A new season of Saturday Night Live may still be weeks away, but Michael Che and Colin Jost gave fans a taste of their usual rapport on Peacock Thursday night.
The duo hosted the streamer’s first-ever live comedy special, Colin Jost & Michael Che Present: New York After Dark, featuring an impressive lineup of drop-in comics. The night was a chance for the “Weekend Update” co-anchors to feature some familiar faces from SNL; but more than anything else, it was also a chance for Che to remind Jost that he’s never safe from being roasted.
The longtime collaborators are already known to comedically corner each other with their “Joke Swap” segments on “Update,” and Che admits he usually goes harder than Jost does on those.
“I wrote really harsh jokes, and [Colin] did not write harsh jokes,” Che recently recounted of their first-ever “Joke Swap” on Dana Carvey and David Spade’s Fly on the Wall podcast. “I kind of just overshot it, and then it just became what it is.”
Jost is also often the butt of jokes from Sarah Sherman, who is known to use her “Sarah News” segment on “Weekend Update” to lodge accusations that he’s a creep. That continued on Thursday night when Sherman took the stage for a surprise cameo.
“Don’t try any of your signature moves, Colin. I’m armed,” she immediately announced.
“Oh, you want more?” she added when Jost didn’t have a response. “This place is close to my apartment. Looks like you didn’t obey the restraining order.”
The next cameo of the night came from a comic who, like Jost, hails from Staten Island: Impractical Jokers’ Sal Vulcano.
“We don’t really see you [on Staten Island] anymore,” Vulcano told Jost before mocking the ferry that Jost and Pete Davidson recently bought.
“I’m going to head, after this, back to Staten Island, where I came from,” Vulcano added. “Which home are you going to tonight?”
“I go back to Staten Island from time to time,” Jost replied in his own defense.
“Oh, okay, cool. I haven’t seen anyone who’s seen you in a decade,” Vulcano joked—then touched Jost to confirm he was even real.
Jost took it all in stride, and even invited Vulcano to introduce the show’s next comic. “No,” Vulcano replied matter-of-factly. “I came here to expose you on live television. That’s it.”
For the last set of the night, Jost and Che brought out Mike Birbiglia. His first order of business when he stepped onstage? Surprising Jost by calling him back onto the stage.
“I recently texted Colin and asked him to be on my podcast, Working It Out,” Birbiglia explained. “Do you remember what you wrote back?”
“I do not,” Jost replied.
“Nothing,” Birbiglia shot back. “So I thought I’d ask him the questions I would’ve asked him on my podcast [here].”
If that seems like a bait-and-switch Che would pull on Jost, you’re not completely off-base. “I asked Che, and he’s totally good with it,” Birbiglia noted.
“Thanks, Che,” said Jost. “I don’t remember this from dress rehearsal.”
Naturally, the questions Birbiglia had lined up were more zingers aimed squarely at Jost: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how much more talented do you think your wife Scarlett Johansson is than you?” he asked. “Ten being ‘So much more talented, it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning,’ and one being ‘More talented, but you’re able to block it out of your mind by drinking and verbal abuse of your staff.’”
Another one: “I’ve heard it said that your chemistry with Michael Che is what makes all of us love ‘Weekend Update.’ But I’ve also heard it said that you have no personality, and it could literally be anyone with Michael Che, including an air mattress or one of the cakes from Is It Cake?. Which do you think is true?”
The Jost roast aside, New York After Dark also featured a standup set from newly former SNL writer Alex English. Ben Marshall and John Higgins of Please Don’t Destroy were also briefly shown hanging out in the crowd.
The night also featured standup sets from comedians Aida Rodriguez, Aminah Amani, and Karlous Miller.
Colin Jost & Michael Che Present: New York After Dark is available now for replay on Peacock.
