
Longtime Weekend Update co-anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost are taking their act on the road. Well, down the road, anyway.
The duo will be hosting a “Countdown to St Patrick’s Day” from New York’s famed Times Square the night before St Patrick’s Day.
It’s all part of a promotional deal Jost and Che have signed with Jameson Whiskey, which will see the two star in a series of commercial spots leading up to a live event in Times Square Saturday, March 16.
The premise of the new ad campaign is pegged to the fact that 2024 would have seen St Patrick’s Day fall on a Saturday for the first time since 2018, were it not for leap-year pushing the holiday to Sunday instead.
“I don’t believe in leap years,” Jost joked in statment released by Jameson. “Which is why I’m several days late for every appointment. But for all you sheep who trust Big Calendar and think February ‘sometimes’ has an extra day, we’ve gotten you off the hook by inventing a new holiday, St. Patrick’s Eve. And like I keep yelling at my family and therapist, ‘This isn’t just an excuse to party on Saturday as well as Sunday. It’s a real holiday.'”
The deal marks the first joint brand deal for Jost and Che, who happen to have March 16th off, as that’s planned to be a dark week for SNL.
Che joked that Jost is “probably a little relieved we’re going to spend a Saturday night ringing in St. Patrick’s Eve with Jameson, instead of reading the jokes I write for him.”
In addition to hosting the countdown in Times Square for a strictly 21+ crowd, Jameson will be live streaming the event, which the companys says will feature a surprise DJ performance and a first-of-its-kind ‘rock drop’ at the stroke of 8 p.m. (midnight in Ireland, natch).
Che and Jost will be back at Weekend Update anchor desk this weekend when SNL returns from a two-week break with host (and fired former cast member) Shane Gillis and musical guest 21 Savage.