Colin Jost's Awkward Interview with Lorne Michaels

-Is this the first time we´ve actually talked to each other --
-I think so. The very -- I was thinking backstage,
the very first time I was ever on television
was on your show at "Late Night."
The first stand-up set I ever did.
And I remember being backstage
and how nervous I was and being here.
And I was like, "Okay, well, at least I can just sit this time."
-Yeah. And look at you now. Exactly.
I know you did some "Weekend Update" summer shows.
-Yeah, you were -- you came by and were on one...
-I did. -...which was fantastic.
-No, please, I love doing it.
I mean, I get nervous doing that.
-No way. How? -I don´t know.
I mean, here I feel at home. I can do whatever.
But something about "SNL" makes my heart beat.
-I get more nervous if you´re there,
´cause you´re the person I watched do it.
[ Laughter ] -Please.
I mean, but do you feel like --
I remember I used to feel like on "Saturday Night Live"
when you had the summer off,
you were missing all these great jokes.
-Oh, yeah. Well, we missed, like, Scaramucci.
-Yeah. -You know.
-You missed him. -Just, like, I mean
he kind of missed -- almost everyone missed him.
He was only there -- [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. That´s true. -It was only two weeks.
But, yeah. Yeah, you -- but the good thing is now,
whatever we missed, we can be pretty confident
he´s gonna come up with something new.
-Yeah, exactly, yeah. Something else is gonna go down.
-Waiting for us like a little present when we get back.
And you guys, you and Seth came on together,
which was probably the first time you came on together
when we were there. -Yeah.
-And I would have never expected the way I would see you guys
was as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
-Yeah, we were dressed up -- yeah, exactly, yeah.
-Full period costumes.
-Seth had, like, an after party for his show.
I was telling him, "You should go dressed as Thomas Jefferson."
He´s like, "No." [ Laughter ]
But it was fun. I want to hear --
Everyone has a Lorne story about meeting Lorne for first time.
Lorne Michaels, the creator of "Saturday Night Live"
and also producer of this show.
But how did you meet Lorne?
Do you remember it?
-I remember going in and interviewing.
And I was interviewing to be a writer.
So I was 22 years old. I went in to be a writer.
And I -- First I met with the head writers for the show.
So it was Tina at the time
and Andrew Steele were the head writers.
And I went in and I was really scared about that meeting.
Because -- And I was right in retrospect.
Like, that was the big meeting.
´Cause they were the ones that were really digging in
and read my submissions. That was scary.
And the people going into that meeting just told me,
"Don´t say anything insane."
Which normally I don´t go around saying insane things.
-Yeah, exactly. So now, it´s got you thinking.
-Not a worry. -Wait.
-But when someone tells you it, you´re like,
"Oh, my God, well, I better not say something insane."
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, do I say insane things?
-Just yell out "razzmatazz"
in the middle of an interview, or "Go Canucks."
Whatever, I don´t know what people yell.
-Razzmatazz.
-And so I got through that meeting and then they were like,
"Oh, and we´re also gonna have you interview with Lorne."
-As you´re there -- -As I´m leaving.
I had no idea.
And sometimes it´s better not to know,
´cause you can´t over-think it.
So they´re like, "We´re also gonna have you go in
and meet with Lorne." And I was like, "Great."
[ Laughter ]
And then so I go in to meet with Lorne.
And he sits down and he starts asking me
all these different questions about me and my life.
You know, like, where are you from?
Like, what else you been doing with your life?
And I´ve been, like, "Nothing much."
And he asked me, and he was like,
"What´s your favorite cast that you watched,
when you watched the show, ´SNL´?"
And I was like, "Oh, I loved, you know, Farley and Sandler
and Rock and Spade."
And he was like, "And Dana?"
And I was like "Uh, yeah, I loved Dana too." Yeah.
"Of course I love Dana Carvey. He´s the best," you know.
And he´s like, "Okay, good. Good."
[ Laughter ] And then all these questions.
And then goes, "Now do you have any questions for me?"
Which is classic interview thing you should be prepared for,
but I was not. -You were not, yeah.
-And he goes, "Do you have any questions for me?"
And I was like, "Uh, yeah, um, where are you from?"
[ Laughter ]
-That´s not bad. I mean, you flipped the script.
Yeah, you flipped the tables, asked him his own questions.
-It´s really bad. -Genius.
-It´s really bad. -It´s awful. Yeah.
-And then he is like, "Well, you know, I´m from Canada.
And I came here to, you know, start the show."
And I was like "Damn it, I knew that."
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, you totally knew.
-Very famous facts anyone would know.
And then he was like, "See you" --
maybe you had the same thing with him.
But he was like, "Anyway, see you around."
And then you don´t know what that means.
Like, see you around, like, maybe you´re hired?
Or see you around, like, maybe come back in 10 years
when you know better than to say, "Where are you from?"
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, something like that. But look at you now.
Now you´re like -- you´re crushing it on "Weekend Update."
I mean, you and Michael, fantastic.
-I love -- I love doing it. -Great job.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Very lucky.
I love doing it with Che. -You´re really good at it.
You´re really great at it.
Do you remember asking me for advice?
Do you remember this at all? -I do.
-You do. -Yeah, I -- I remember
right before we started,
the very first time I went on "Update,"
I e-mailed you, and I asked, like, if --
you know, ´cause you´d come back, and you´d hosted,
and I´d met you and stuff.
And I was reaching out. You were very nice.
And I said "Do you have any advice or anything?"
And you sent me a couple things of advice
and one of them was,
"Whatever you do,
don´t, like, take a weird moment
and, like, introduce yourself at the beginning of a segment.
Just like, go into it.
Get to comedy. Start doing it."
-Yeah. You´re doing "Weekend Update."
It´s like fake newscasters, kind of.
-Fake news. But the original fake news.
-The original fake news. Yeah.
-Get into it. -Get to it. Get to the jokes.
Yeah and crush, yeah.
-Very first I thing I did,
take a moment to do a real weird introduction.
[ Laughter ]
And I didn´t do it at dress rehearsal.
And then between dress and air,
someone was like, "Well, you got to do --
you got to introduce yourself."
And, you know, people just tell you things.
You´re like, "Oh, I better -- I better do it."
And then I did it. And then afterwards,
immediately your advice came to mind right after
and I was like, "Damn it!" -After you did it.
You were like "Hi. I´m so excited to do this segment."
And I go, "Colin, that´s exactly what I told you not to do."
-Yeah. And I love Dana Carvey.
Why did I blow it? -And you love Dana Carvey. Yeah.
Dubsmash with Selena Gomez Fergie: You Already Know Colin Jost Won an Emmy but Went Home Empty-Handed Musical Genre Challenge with Jamie Foxx Billie Joe Armstrong: Ordinary World Will & Grace Cast Performs Their Theme Song with Lyrics Pratfall Contest with Kevin James Black Simon & Garfunkel Sing "My Humps" with Fergie Weekend Update: Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu - Saturday Night Live Speak for Yourself with Ben Stiller and Fred Armisen

Colin Jost's Awkward Interview with Lorne Michaels

Latest Posts