Colin Jost & Michael Che Present: New York After Dark

The hosts of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update are mostly there to stand out of the way. Colin Jost and Michael Che stepped off their usual studio set and into The Bell House in Brooklyn to emcee a live showcase of New York club comics, featuring surprise appearances and a house band. It is structured less as a cohesive stand-up hour and more as an unpredictable variety show where Jost serves as a reliable punching bag.

The special, streaming live on Peacock in September 2024, marked the platform’s first attempt at a live comedy broadcast. While Jost and Che provide brief introductory material, they leave the bulk of the stagetime to a curated lineup of drop-ins, including Alex English, Aida Rodriguez, Aminah Imani, and Karlous Miller. The house band, 1500 or Nothin’, provides transitions between sets.

What makes the night work is the steady stream of unannounced guests who drop by to roast Jost. Sal Vulcano of Impractical Jokers surfaces to mock Jost’s Staten Island roots and his infamous investment in a decommissioned ferry, while fellow SNL cast member Sarah Sherman storms the stage with a fake restraining order. Mike Birbiglia closes the evening by dragging Jost back onstage to conduct an impromptu, color-coded interview. Birbiglia grills him on everything from whether his Update chemistry could be matched by an air mattress to whether his wife, Scarlett Johansson, is vastly more talented than him.