‘SNL’: Michael Che Hits Major Milestone, Passes Seth Meyers

Michael Che hit a major milestone on Saturday Night Live this weekend. The co-head writer made his 155th appearance on the “Weekend Update” segment, which means he has officially co-hosted the sketch more times than Seth Meyers. However, he is still behind his co-host Colin Jost.

“Weekend Update” is one of the oldest recurring sketches on SNL, and many people join the cast or the writing staff with the hope of sitting at the news desk one day. For years now, Jost and Che have held those roles, and in the last couple of months their runs became historic. Meyers hosted “Weekend Update” from 2006 to 2014 in a total of 154 episodes – the longest run in SNL history at the time. Jost passed that milestone back in October, and now Che has passed it as well. That puts Meyers in third place, though the Late Night host does not seem to be complaining.

So far, SNL has not commented on these major milestones – either when Jost reached his in the fall or when Che reached his on Jan. 29. The comedians themselves did not comment on them on Twitter, nor did Meyers. The numbers were first compiled by the fan account The SNL Network.

Che’s time on SNL has already been historic in many ways. From the start, he was the first Black person to host “Weekend Update,” and he got there incredibly fast by SNL standards. Che became a writer on SNL in 2013, but then joined The Daily Show as an on-screen correspondent in 2014. He only appeared in nine segments on The Daily Show before he was offered a seat on “Weekend Update.”

Che and Jost are the first pair of “Weekend Update” hosts where both of them are male. He and Jost made some changes to the news sketch – for example, each week one of them tells an extended joke rather than the usual rapid-fire punchlines that other anchors have favored. They have several fan-favorite recurring bits which often bring in other cast members, including Kenan Thompson as Che’s fictional neighbor Willie.

Right now, there’s no hint of Che or Jost setting aside this gig, so the record for most episodes hosting “Weekend Update” may climb much higher before they’re finished. SNL is streaming now on Hulu and Peacock, and will be back with a new episode on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.