SNL pokes fun at Colin Jost for making less than wife Scarlett Johansson – so what do they actually earn?
On the latest edition of Saturday Night Live, Colin Jost was ribbed by a fellow cast member over making far less money than his wife Scarlett Johansson.
Since last night’s show was hosted by Lady Gaga, a medieval character named Lord Gaga (played by Mikey Day) played the role of the singer’s fictional husband on Weekend Update.
After the clueless Lord Gaga was informed that his wife was a multi-millionaire pop star, he asked Jost offhandedly: ‘What does your wife do?’
It’s obvious that Johansson is the bread winner of the two, but it raises the question: how much do SNL stars actually make?
There is reportedly quite a range when it comes to the salaries given to SNL cast members, based largely on their seniority and level of fame.
Pete Davidson confirmed in December that in his first year on the sketch-comedy show, he made roughly $3,000 per episode.
Based on Davidson’s number, that would mean a cast member would earn between $54,000 to $66,000 per year for appearing in 18 to 22 episodes.
Second and third-year cast members could make $4,000 an episode, according to Celebrity Net Worth, which would be $84,000 for a typical 21-episode season.
Colin Jost interviews Lord Gaga (a character played by Mikey Day) on the latest edition of Saturday Night Live. The character, supposed to be Lady Gaga’s wife, raised the uncomfortable topic of the salary differential between Jost and his wife Scarlett Johannson
At the high end, Jost is making $525,000 for hosting Weekend Update, which pales in comparison to what Johansson made for Avengers: Endgame, a single movie
Fourth years could be raking in $7,000 per episode, working out to around $147,000 for a season.
After five years, that’s where the real money starts to hit. Cast members with this much time under their belt could be making up to $15,000 per episode. That’s about $315,000 total.
SNL is believed to cap salaries at $25,000 an episode ($525,000 total) for their biggest stars.
Jost, who was once a head writer on the show, has never revealed how much he makes as the co-host of Weekend Update. Still, many observers have speculated he’s reached that top tier salary due to his level of fame compared to others on the show.
But even if Jost is making that much, he’s nowhere close to Johansson, who made about $35 million from Avengers: Endgame, according to Forbes.
What is confirmed is that a stint on SNL does not mean a cast member has made his way out of the working class.
Jason Sudeikis, who was on SNL from 2005 to 2013, told New York Magazine last year that rent ate up a big portion of his paycheck in the early years.
‘I mean you don’t really make enough money to make big purchases,’ he explained. ‘So, I think New York rent was probably the biggest purchase I made after writing on SNL the first year.’
Pete Davidson and Jason Sudeikis both recently confessed that in the early stages of their career on SNL, they were not making much money
Current star James Austin Johnson revealed he used his first SNL paycheck to buy ‘the most uncomfortable West Elm couch of all time.’
‘I swear to God,’ he stressed. ‘It’s, like, made of bricks.’
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1982 to 1985, admitted to having a bit more fun with her first purchase.
‘[I] bought a pair of shoes that were out of [her] budget,’ she confessed, before noting that the shoes were only $75.
Sarah Silverman took home a nice $300 ‘cashmere sweater’ with her paycheck while Sarah Sherman invested in ‘a nice mattress.’
Cheri Oteri went with a practical purchase, a couch, which she’s has ‘reupholstered three or four times.’
Like Johnson and Oteri, Seth Meyers also invested in a ‘really big couch’ as well as a ‘really big TV.’
Bowen Yang, whose rumored salary for Wicked was $250,000, took home a designer pair of shoes with his first paycheck.
Yang admitted that he went straight to Saks Fifth Avenue to buy ‘a pair of Gucci shoes’ that he ‘wouldn’t feel super cool wearing out now.’
