Colin Jost Named SNL ‘Weekend Update’ Co-Anchor
Saturday Night Live head writer Colin Jost will replace Seth Meyers at the Weekend Update desk when Meyers leaves to host Late Night.
Jost’s first show will be March 1st, according to the Hollywood Reporter, and he will join Cecily Strong, who was named Meyers’ co-anchor at the beginning of SNL‘s 39th season. Last fall, it was rumored that Meyers might stay on at Update throughout the whole season, as Late Night was initially scheduled to air just four nights a week. Meyers’ talk program debuts on February 24th.
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Hired as an SNL writer in 2005, Jost was named the show’s head writer in 2012. During his tenure, he’s scored three WGA Awards and a Peabody, as well as received eight Emmy nominations. Jost will reportedly also make his big-screen debut this year in Staten Island Summer, a movie he wrote about his experience working as a lifeguard in the New York borough.
As Saturday Night Live star Bobby Moynihan recently told Rolling Stone, Jost helped create two of the actor’s most beloved Update characters, Drunk Uncle and second-hand news man Anthony Crispino. Moynihan tossed the Drunk Uncle idea to Jost after slaving away on a salesman character he thought would be an Update hit.
“We wrote it in 15 minutes,” Moynihan said of Drunk Uncle’s first appearance. “Still, I thought, ‘That will never get in. I’m going to work on this suit salesman thing.’ Well, suit salesman bombed, Drunk Uncle got on the show and I’ve done it 10 times now. But he’s changed. At first Drunk Uncle was very calm and quiet – very sedate. Now it’s about trying to go as crazy as possible.”