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Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch and satirical news program that comments on and Parody current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast and been featured in the vast majority of episodes since. It is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance, and with some exceptions is the only sketch not to feature the episode's host.
The format of the sketch involves one or two of the players cast in the role of news anchor, presenting news headlines based on current events that are immediately followed by a gag commentary that twists the context into something humorous. The anchors also act as hosts for occasional editorials, commentaries, or other performances by other cast members or guests, either playing fictionalized versions of themselves, impressions of real-life figures, or invented characters; these guests often display eccentric behavior and baffling commentaries, with the anchors acting as Straight man reacting accordingly.
In modern times, dedicated anchors are chosen among writing staff, often lead writers, in lieu of cast or featured players, although anchors still occasionally appear in other sketches. Chevy Chase, the original cast member filling the role of the anchor, has said that Weekend Update paved the way for comedic news shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and several Weekend Update hosts have gone on to host their own late-night talk shows, most notably fellow NBC properties Late Night (Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers) and The Tonight Show (Fallon). The current hosts of the segment are writing staff members and former lead writers Colin Jost and Michael Che; they also hold the longest tenures of any Weekend Update host, with Jost beating out Che by eight episodes.
In addition, Garrett Morris parodied the practice of a picture insert of a person delivering the news in sign language for the hearing impaired. Chase would announce, "...and now, I shall repeat the top news story, assisted by the President of the Society for The Hard of Hearing." Chase would then repeat the story while Morris simply cupped his mouth and yelled the headline.
A frequent feature of Weekend Update during this time was "Point/Counterpoint", a send-up of the then-current 60 Minutes segment of the same name with James J. Kilpatrick and Shana Alexander. SNL's version featured Curtin and Aykroyd as debaters, with each making ad hominem on the other and their positions; a common pattern had Aykroyd announcing the topic, followed by Curtin making an opening statement, with Aykroyd retorting "Jane, you ignorant slut" and Curtin replying "Dan, you pompous ass".
Other popular guests during Curtin's tenure as anchor included John Belushi and Gilda Radner's characters Emily Litella and Roseanne Roseannadanna. During Curtin's tenure as host, she opened each Weekend Update segment with Roger Grimsby's "Here now, the news" sign-on, and closed with Chase's "That's the news. Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow".
Rocket's final appearance was on the penultimate episode of the season, airing on March 7, 1981, and hosted by Bill Murray. For that episode, Weekend Update received a one-time name and set change to "Saturday Night NewsLine" and featured three segments: science edition, hosted by Dr. Jonathan Lear (Mark King), arts and leisure correspondent Bill Murray, and news by Rocket. Rocket signed off each week by saying "Good night and watch out."
Prior to the final episode of the season, Jean Doumanian and most of the cast, including Rocket, were fired. Chase hosted the last episode and anchored Weekend Update, as he had on his previous appearances as host.
During many of his Weekend Update segments, Miller was joined by The Weekend Update Dancers and A. Whitney Brown for his commentary "The Big Picture".
Running gags by Macdonald included punchlines involving Frank Stallone and Germans loving David Hasselhoff. In his last two seasons, he introduced another recurring gag where he would read a news story and then record a "note to self" on a tape recorder regarding the story he had just read. One of the most frequent guest correspondents during Macdonald's run was Joe Blow (played by Colin Quinn), a blue-collar guy who would rant about things that bother him. He would often make Macdonald uncomfortable and always ask when they were "gonna go for a beer together," to which Macdonald would always end up turning him down. His sign off was frequently "And that's the way it is", emulating Walter Cronkite's famous sign-off phrase.
Another common topic of Macdonald's jokes was O. J. Simpson after his arrest and trial for murder. For example, he joked that "A down-and-out O. J. Simpson... has decided to go back to doing what he does best: killing people," and upon Simpson's acquittal he declared "well, it is finally official: murder is legal in the state of California." SNL writer Jim Downey recalled that "we did, like three solid years of, like, 60 shows of O.J. jokes in a row." Macdonald made his final appearance as Weekend Update anchor in December 1997, after NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer—a longtime friend of Simpson, who had previously told Michaels to not let his friendship affect the show—demanded Macdonald's dismissal from the segment, despite Michaels's protest that making the change in the middle of the season would be difficult for the show. Ohlmeyer told Macdonald that he was fired because he was not funny.
For the first half of the 1998–1999 season, Quinn would do a pre-desk monologue, where he would provide commentary and rant about the week's biggest news stories. This feature was discontinued after the January 16, 1999, episode.
