Following a path blazed by Tina Fey, comedian Colin Jost will jump from the “Saturday Night Live” writing room to the Weekend Update desk, deadline.com reports.
Jost, the show’s head writer, will succeed Seth Meyers starting March 1 as the faux newscaster alongside current co-anchor (and former Oak Parker) Cecily Strong. Meyers (another former head writer) is stepping down to take over “Late Night” next month after current host Jimmy Fallon moves to “The Tonight Show.”
The move mirrors Fey’s ascendancy to Update alongside Fallon in 2000, when she was the show’s head writer. Like Jost, she had made few on-air appearances before then, and the promotion put her on a faster track to stardom.
A lifelong New Yorker and Harvard grad, Jost also is a stand-up comedian who has performed on Fallon’s show. He’s also been spotted on the arm of “Parks & Recreation” star Rashida Jones in recent months.
