Colin Jost was put to the test by the Today show!
On the Dec. 3 episode of Today, the Saturday Night Live star sat down with Savannah Guthrie to discuss his new hosting gig on Pop Culture Jeopardy!. Explaining that contestants of the show are playing to win a $300,000 cash prize, Jost emphasized how intense the game can get.
“People were, obviously, very serious about it,” he revealed. “There’s some former Jeopardy! — regular Jeopardy! — contestants mixed in. I genuinely thought this was harder, as a regular Jeopardy! watcher. I thought Pop Culture Jeopardy! was harder than regular Jeopardy!.”
“I’m not that great with trivia in general,” he admitted earlier in the interview. “I feel like I know a lot of stuff, but when I’m under the pressure to say it, as you know, it’s a hard thing.”
Moments later, Guthrie surprised Jost with a pop culture quiz, and he was completely caught off guard.
“Does Michael Che write here?” he joked, referring to his SNL co-star.
Kicking off the game, Guthrie read the first hint, “This agonized rap group is most famous for the 90s anthem, ‘Jump Around.’”
Jost immediately sighed and put his hand over his face. “Hip hop,” he stated, shaking his head, to which Guthrie replied, “What is… House of Pain. They’re not all hard.”
After answering correctly to Luke Skywalker’s real father in Star Wars — Darth Vader — and naming Destiny’s Child as the girl group with Michelle Williams, Kelly Rowland and Beyoncé, Jost lost his streak.
“This 90s hand dance was first in fashion at the NYC clubs,” Guthrie said.
After incorrectly guessing The Macarena (the answer was Vogue), the comedian quipped: “Am I going to get fired?”
The final question brought even more pressure to the table when a video played showing his wife, Scarlett Johansson, asking what the origin country of her last name is.
“How much did you plan to set me up on this?” he playfully asked the crew. “What is… Denmark. I had to get that, right?”
“She knew [you] would get it wrong,” Guthrie laughed. “It is, ‘What is… Sweden,’ Colin!”
“Oh my God, because they came over from Sweden?” he asked. “That is a crazy — I can’t say the word — loophole. That’s not fair. That’s a technicality.”
He added that on Pop Culture Jeopardy!, there are judges who can “overturn things that were absurd, like that.”
When Guthrie teased him asking if he’d be returning to Today anytime soon, he said, “Not now! Not now that I’ve been actively pranked!”
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Pop Culture Jeopardy! premieres Wednesday, Dec. 4 on Prime Video.
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