How Much Does Colin Jost Make On Saturday Night Live

You know that moment when you’re watching Saturday Night Live at home, probably in your pajamas, and Colin Jost steps up to the Weekend Update desk? He’s got that polished smirk, a perfect suit, and a head full of jokes that are either brilliant or so bad they make you cringe—in a good way. And, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably paused mid-chew on your leftover pizza and thought, “Wait, how much does this guy actually get paid for this?” It’s a fair question, because let’s be honest, we all compare our salaries to celebrities like we’re comparing apples to, well, a freshly polished 24-karat apple.

The short answer is that Colin Jost makes somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000 per episode of SNL. That’s per episode, not per year. Yeah, you read that right. While you’re negotiating a $2 raise at your annual review, Colin is pocketing a cool mid-sized sedan for roughly 90 minutes of live television. But before you start hating, remember that SNL’s season has about 21 episodes, so his base pay is around $500,000 to $600,000 a year just for showing up to Studio 8H and reading cue cards.

But wait—there’s a twist, because life is never that simple. That $30,000 per episode is the reported rate for senior cast members, and Colin is basically the vice president of jokes at this point. He’s been on the show since 2005, started as a writer, and now co-anchors the most iconic news parody segment in TV history. He’s not just a performer; he’s a head writer, a role that comes with an extra paycheck. Think of it like being a senior manager at a restaurant who also has to cook the burgers—except the burgers are jokes about the latest political scandal.

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Let’s put this in everyday terms. If you work a standard 9-to-5 job, earning $60,000 a year is pretty solid, right? Well, Colin earns ten times that for a job that requires him to wear a suit on a Saturday night—and he gets to make Scarlett Johansson laugh from the next room. Meanwhile, you’re probably arguing about who forgot to load the dishwasher. His salary per episode is roughly what most of us spend on a used Honda Civic, except he burns through that money in one evening of jokes about the president’s hair.

But here’s the kicker: SNL actors don’t get paid for re-runs or streaming residuals the way sitcom stars do. You know how you see "Diondre's Dance Class" rerun on Peacock at 2 AM? Colin doesn’t see a dime from that. It’s a live show, baby. Either you show up and bank that $30K, or you don’t. It’s like being a gig worker for comedy, except your boss is Lorne Michaels, and the office has a killer view of Rockefeller Center.

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The Real Money is in the Side Hustles

Here’s where Colin Jost starts to sound like your friend with the annoying side business that actually works. His SNL salary is like the base layer of a cake—impressive, but not the whole dessert. He’s a co-writer on the Popstar movie and other projects, he wrote a memoir called A Very Punchable Face (which made a solid chunk of change), and he’s done stand-up specials. He also has a wine brand with his brother, because of course he does. That wine probably sells for $30 a bottle, which is roughly the same price as one minute of his SNL paycheck. Bottoms up, Colin.

And then there’s the Scarlett Johansson factor. Look, I’m not saying she pays the mortgage, but let’s be real: when your spouse is one of the highest-grossing actresses of all time, your own salary starts to feel like pocket change for the parking garage. Colin’s net worth is estimated at around $10 million, which is a lot of tacos, but it’s nothing compared to the $165 million Scarlett has stacked up. So while Colin is sweating over a joke about the weather, his wife is probably buying an island. “Honey, I made $25K tonight!” “That’s nice, Colin. I just closed a deal for a yacht.”

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Before you update your résumé to "Professional Joke Teller," remember the grind. Colin started as a writer making maybe $3,000 per episode, sleeping on a couch in a New York walk-up. He worked the SNL schedule, which is basically a sleep-deprivation experiment: write all week, rewrite on Saturday, and then bomb in front of 10 million people if your joke flops. That’s like showing up to your office job, delivering a presentation that gets crickets, and then having the entire internet roast you on Twitter by midnight. For that, $25K a pop suddenly sounds like a mental health hazard.

Also, he has to punch through the chaos of live TV. There’s no retake button. If he flubs a line about a senator, it’s immortalized on YouTube forever. So while you’re worried about a typo in a Slack message, Colin is worrying about whether his tie matches his joke about the stock market. It’s a weird trade-off.

At the end of the day, Colin Jost makes a lot of money—enough to never worry about rent, but not enough to buy a private jet (unless he splits the cost with Scarlett). So the next time you’re watching him smirk at the desk, just nod and smile. You know his salary now, but he’ll never know the joy of finding $20 in an old winter coat. And that’s the real comedy, folks.