‘SNL’ veteran Colin Jost talks comedy as craft and coping mechanism with Brown students
Known best for his contributions to “Saturday Night Live,” the comedian and actor shared behind-the-scenes stories and industry insights in a talk organized by the student-run Brown Lecture Board.
Brown senior and Brown Lecture Board President Will Havens, left, led a wide-ranging conversation with comedian Colin Jost on Tuesday, April 22. Photos by Maggie Spear/Brown University.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Even though “Saturday Night Live” writer and actor Colin Jost attended Harvard University, it’s Brown that holds a special place in his heart.
It’s where his parents met decades ago. Jost’s mother was a medical student and his father was an undergraduate. Their paths crossed in a campus library, when his mom asked to borrow his dad’s slide rule.
“Nerds,” he quipped to the crowd of hundreds of students who packed the Salomon Center for Teaching on Brown’s campus on Tuesday, April 22, for a wide-ranging discussion on comedy, craft, rejection, perseverance and coping.
Jost is best known for his role as co-anchor of “Weekend Update,” the satirical news program that has become the longest-running recurring sketch on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” Jost’s career on “SNL,” which has spanned nearly 20 years, has earned 15 Emmy nominations, five Writers Guild Awards and two Peabody Awards.
Beyond the walls of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Jost writes and acts in other comedies and hosts “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” He headlined the 2024 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and in 2020 he became a New York Times bestselling author with his memoir, “A Very Punchable Face.”
At Brown, Jost was hosted by the Brown Lecture Board, a student-run, student-funded organization that brings speakers to campus each semester. All aspects of the event were managed by Brown students, including the moderation — Brown Lecture Board President Will Havens, a senior who described himself as “rejected from every comedy group at Brown,” led the conversation, which kicked off with a discussion about comedy as a trait versus comedy as a craft.
Steve Martin and Martin Short had some of the best comedy careers in history — they’re some of the funniest people I’ve ever met — and they’re still worried about: ‘Am I still funny? Am I still making good work?’ If you’re a certain kind of person, whatever field you work in, that feeling never leaves you.
Colin Jost
'Saturday Night Live' writer and actor
“I hope it’s something you can improve, that you can get better at,” Jost said. “I hope I get funnier. I don’t know, maybe we can all agree to meet here in 10 years, and I can report back on whether I feel like I’m funnier than I am now.”
Ten years is a long time in show business. As trends evolve and new talent emerges, it’s easy to fear becoming irrelevant, Jost said.
“Steve Martin and Martin Short had some of the best comedy careers in history — they’re some of the funniest people I’ve ever met — and they’re still worried about: ‘Am I still funny? Am I still making good work?’” Jost said. “If you’re a certain kind of person, whatever field you work in, that feeling never leaves you.”
Apparently, it never leaves your mom, either. Despite decades of success in the industry, Jost joked that his mom still thinks he and his brother, who works on the television series “Impractical Jokers,” should take the civil service exam to become firefighters — “just in case,” he said.
The thought that he might have to swap a microphone for a firehose or another career passed his mind more than once or twice, Jost acknowledged, especially when he began work on “Weekend Update.”
“‘Weekend Update’, when I started, was deeply, existentially stressful,” Jost said, “I felt like I was really bad at it and failing super hard, and people noticed. Early reviews were, I’d say, ‘politely scathing.’ That was horrible, and it was for three solid years of my life. But it started turning. Eventually, I started not feeling that constant dread, and now [co-anchoring ‘Weekend Update’] is genuinely something I look forward to at the end of every week.”
Colin Jost’s responses prompted roars of laughter during an audience Q&A portion of the night.
As a writer on “SNL” for nearly 20 years, he is intimately familiar with rejection. Jost shared that he’s had over 1,000 pitches rejected by his writing team, legendary “SNL” creator (and his boss) Lorne Michaels and even the television network censors. Jost shared some material that ended up on the cutting-room floor during a portion of the talk that got some of the loudest laughs and hushed “ooooohs” of the night.
After reflecting on his journey through self-doubt and eventual confidence, Jost shifted the tone to something a bit more personal — and often hilarious — by fielding questions from the audience. In his responses, Jost dished out life advice, shared “SNL” memories and musings and talked about his relationship with award-winning actress and six-time “SNL” host Scarlett Johansson.
“If you have friends who are funny, your life will be happier,” Jost said. “And if you have a partner in life who’s funny, it’s going to get you through a lot of hard times.”
As Jost continues his work on “SNL” he said he’s overwhelmed by the prospect of what’s next in his career. Between writing a television pilot, running an advertising agency, writing and acting in films, writing novels and filming a stand-up comedy special, he said there are a lot of unknowns in his future — but there’s one thing he’s entirely sure about.
“I can guarantee I will certainly say the word ‘brown’ in a joke slot,” Jost said, responding to an audience question about the possibility of Brown getting a shout-out in an upcoming “Weekend Update” segment. “And when I do, you’ll all know I’m talking about Brown University.”
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