Scarlett Johansson recently shared her reaction to a crude joke made about her on Saturday Night Live by her husband Colin Jost and Michael Che during their annual joke swap in December 2024. The joke referenced Johansson having a child and eating roast beef every night since then. While shocked by the joke, Johansson took it in stride and found humor in the situation. She was given a heads-up that Che had written a joke about her for Jost to perform, but the extent of the joke still surprised her.
Johansson described the joke as “vulgar” and “old-school gross,” but found humor in the situation overall. She anticipated a vagina joke but was still taken aback when it was revealed in a graphic manner during the show. Despite the shock, she found the whole experience funny, though it made her feel a bit insane, especially when the joke was taken to a full To Catch a Predator-style reveal. Johansson and Jost were still in shock about the joke as they went to bed at 4 a.m. after the show.
While Johansson was open to the idea of a risqué joke about her, the extent of the joke on SNL was far beyond what she or Jost had expected. Jost admitted that his wife was genuinely shocked by the graphic joke and the unexpected turn it took with the reference to Arby’s. The reveal of the joke during the show caught both of them off guard, with Johansson reacting on camera and Jost later facing the consequences of the joke with his wife. The couple met at an SNL afterparty in 2017, married in 2020, and welcomed a son together in 2021.
In a cover interview with InStyle, Johansson shared her thoughts on the controversial SNL joke, expressing her initial shock and disbelief at the nature of the joke. She found the joke to be gross but still funny, particularly because of the unexpected turn it took during the show. Despite the discomfort caused by the joke, Johansson found humor in the situation and ultimately laughed it off. Jost, too, reflected on the unexpected reaction to the joke and the fallout with his wife, admitting that he was in trouble with both Johansson and others because of it.
