‘SNL’’s Weekend Update Co-Anchors: Donald Trump’s Episode was Tension-Filled

Norman Weiss November 10, 2015, 8:49 pm

SNL’s Weekend Update co-anchors: Donald Trump’s episode was tension-filled

Colin Jost and Michael Che spoke to NPR’s Fresh Air about Trump hosting the show, and noted that The Donald had no veto power over their Update jokes. Nevertheless, they plan to use the harsh Trump jokes they came up with last week on future shows. “It’s always hard in comedy to write for people who’ve made up their mind,” says Che of the audience’s reaction. “I thought the audience pretty much had their minds made up on their opinion of [Trump] so they’re always looking at everything like, “Is this a trap? Is this joke going to be a trap? Is this joke going to make me like him a lot more, or is it going to make me like him a lot less?” I thought they were kind of overthinking a lot of the things we were saying, so that’s where the tension [came from].” Adds Jost — who also tells Terry Gross why he quit as co-head writer — “It was a little tense at dress rehearsal, and Donald Trump didn’t have any say in whether we did those things or not, but it just didn’t play in front of the audience at dress rehearsal.” PLUS: Marc Maron’s interview revealed why Lorne Michaels isn’t a risk-taker.

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