This Is ‘SNL’s Best ‘Weekend Update’ Joke Of The Season So Far
Weekend Update jokes are best enjoyed in the moment — that Elon Musk/Tylenol joke that seemed so hilarious two months ago can have you scratching your head during an after-the-fact rewatch. But other gags stand the test of time, or at least the test of several weeks’ time. Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost and Michael Che have been killing it this season, and here is my choice for the season’s best Weekend Update joke so far, along with a couple of honorable mentions.
Mamdani mayhem
“Conservative critics have been calling Zohran Mamdani a ‘far-left radical,’ as well as a ‘jihadist,’ announced Che. “But he can't be far-left and a jihadist. I mean, what do you think he's gonna do, turn ISIS into THEY-SIS?”
Che gets points for 1) scoring the season’s best Mamdani joke and 2) finding the comic connection between “far left” and “jihadist.” As Che told Jost after landing the punchline, “I worked really hard on that one.
Straight to the point
“This week, the government finally represented the people when it just completely shut down,” reported Jost.
A simple one-liner that completely nailed the nation’s mood in just fourteen words. Comedy efficiency at its finest.
Sora losers
“OpenAI has updated its video-generating app Sora to allow users to create cameos of themselves in videos, and they're pretty realistic,” said Che. “I mean, I made this one before the show.”
How can anyone top this joke? Che skewers three of the year’s most ridiculous villains — AI, Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump — while implicating punchable-face Jost in the process. It’s a gag worthy of the fake-news anchors’ epic joke exchanges, with Che delivering the knockout blow.