For anyone who’s spent years wondering how to pronounce Scarlett Johansson’s last name, Colin Jost has finally weighed in–and, naturally, he could not resist making it funny.
During a live taping of Pop Culture Jeopardy!,the Saturday Night Livecomedian was asked the question fans have debated for years: Is it “Jo-hansson” or “Yo-hansson?”
Jost’s first response was classic deadpan.
“Um, I don’t know — I’ve never met her in person yet,” he joked. “So I want to hear how she says it.”
After the laughs, he offered a more serious answer.
“Johansson. I mean, I certainly say ‘Jo-hansson,’” he said, before adding, “I mean, I don’t say it, really ever… ‘Yo, Johansson! Why’s the fridge empty?’”
The comedian explained that the family’s Scandinavian roots may be why the debate exists in the first place, noting the surname was “originally” pronounced “Yo-hansson,” following Danish and Swedish pronunciation, where the letter “J” sounds like an English “Y.”
Then Jost turned the joke on himself.
“So we changed together,” he said after realizing his own German surname may once have been pronounced “Yost.” “All ancestors coordinated and said, ‘Let’s get them together.’”
The playful exchange is just the latest glimpse into Jost and Johansson’s sense of humour.
Earlier this year, he also laughed off a joke from Weekend Updateco-host Michael Che before insisting, “We both put food on the table … They’re different kinds of food.”
Mystery solved–or at least made a lot more entertaining.
2026-07-21 22:12:00