Quinn stepped down from Weekend Update after 1999–2000, when he left SNL at the end of the season. He anchored the segment for two-and-a-half seasons.
Recurring features of the Fallon/Fey era included the " Update Door," a door on the left of the set where celebrities, as impersonated by SNL cast members (and at one time the Land Shark) would walk through to do a commentary—a segment called "Terrible ReEnactments", in which Chris Kattan would do an intentionally bad re-enactment of a news story that had occurred during the week (usually the story involved a celebrity being injured); and regular appearances from Jeff Richards's Drunk Girl character.
Chris Parnell announced the intro for the first season. He was then followed by future Update co-anchor Amy Poehler.
The 2005–2006 season began with Poehler returning to her seat behind the desk.
The segment is featured in the 2006 film Man of the Year in which Robin Williams appears on Weekend Update alongside Poehler and Fey.
During the 2007–2008 season, two previous hosts returned to the Weekend Update desk for one-off appearances–Chevy Chase, as "Senior Political Correspondent" and Tina Fey, as "Special Women's News Correspondent". Women's News was a running segment during the Fey/Poehler era. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin also appeared on Weekend Update once during the 2008–09 season and ended the segment with the traditional "Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow", as Poehler had left her seat to perform a "Sarah Palin rap".
After that, Meyers continued anchoring Weekend Update solo. The "Really!?!" celebrity-mocking gag (retitled "Really!?! with Seth") remained, featuring various hosts and guests including Tracy Morgan and Jerry Seinfeld in March 2009 and Kermit the Frog in November 2011. In May 2010, Poehler returned to do it once more, alongside Tina Fey as well.
A running gag of this era was Bobby Moynihan's portrayal of Snooki from Jersey Shore. Moynihan displays a certain attraction to Meyers, who makes fun of the general attitude of the cast members of Jersey Shore as well as Snooki's own personal attributes. Another popular segment was city correspondent Stefon, played by Bill Hader.
During his time in office, New York Governor David Paterson (played by Fred Armisen) often appeared as a guest on the segment, and which often featured jokes about Paterson's blindness and his apparent hatred for the state of New Jersey. In the premiere episode of SNL's 36th season, Paterson himself made a guest appearance on Weekend Update next to Armisen. Amy Poehler, who had returned to host the episode, co-anchored Weekend Update as she traditionally did before her departure.
On the December 17, 2011, episode, which was hosted by Jimmy Fallon, multiple former anchors returned for a " Weekend Update Joke-Off". Along with Meyers, the anchors included Fallon, Poehler, and Fey.
Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Amy Poehler would appear on Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday for at least two broadcasts as co-anchor in fall 2009. For the third episode of Weekend Update Thursday, Seth Meyers anchored solo. After each episode, the anchor(s) would throw to Parks and Recreation. Lorne Michaels had stated that there would be six more episodes of Weekend Update Thursday; however, the spring 2010 episodes were scrapped.
Poehler returned on both the February 18, 2012, and May 18, 2013, episodes to perform "Really!?! with Seth and Amy" twice more. In both instances, Meyers asked her if she would like to co-anchor with him again for the rest of that segment; he was barely able to finish asking before she accepted.
In the February 16, 2025, SNL50: The Anniversary Special, Meyers returned to anchor one section of Weekend Update, reuniting with longtime Meyers guest, Fred Armisen, who, alongside Vanessa Bayer, reprised their recurring Update roles as "best friends from growing up."
On February 1, 2014, Meyers performed his final episode of SNL and was joined at the Weekend Update desk by Strong, Poehler, Hader in character as Stefon, Andy Samberg, and Armisen as Governor Paterson.
Che led off the broadcast on his premiere episode. Starting with the October 4, 2014, episode hosted by Sarah Silverman, each anchor tells at least one extended joke per segment.
So far, this era features many appearances from cast members playing some version of themselves, most notably Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones. Longtime cast member Kenan Thompson has also developed several new characters and impressions, including Willie, Michael Che's fictional neighbor. Thompson also has brought on impressions of former MLB star David Ortiz and LaVar Ball. With Cecily Strong no longer anchoring Weekend Update, she reprised characters like The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation with at a Party and Cathy Anne, a woman with a southern accent who hits on Michael Che.
