By now it’s a foregone conclusion that just about every interview with a Saturday Night Live cast member, past or present, will include a question about who could replace creator Lorne Michaels at the helm of his legendary sketch show.
(Michaels himself has mostly shied away from giving any direct answers when asked if or when he plans to leave the show, saying only that he’ll be there through its upcoming 50th season.)
So of course it came up when ET’s Rachel Smith sat down with “Weekend Update” co-anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che at a recent press junket for their new Peacock special, New York After Dark.
History tells us that there are a number of ways for SNLers to answer this question. The most popular seems to be a simple, “I don’t know, I can’t imagine the show without him.” Others, perhaps those hoping to generate a few headlines, will float some names. (Jost and Che are among those who’ve been suggested.) Others still—most prominently, Seth Meyers and Conan O’Brien—have questioned the question’s general premise, arguing that Michaels lives for Saturday Night Live and isn’t going anywhere.
Josts’s response to ET lives in a category of its own and is really best seen and not read. It begins at the 7:28 mark below, though if you’ve got the time (and the stomach) to watch the duo suffer through the tedious entirety of what must have been their umpteenth junket interview of the day, the entire clip is worth watching:
Asked by ET‘s Smith whether either Jost or Che might be willing to “take on” Lorne Michaels’ role, Jost pretends to mishear her.
“You mean, like, in a fight?” he responds.
“No!,” she protests. “I mean, like, take over, lead the…”
Che then interrupts her. “I’d take him on. I’d take him on.”
Asked who’d win that fight, Jost suggests that he’d lean toward the 79 year-old Michaels.
“I don’t know,” he warns Che. “I feel like Lorne works out a lot. I feel like he’s still, like, lifting weights and stuff. You’d better be careful.”
And with that, the interview ends. Way to run out the clock, guys.
Jost and Che’s comedy special New York After Dark is now streaming on Peacock. The duo are expected to be back behind the “Weekend Update” desk when SNL returns for Season 50 on September 28th.
