer Lorne Michaels to do the Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update, because of Seth Meyers, who was going to leave the show. Jost accepted the offer and replaced Meyers on March 1, 2014, episode of the show.
He has also written for shows: The Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014), Golden Globe Awards (2018), and Primetime Emmy Awards (2019).
Acting
He wrote the screenplay of and played a minor role (of Officer Greg) in the 2015 comedy film ‘Staten Island Summer.’
He has acted in the films: How to Be Single (2016), Tom & Jerry (2021), and Worst Man.
Awards & Achievements
Awards Won for Saturday Night Live
- Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety (including talk) series in 2007, 2009, 2010
- Peabody Award in 2010
- Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series in 2017 and 2018
Controversies
- In 2016, he faced fierce criticism after he made a transgender joke on SNL. He had said,
The dating app Tinder announced a new feature this week, which gives users 37 different gender identity options. It’s called, Why Democrats lost the election.”
In response to the hate he received, he argued that joke was arguing that identity politics, particularly on the left, helped Donald Trump pull out his surprising upset victory over Clinton. [3]Washington Post
- In September 2018, he faced backlash when it was announced that he will be hosting the 2018 Emmy Awards, along with Michael Che. The audience was skeptical about them hosting as they have regressive humor and have shown poor handling of criticism in the past. [4]Vox
Favorite Things
- Food: Buffalo Wings, Crabs
- Comedian: Norm MacDonaldbn
- Film(s): Mulholland Drive (2001), Groundhog Day (1993)
- Travel Destination: Puerto Rico
- American Football Team: New York Giants
- Baseball Team: New York Mets
Facts/Trivia
- He likes to surf and goes out surfing once a year to Rincon, Puerto Rico.
- His grandfather and great-grandfather were Staten Island firefighters. He also claims that his ancestors were generals in the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) and the Civil War (1861-65), and they were on the right side for both.
- Jost considers Norm Macdonald as a primary influence for his anchor work in SNL Update as he grew up to MacDonald’s tone. He also considers Tina Fey as an influence.
- When he was ten, he went to the Junior Olympics for the 50-meter and 100-meter breaststroke.
- During his high school days, he was the editor of his high school newspaper The Owl, and wrote a humor column called “Owl Droppings.”
- In 2009, He was chosen as “New Face” at the Montréal Just for Laughs festival. Since then he has appeared at the Chicago Just for Laughs festival in 2011 and 2012 and the Montréal festival in 2010 and 2012.
- Colin has written “Shouts and Murmurs” pieces in The New Yorker magazine and has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The Huffington Post, The Staten Island Advance, and Radar.
- On March 4, 2019, Colin Jost and Michael Che made an appearance on WWE’s Monday Night Raw and announced themselves the special correspondents for WrestleMania 35. While in the show, they participated in André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal after they angered wrestler Braun Strowman and tried to eliminate Strowman. In the end, Braun eliminated the two comedians in quick succession and won the battle royal.
- In July 2020, he released a memoir entitled ‘A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir,’ which was well received and appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List.
- While studying at Harvard, he was dorm-mates with the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and the two lived in Leverett House at Harvard. In 2015, Jost donated $100 to Buttigieg’s mayoral reelection campaign and subsequently, during Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, Jost portrayed Buttigieg in the 45th season of SNL.
- According to him, he was at Harvard when Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, and he had begged him not to do it as he thought it was a waste of time.
- He hates eggplant, mushrooms, and avocados, as he has a very weak sense of smell and focuses more on the texture of foods.
- Colin Jost doesn’t like golf, however, he goes golfing whenever he gets a chance.
- In 2014, when he was on a vacation with his then-girlfriend Carmel Lobello in St. Barts, where he got pinned against the rocks by his own leash while surfing and was bleeding as he was crushed by five-foot waves. He was saved by Jimmy Buffett (American Singer-songwriter and musician), who had come with his family there. Buffett paddled over to the rocks and cut Jost loose with the knife (that he carried while surfing).
- In late 2018, Jost and Green Bay Packers quarterback, Aaron Rodgers appeared in an advertising campaign for the clothing company Izod.
- He makes mocktails, cartoons that he draws in cocktail napkins whenever he is waiting for someone at a bar. He also sells these mocktails printed on t-shirts or cocktail napkins.
1. | ↑ | IMDb |
2. | ↑ | Vulture |
3. | ↑ | Washington Post |
4. | ↑ | Vox |