SNL’s Colin Jost Reveals President He Thought He’d Be Best Friends With
Jost said working with celebrities on “Saturday Night Live” breeds some “weird” relationships.
Weeks after Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost made an eyebrow-raising prediction about Donald Trump, he revealed which president he thought he’d “talk to all the time.”
Jost, in a video posted to promote his return to host Pop Culture Jeopardy’s second season, was asked who the most famous person in his phone’s contacts is. “Probably the one labeled ‘wife,’” he replied, as the host has been married to two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson, with whom he shares one son, 4-year-old Cosmo, for more than five years. He added, “I do have some really weird ones, though,” before name-dropping his favorite president.
“At SNL, you end up working really intensely with someone for like a week,” he explained, “And sometimes you almost feel like, ‘Maybe this person is going to be my best [friend]. Maybe I’m going to talk to Barack Obama all the time.’”
Obama made a cameo on “SNL” in 2008, while Jost was still a writer.
NBC
Instead, Jost admitted, the famous person he has dialed most after an SNL stint is rapper Jack Harlow. “One of my good friends, his name is Jack Howard, and he’s in my phone right next to Jack Harlow,” he said.
Harlow pulled double duty as SNL‘s host and musical guest for the Halloween episode in 2022.
Colin Jost said the most famous contact in his phone is "probably the one labeled ‘wife.’” He and two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson have been married for more than five years.
Benoit Tessier/REUTERS
“And so sometimes if I’m scrolling, like I’ll call my friend Jack, which I do a lot, and I’ll just hit Jack Harlow. And then I’m like, ‘Oh God, he just got like a weird missed call from me at like 11 p.m.’ And I’m sure he’s like, ‘Dude, this SNL guy’s got to let it go.’”
Harlow hosted “SNL” in 2022.
NBC/Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images
As for Obama, Jost seems to have successfully avoided accidentally calling the former president.
Jost was working as a writer at SNL when Obama made a surprise cameo on the show during the Feb. 23, 2008, episode. Obama was a presidential candidate at the time, and Jost hadn’t yet crossed over to work on-air as a “Weekend Update” host. Since then, Jost has shared his thoughts about Trump’s hankering for a third term.
He said on the web series Subway Takes earlier this month, “I think Donald Trump’s going to get a third term. That’s my prediction.” He added, “I predicted it when he was running in 2020. I was like, ‘If he gets elected, it’s for eight years.’”
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Jost, who frequently hits Trump on everything from his ties to Jeffrey Epstein to his bruised hands on “Weekend Update,” concluded at the time, “I think we just have to prepare for it.”
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