Even though Michael Che and Colin Jost appear to hate each other, they are in it for the long hall. The duo have been hosting Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live for exactly a decade, and it’s hard to imagine anyone replacing the pair. But they can’t sit at those desks forever.
The comedians appeared on The Howard Stern Show to discuss what’s next for them, when Stern brought up their longstanding Weekend Update gig and asked if they have an SNL exit plan before the upcoming 50th (!) season of the series.
Jost responded, “We definitely don’t have a game plan. I mean, every year, you’re seeing if you still like it.” Stern then addressed Che, who has mentioned quitting more than once in the past, though he will still appear on the upcoming season. “It’s not a matter of ‘I want to leave because I want to leave,’ I want to leave because I miss stand-up,” he explained.
Che added that the idea of leaving is hard to grasp after working the same gig for so long. “I feel like now it’s almost hard to imagine being gone. My brain is on the clock of Saturday Night Live,” he said. The two then discussed how easy it is to lose your momentum on the late-night series. “People get burned out in ways you don’t see or know,” Jost explained, using Andy Samberg as an example. “When you have that level of heat for a while it burns you. It’s hard to keep doing it.”
The two will appear in Peacock’s live comedy special, Colin Jost & Michael Che Present: New York After Dark, this Thursday, September 12th at 9pm. After that, SNL will premiere its 50th season on September 28th, but Jost isn’t looking too far beyond that. “I’m trying to have that thought this year, of enjoying the job. It does get very stressful but I’m trying to remember this year that it was the thing I’ve always wanted to do, and we work with people who are really funny, and that’s a luxury.”
The pair admitted that if either of them decided to bow out of the Weekend Update gig, the other would resign too. “He’s lying through his teeth,” Che joked when Jost said he would quit with him. “I’ll do three [more] years,” Jost added.
Unfortunately, Stern did not ask about Jost’s foot infection, but you can check out the full clip above.