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Colin Jost joked that wife Scarlett Johansson is “very supportive from a distance” of the Staten Island Ferry he bought with Pete Davidson
Jost and Davidson purchased the decommissioned ferry for $280,000 in 2022 and have since used it for events, including a comedy show and a Tommy Hilfiger fashion show
Jost and Johansson first began dating in 2017, married in 2020 and welcomed son Cosmo in 2021
Colin Jost says wife Scarlett Johansson is “supportive” of his decision to own a Staten Island Ferry— though he admits she isn’t exactly jumping aboard.
The SNL star, 44, recently caught up with PEOPLE aboard a Staten Island Ferry that he purchased with friend and former SNL costar Pete Davidson in 2022 with the goal of transforming the vessel into a destination for live entertainment.
When Jost — who was co-hosting a one-night-only comedy show on the ferry with Davidson in collaboration with Snapple — was asked what Johansson, 41, thinks about the ongoing project, Jost joked that her involvement has its limits.
“She’s very supportive from a distance,” he tells PEOPLE. “I mean — I wouldn’t say she’s an active investor.”
The decommissioned Staten Island Ferry boat, the John F. Kennedy, in 2022Credit: Bobby Bank/GC Images
He then jokingly envisioned a future in which the Oscar-nominated actress might become a little more enthusiastic about life aboard the vessel.
“She would love to retire on this ferry, you know?” Jost quipped. “If that’s what puts her over the edge, I’m hopeful.”
Jost and Davidson, 32 — who both grew up on Staten Island — joined comedy club owner Paul Italia in purchasing the decommissioned John F. Kennedy ferry at auction for $280,000 in January 2022.
Davidson previously recalled that he and Jost were encouraged to place a bid on the ferry at the time — only to discover that there wasn’t exactly fierce competition for it.
“We had no idea that nobody else would,” Davidson said during a 2025 appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Jost has also poked fun at the unconventional investment over the years, previously joking to PEOPLE that it was “the dumbest and least thought-through purchase” he had ever made.
Pete Davidson and Colin Jost on ‘SNL’ in 2025Credit: Will Heath/NBC
Joking aside, Jost and Davidson have since begun putting the ferry to use. Prior to the Sept. 17 Snapple Island Ferry event, it served as a venue for a Tommy Hilfiger fashion show in 2024.
The project has also forced the comedians to learn far more about boats than they anticipated.
“We’re just learning about the strange ecosystem of docks in New York,” Jost tells PEOPLE. “Pretty much anything that’s a regular job, there’s a maritime version of it, which I did not know.”
Johansson’s good-natured skepticism about the venture is just the latest example of the playful dynamic the longtime couple has shared publicly.
Jost and Johansson first crossed paths in 2006, when she hosted SNL and he was in his first year as a writer on the long-running sketch series.
Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson in November 2017Credit: Sylvain Gaboury/Patrick McMullan via Getty
“The first time she hosted was the first year I was a writer on the show,” Jost previously recalled. “So, we’ve kind of known each other since then.”
Their relationship did not turn romantic until more than a decade later. The pair sparked dating rumors in May 2017 after Johansson appeared on the SNL season finale and they were subsequently seen together at the show’s afterparty.
The pair made their public debut as a couple at the American Museum of Natural History Gala in New York City in November 2017.
By May 2019, the two were engaged, and they quietly married in October 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meals on Wheels America announced their wedding, revealing that they had exchanged vows in an intimate ceremony attended by immediate family and loved ones.
In August 2021, Jost confirmed that he and Johansson had welcomed their son, Cosmo, in a post on Instagram. Johansson is also mom to daughter Rose, 12, whom she shares with ex-husband Romain Dauriac.
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Johansson has previously opened up about why she believes her relationship with Jost works, telling Gwyneth Paltrow on the goop podcast in 2023 that realizing she needed a “compassionate person” in a partner was important to her.
“It worked with Colin and I because I was finally able to step back and respect myself enough to know what those [fundamental wants and needs] were,” she said.
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