Colin Jost

Colin Jost was born on June 29, 1982, in Staten Island, New York City. He was raised in a Catholic household in Grymes Hill, Staten Island. His mother, Kerry J. Kelly, served as the chief medical officer for the New York City Fire Department, and his father, Daniel A. Jost, was a teacher at Staten Island Technical High School. Jost attended Regis High School in Manhattan, where he was the editor of the school newspaper, The Owl, graduating in 2000. He continued his education at Harvard University, studying history and literature, with a focus on Russian and British literature, and served as president of The Harvard Lampoon before graduating cum laude in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts.

His career began as a reporter and copy editor for the Staten Island Advance. He then worked as a writer for the animated show Kappa Mikey before joining NBC’s Saturday Night Live as a writer in 2005. Jost steadily climbed the ranks at SNL, becoming writing supervisor from 2009 to 2012, co-head writer from 2012 to 2015, and returning as a co-head writer from 2017 to 2022. He became a co-anchor for the show’s “Weekend Update” segment in March 2014, breaking Seth Meyers’ record as the longest-serving anchor of the segment in October 2021. Throughout his tenure, he has impersonated figures like Pete Buttigieg, John Kasich, and Roger Goodell. In 2025, Jost received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the College of Staten Island, CUNY, recognizing his contributions to comedy, television, and community service. He is also a two-time Primetime Emmy Award winner and nineteen-time Emmy Award nominee.

Beyond SNL, Jost has a presence in stand-up comedy, having performed on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” TBS, and HBO, and was recognized as a “New Face” at the Montréal Just for Laughs festival. He has contributed written pieces to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Huffington Post, and others. Jost co-wrote and appeared in the 2015 film “Staten Island Summer” and played a minor role in the 2016 romantic comedy “How to Be Single.” In 2018, he co-hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards with Michael Che. He released his memoir, “A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir,” in July 2020, which became a New York Times Bestseller. In 2024, he hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and in 2025, he will host the Amazon Prime Video game show “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” He also made a cameo in the 2024 film “Fly Me to the Moon,” starring his wife, Scarlett Johansson.