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Colin Jost Reveals Wife Scarlett Johansson's Priceless Reaction To 6-Figure Impulse Buy
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“Saturday Night Live” comic Colin Jost said his wife, actor Scarlett Johansson, only had one thing to say when he told her he’d scooped up a decommissioned Staten Island ferry back in 2022. During an interview on the Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes’ “SmartLess” podcast set to air next Monday, the “Weekend Update” anchor said he couldn’t stop thinking about buying the vessel after realizing it was the same ship he used to ride from his childhood home to the prestigious private high school he attended in Manhattan. When Jost learned the 6-decade-old ferry would be sent to the scrap yard if it wasn’t sold at auction, he reached out to another Staten Island boy: his former “SNL” colleague Pete Davidson. Jost, who openly admitted Davidson was probably the “wrong person to text with when you have an idea like this,” remembered receiving a resounding “Fuck yeah” after telling the “King of Staten Island” star his plan. Although the boat didn’t have working engines, it still appeared to be a hot commodity. Jost, Davidson and investment partner Ron Castellano ended up in a bidding war with an anonymous rival before winning it at auction with a last-minute $280,100 offer. As the proud co-owner of a 2,100-ton vessel that doesn’t run, Jost decided to tell his dad, a retired high school teacher, about the purchase. “He literally was like, ‘Did you do your homework?’ Which is such a teacher thing to say,” Jost said. “I was like, ‘Dad, I’m just sort of texting you as a formality. I already bought the boat.’” Next, Jost contacted his wife about the acquisition. ″‘Guess what? We own a ferry now,’” Jost remembered texting. “And she was like, ‘We?’” While Jost once joked that the ferry was the “dumbest and least thought-through purchase” he’d ever made, he told the podcast’s hosts that at the time, he viewed it like a real estate investment. “If you put it somewhere, it’s 70,000 square feet. So I was like, ’If you put that on a dock in Manhattan, you’ve suddenly got basically a building on the waterfront,” he said. Nearly four years later, Jost and company are still figuring out how to turn the dead-in-the-water ferry into a floating event space due to the “long process” of obtaining permits, securing parking and meeting environmental regulations. Confident things will eventually come together, Jost assured the hosts that everything was “going to be fine.” Then he took a breath and asked, “Is this a good financial sign where you’re like, ‘It’s fine!’” By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.