On October 13, 2018, former cast member/ Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers hosted the show for the first time since taking over hosting Late Night, and he returned to Weekend Update for the first time since he left the show, in a segment called "Really?!? With Seth, Colin, and Michael", a callback to the "Really?!? With Seth and Amy" segments. This time, Meyers, Jost, and Che talk and joke about rapper Kanye West (a Trump supporter) visiting the White House.
For the Thanksgiving episode in 2015, Jost and Che did a joke swap, where they each read a joke written for them by the other. Since season 44 in 2018, at the end of each Christmas show and season finale (except for season 47 and 48) Jost and Che have continued this segment, with both of them reading multiple jokes written by the other (except for the season 45 finale, where only Jost read a joke written by Che). During the segment, Jost's jokes for Che regularly consist of Che acting sleazy, often including Zoophilia and child sexual abuse, while Che forces Jost to say highly racist and sexist jokes, sometimes at the expense of his wife Scarlett Johansson, and to make him defend controversial figures such as Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein. In 2024, Johansson was present in Studio 8H during the segment and reacted to Jost deliver jokes centered around the recent birth of their child.
Due to COVID-19 issues, the December 18, 2021 episode was filmed with no audience and a limited cast and crew. Weekend Update was still performed, but Jost was not part of the episode's cast, as he had tested positive for COVID. Tina Fey made a surprise guest appearance to fill in for Jost; due to the reduced staff, the segment was performed on chairs placed on the main stage rather than its usual newsroom set.
For the 2025 SNL50: The Anniversary Special, many familiar faces returned to the Update desk, including Bobby Moynihan who reprised his popular character, Drunk Uncle, Cecily Strong who returned as, The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation with at a Party, and Bill Murray, who appeared to offer his ranking of the best ever Weekend Update Anchors, listing: "10. Colin Quinn, 9. Kevin Nealon, 8. Dennis Miller, 7. Seth Meyers, 6. Fey and Jimmy Fallon, 5. Fey and Poehler, 4. Chevy Chase, 3. Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd, 2. Norm Macdonald, 1. His brother Brian Doyle-Murray."
Season 2 (1976–1977)
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Macdonald was immensely popular with audiences, leading to questions about his abrupt removal. Controversy broke out about the comedic freedom regarding sensitive topics highlighting the complex dynamic between the network and talent.
In the season 40 finale of Saturday Night Live in May 2015, during the "Weekend Update" segment, Colin Jost delivered a joke with the punchline "jalapeño business," a pun sounding like "all up in your business." In a 2024 interview on the Fly on the Wall podcast with Dana Carvey and David Spade, Michael Che recalled his strong disapproval of the joke, even threatening to quit if it aired. Despite his objections, Jost performed the joke, which received substantial audience laughter, intensifying Che's frustration. Jost admitted he wasn't initially keen on the joke but felt compelled to perform it after seeing Che's upset reaction. Despite the incident, Che remained on the show.
On October 21, 2020, Michael Che discussed the reversal of "don't ask, don't tell" and made a joke calling it "don't ask, don't tuck". The joke was criticized as transphobia. Weekend Update had previously come under fire for a 2016 joke about the dating app Tinder adding 37 gender identity options, a feature which Colin Jost jokingly called, "Why Democrats lost the election".
In an interview for CBS News on May 15, 2022, Che said, "I do think that controversy brings people to talking. And I think as long as people are talking, it's not all that bad."
Scarlett Johansson shared her shock over a "vulgar" joke swap between her husband, Colin Jost, and Michael Che during the December 21, 2024 Weekend Update. The segment, where they read each other’s unreviewed jokes, left Johansson stunned as she watched live. She joked that Che might have a vendetta against them, adding, “I honestly feel he’s trying to get us permanently removed.” Despite the explicit humor, she took it in stride and even suggested getting back at Che with a teleprompter swap on Today With Jenna & Friends. Johansson later hosted the May 17 broadcast, where she got a chance to get back at Che by coming onto the Update desk during the joke swap and forcing him to give an embarrassing apology.
During the December 7, 2024 episode of SNL, Jost and Che riffed about the recent assassination of United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson. Viewer reactions to the politically divisive jokes were mixed, with People magazine describing how some social media users saying "Making light of someone being murdered is in poor taste," saying that NBC "owes the family an apology."
In a segment from the January 25, 2025 episode during Weekend Update that depicted Ego Nwodim as a businesswoman concerned about recent actions by President Trump. BET reported that many users on social media thought the bit was "offensive" saying that SNL used "Black women as the butt of a joke."
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