'SNL: Colin Jost Put in Hot Seat by Co-Star on 'Weekend Update'
Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segment turned its ire back on co-host Colin Jost in this week's episode. New cast member Sarah Sherman rolled out to the news desk to check in on how Season 47 has been going so far, and give her feedback. It soon turned out that most of it was directed at Jost, and it was not praise.
Sherman is one of the new "featured players" on SNL this season, and after six episodes on the set, she has some thoughts. She started out by saying she is enjoying the job so far, saying "What's not to love? Laughing, comedy, New York City! But I'm not going to lie, dude. I've got some feedback." With that, Sherman began tearing into some of the most ingrained traditions of SNL, and when Jost tried to explain, she offered the most egregious misreadings of his words.
"First of all, why is it live?" Sherman wondered. "Don't you think that's a little scary, Colin? I could say something right now that could ruin my life and yours!" When Jost asked her not to do that, she said: "I kind of want to! I'm crazy! Anything could happen, I could have a nip-slip right now!"
At this point, Sherman cut to her first insulting graphic headline of the night: "This just in: local pervert Colin Jost claims he's seen most people's nipples." She went on to "report" fake headlines like "self-proclaimed nipple expert Colin Jost caught mansplaining live on TV," and "local sicko Colin Jost caught hitting on SNL's barely legal new girl." At the end, she saved one for co-host Michael Che as well, reading: "noted white feminist Michael Che protects innocent Jewish girl from gorgeous fascist Colin Jost."
The sketch was one of the highlights of the night, and many commenters said they appreciated seeing a newcomer like Sherman given a chance to shine. Sherman comes from upstate New York and studied theater at Northwestern University. She has occasionally used the stage name Sarah Squirm and has a particular interest in surreal humor and body horror.
Her "Sarah Squirm" act earned extensive coverage from local papers like The Chicago Tribune while she was working in that city, and when she landed a job on SNL, The Chicago Sun-Times reported: "Sarah Sherman, weird comic from Chicago, joins SNL." Sherman took descriptors like these in stride, but this weekend she proved she can dish out some devastating headlines herself.
This week's episode of SNL featured host Jonathan Majors and musical guest Taylor Swift. The variety show will be back on Saturday, Nov. 20, with host Simu Liu and musical guest Saweetie. The show begins live at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.