SNL 50’s ‘Weekend Update’ Joke Swap Might Be The Most Brutal One Yet

“Yeah, you’re applauding now,” Colin Jost said sarcastically to SNL 50’s cheering audience, and thus began the beginning of Jost’s and his Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che’s annual joke swap.

The joke swap is a yearly tradition on the show where Jost and Che write completely unhinged and brutal jokes for one another to read live on air (without having seen the jokes prior).

“We’re making each other read jokes live on the air that the other person has never seen before,” Che explained as they kicked off the 2024 iteration.

This year, they were as brutal as ever. As one commenter on YouTube put it, “This is easily the most brutal one they’ve done yet, went straight for the throat on every single joke.”

2024’s edition even featured a Scarlett Johansson camera that cut to the actor’s live reactions to her husband’s Che-written jokes, one that even elicited an audible “OH MY GOD! WHY?” from the actor.

This marked the year’s final episode for SNL, with new ones returning in 2025. In the meantime, you can watch 2024’s joke swap here: