Colin Jost says Donald Trump was 'way into' doing SNL porn stars sketch

The 2015 SNL episode that Trump hosted "is pretty bad," Jost confessed.

Vanessa Bayer, Donald Trump, and Cecily Strong during the "Porn Stars" sketch on SNL
Photo: Dana Edelson/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

There is one episode of Saturday Night Live that Colin Jost admits isn’t very funny: the Nov. 7, 2015, show hosted by then-presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

″The show itself on just a comedy level, I would argue, is pretty bad,″ the SNL co-head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor said during an appearance on The Deciding Decade With Pete Buttigieg podcast.

″Afterwards, I remember Trump kept saying that he improvised the whole show, and I was like, 'Oh my God. Thank you. Thank you. Please, get that out there,'″ Jost joked of letting Trump take all the writing credit.

″It was very surreal,″ Jost said of Trump hosting. ″It was a very strange experience.″

Jost recalled one sketch that Trump seemed particularly enthusiastic about. ″Cecily [Strong] and Vanessa [Bayer] and I wrote these porn star characters and so we tried this idea for the table [read] where they were porn stars who were endorsing Donald Trump for president. This was before, obviously, all the Stormy Daniels stuff came out and very surprisingly at the time — but maybe in retrospect less surprisingly — Donald Trump was way into that idea and that made it on the show.″

The sketch also serves as a reminder for Jost of just how lacking in laughs the episode proved to be.

″I think the last sketch of the show ends with Cecily and Vanessa as porn stars endorsing Donald Trump for president and then Donald Trump turns to Cecily who’s blonde and says, 'Didn’t you used to be a brunette?' And I’m pretty sure that's the last line of the show,″ Jost recalled with a pained laugh.

″Watching it again in retrospect is so complicated to look at given everything that’s happened."

Colin Jost; Pete Buttigieg
Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images; Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images

Jost also discussed his "very personal" impression of Buttigieg, the comedian's one-time Harvard dormmate, on SNL during the latter's run for the Democratic presidential ticket, as well as his plans for leaving the sketch show when the time comes.

Listen to the full episode below.

The Deciding Decade With Pete Buttigieg is available on all podcasting platforms.

Saturday Night Live season 46 premieres Oct. 3 on NBC with host Chris Rock and musical guest Megan Thee Stallion.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

Related Articles