Anytime a former Weekend Update anchor hosts Saturday Night Live, there’s an anticipation that they might bust out their church clothes and make an appearance behind the desk to read a few jokes. As such, it wasn’t a surprise to see Amy Poehler join Colin Jost and Michael Che this week, but it certainly was a surprise to see multiple other ex-Weekend Update anchors join her for a joke-off.
That’s right. This week featured a good old fashioned joke off between Jost, Che, Poehler and special guests Tina Fey and Seth Meyers. Both Fey and Meyers, of course, were co-anchors alongside Poehler at various points during her tenure; so, the cameos made a lot of sense, even if they were unexpected.
The joke-off set-up was a woman in Tennessee breaking a hospital record by having a thirteen pound baby, and to the surprise of no one, her massive kid proved to be good subject matter for a lot of rapid fire jokes. You watch all the current and former anchors in action below…
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Together, these five all place in the top six of total episodes anchoring or co-anchoring Weekend Update. Jost is first with 226 episodes, followed by Che with 219 episodes, followed by Meyers with 154 episodes, followed by Fey with 118 episodes, followed by Poehler with 80 episodes. Only Dennis Miller slots into the above with 111 episodes, though I suppose we should give Jimmy Fallon a shout-out, as well, as he’s tied with Poehler’s 80 episodes.
In addition to being a bit of good fun, this Weekend Update segment is also a good reminder of how similar, yet different the segment can be under different anchors. The basic conceit of reading news stories like a traditional anchor and telling jokes about them has never changed since Chevy Chase launched the segment back in the 1970s, but the tone, subject matter and delivery can change quite a bit with the sensibilities of each anchor.
This current version of Weekend Update has represented the longest period of stability in the long-running segment’s history. Jost and Che have shared the duties for more than ten consecutive seasons, which has never happened before. Exactly how much longer that stability will last, however, is an open question. Rumors swirled near the end of last season that Jost might walk away over the summer, and there were similar whispers about Che, as well. The two are no longer head writers on the show, and with plenty of opportunities for each outside SNL, many fans thought they’d walk away.
Fortunately, they did not. They’re back for another season. At some point soon-ish, however, they’ll exit Studio 8H, and it’ll be fascinating to see whether showrunner Lorne Michaels and company pick someone currently on the cast or bring in someone new. Either way, they’ll evolve the segment to their own tastes, and we’ll get a new and exciting take on the old classic to watch.
The rest of Poehler’s episode was, of course, great. I’d highly recommend throwing the whole thing up on Peacock or via your DVR and giving it a watch. The show will return next week with an all new episode featuring upcoming guest host Sabrina Carpenter, who, more than likely, will not read the news on Weekend Update.