In 2022, two Saturday Night Live cast members were part of a group that purchased a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry. Specifically, Pete Davidson and Colin Jost — both with roots in the southernmost borough of New York City — were involved with the project, which went on to host a Fashion Week event in 2024.
Now, it seems there may be — pardon the expression — rough seas ahead for the project. The headline for a recent New York Times article about the venture referenced “the Staten Island Ferry Fiasco.” And the article itself, by Steven Kurutz, detailed both the logistical hurdles faced by keeping a massive decades-old vessel afloat and some legal issues that cropped up around it. So it wasn’t necessarily shocking to see Davidson return to SNL this weekend to address the report.
Davidson joined Jost on Weekend Update to respond to the Times article, along with a few other nods to recent and upcoming events.
“In case you’re wondering why I had to do a show in Saudi Arabia — we’re losing millions on this ferry,” Davidson said, alluding to his controversial decision to take part in a comedy festival there. He also admitted that he hadn’t read the article: “I can’t spend five dollars on a paywall when I’ve got a kid on the way.”
“I definitely prefer having a kid to a ferry,” Jost replied. (Though, let’s be honest: it would have been very strange if he had said the reverse.) Things got very free-associative from there, with Davidson riffing on Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the recent mayoral election and potential new names for the vessel. (Presumably, someone involved in the bit has read the article, given that both sketch and article include a gag about naming the boat Titanic 2.)
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The show’s long hours and competitive environment are notorious. But will a new generation of cast members finally put their foot down?Also in the offering was a dig at Lorne Michaels. “If Lorne Michaels has taught us anything, it’s that you never, ever give up — even if everyone says the time has come and Tina Fey is ready to take over,” he said. That got some laughs, and at one point both Davidson and Jost gestured offstage — possibly to an offstage Michaels?
“The ferry? It’s fine. Sometimes the news just makes things worse than they are,” Davidson said — and then closed with a joke about the Epstein files. It wasn’t the first time Davidson had discussed the ferry on Weekend Update, and something tells me it won’t be the last.
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