SNL's Colin Jost Ends Brutal Roast of White House Correspondents With Heartfelt Support for Biden

Although Colin Jost is no stranger to one-man comedy, most Americans recognize him best as a member of a duo. He is famous for being the live co-anchor of the Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live, working alongside the much more raunchy and dangerous Michael Che. How would Jost cope alone? It turns out the answer is completely correct. His Saturday night roast at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was nowhere near as brutal as Stephen Colbert's. famous WHCD roast in 2006, but it was certainly entertaining.

Predictably, Jost focused a lot on speculation that President Joe Biden might be too old to run for office, starting his speech with, I have to admit, it's not easy to follow President Biden, I mean, it's not always easy to follow what he says. saying.

The comedian also made reference to Bidens viral stumble on the steps of Air Force One, and shed light on accusations that Biden was high on amphetamines during his recent energetic State of the Union address. “Last time I was in Washington, I left my cocaine at the White House,” Jost said, in what initially appeared to be a joke about Jost's Republican behavior, before adding: “Luckily , the president was able to make good use of it for his own account.” The State of the Union. Just kidding, of course the president doesn't call it cocaine, he calls it bullet train.

Lest anyone think he was Also However, Jost was quick to point out the double standard in how the ages of the two presidential candidates are presented in the media. I would like to point out that it is after 10 p.m. Sleepy Joe is still awake, while Donald Trump has spent the last week falling asleep in court every morning. Jost later added: I'm not saying both candidates are old, but you know Jimmy Carter thinks maybe I could win this thing.

Jost's most impactful jokes were about Biden's poll numbers, as he expressed frustration and disbelief over how the race was still so close. The Republican presidential candidate owes half a billion in fines for bank fraud and is currently spending his days farting during a porn star's hush money trial, and the race is related?

In a much cruder joke, Jost told the audience that My Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che was going to join me here tonight, but in solidarity with President Biden, I decided to lose all my black support . The line received some applause (and lots of groans) from the audience, so Jost added, “Che told me to say that, and I just realize I was tricked.”

Jost also ridiculed a number of major newspapers in his speech, explaining how he had forgotten that the New York Times do things besides puzzles. He reminded the audience that Fox News CEO Rupert Murdoch recently resigned, adding: “The strange thing is, I didn't think there was a resignation from Fox News.” He thought about how AI could replace most journalists in the audience and how puzzles like Wordle were the only things keeping many newspapers afloat.

One of his darkest jokes, one that truly seemed to venture into dangerous territory, briefly touched on recent university protests surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Correspondents' Association offers scholarships to promising young journalism students, who might one day be sent to cover dangerous geopolitical hotspots like Columbia University, he joked, to a chuckle.

His later joke, which took advantage of the recent death of OJ Simpson, was much better received by the public. Obama had Bin Laden. You have OJ, he told Biden. And by the way, now that OJ is dead, who is the new front-runner for Trump's VP job? Is it Diddy?

Some of this might have seemed in poor taste, but luckily for Jost, the first comedian to perform at the dinner was Matt Friend, a rising comedian who came out with a quick collection of shock value punchlines, most of which was a big flop. I'm on fire right now, like the guy outside the courthouse, he joked in a Trump impression, next to spectators who seemed to be taken hostage. I'm killing this dinner harder than Kristi Noem kills puppies.

Jost's roast seemed downright wholesome in comparison, especially when he ended it with a touching tribute to his late grandfather William Kelly. He described him as a Staten Island firefighter and a pillar of his community. He voted for you, Jost told Biden, and the reason he voted for you is because you are an honest man. My grandfather voted for decency, and decency is why we were all here tonight.

President Biden covered many of the same points when he took the stage, careful to address concerns about his age and make it a weak point against his opponent. Yes, age is a problem: I'm an adult facing a 6-year-old child, he declared, to laughter and applause. I feel really good. I'm campaigning across the country. Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina. I have always done well in the original 13 colonies.

Biden gave a nod to the evolution of his public persona over the course of his career, noting that SNL cast eight different actors, an almost unprecedented number, to play him over the course of the series. And who says I'm not a real job creator?

The president also responded to criticism that he was too distant with the press. He called The New York Times for their recent statement accusing him of actively and effectively avoiding[ing] questions from independent journalists, answering Hey, if this is what it takes to get the New York Times to say that I am active and efficient, I am for it.

His main goal, much like Josts, was to highlight how much worse candidate Donald Trump is and that the election should not be as close as current polls indicate. [Trump] said he wanted to be a dictator from day one and much more. He tells his followers that he is their vengeance and their punishment. When in God's name have you ever heard another president say something like that?

Biden ended his thoughts on the election with a somber plea: We need to take this seriously. Eight years ago this might have been considered just a Trump speech, but not anymore, not after January 6th. I am sincerely not asking you to take sides, but I am asking you [you] up to the seriousness of the moment.