As per “Saturday Night Live” tradition, comedians Colin Jost and Michael Che did their season finale joke swap — and, naturally, couldn’t hold it together.
During the “Weekend Update” segment, the two give each other jokes to read out loud that they have not seen beforehand, and have historically pushed the envelope.
When it was Jost’s turn to read a joke that Che wrote for him in the May 18 episode, he turned to the camera to find a graphic reading, “ChatCPT,” that mentioned his wife, Scarlett Johansson.
Immediately, Jost responded, “Oh, God.”
“ChatGPT has released a new voice ᴀssistant feature inspired by Scarlett Johansson’s AI character in ‘Her,’ which I never bothered to watch because without that body, what’s the point of listening?” he joked, reading from the cue card.
Jost began to laugh and let his face drop into his hands as Che sat beside him, also cackling with the live audience.
In comments under the “SNL” video on YouTube, fans couldn’t get enough of the exchange.
“That Scarlett Johansson joke was BRUTAL,” one person wrote.
Another commented, “That (Scarlett) Johansson joke made me spit out my soup.”
“You KNOW Scarlett is home watching this, laughing her a– off,” one person said.
“Waiting for the Joke swap is like a kid waiting for christmas each year,” another wrote.
This isn’t the first time Che pulled a fast one on Jost, leading him into a questionable punchline about his actor wife.
In December 2020, the funny duo did their joke swap to round out the last episode of the year. In that “Weekend Update” segment, Che snuck in another crack at Johansson.
“It was announced that Creed singer Scott Stapp will play Frank Sinatra in an upcoming movie,” Jost read off the cue card. “But the good news is Sammy Davis Jr. will be played by Scarlett Johansson.”
Jost shook his head and buried his face in his hands as Che let out a big laugh and ended the comedic news segment.
On his own accord, Jost leaned into joking about wife Johansson when he headlined the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April, comparing their varied levels of fame to that of Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
“Doug, as you can tell by all the comments about my wife, I’m also used to being the second gentleman,” Jost told Emhoff.
Later in the speech, Jost referenced Johansson again when thanking his family and friends for their support.
“I want to thank my wife for enduring lots of jokes and for agreeing to individually meet everyone in this room right after the ceremony,” he said. “That’s really special honey, thank you. Don’t be shy, come right up. She hates privacy!”
