Scarlett Johansson closed out Saturday Night Live’s 50th season with a bang—and a little revenge.
During the May 17 finale, Johansson joined her husband Colin Jost and his Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che for the beloved “Joke Swap” segment—aka the moment when Jost and Che ambush each other with risqué jokes they’re forced to read live on air. But this time, the guest host got a little payback of her own.
Midway through the bit, Che turned serious—sort of—and invited Johansson to the desk to make amends for a particularly crude joke he wrote back in December.
“I want to take this opportunity to apologize to someone I hurt. Scarlett, can you come out here?” he said, feigning sincerity.
Che was referring to the now-infamous roast beef punchline he handed Jost during the Christmas episode, which compared Johansson’s anatomy to a deli special. This time, Che owned it—with a characteristically unhinged twist.
“The fact is, I was just lashing out because I’m jealous,” Che admitted. “I’ve never ever seen a human vagina. And notice I said ‘human’ because I once spent the summer on a farm.”
It didn’t stop there. “Maybe I’m just embarrassed about my own body. I can’t even take my hoodie off during sex because I have more nipples than a pregnant dog.”
And in a final flourish, he added: “I’ve told thousands of jokes on ‘Update’ and gotten dozens of laughs, but I’ve never said the three most important words of all — I love you.”
Johansson stood by, smiling and nodding while her husband watched Che get absolutely obliterated on her behalf—sweet revenge for a bit that left her stunned months ago.
But Jost didn’t escape unscathed. In the second half of the swap, he was made to apply bright red lipstick and beg SNL boss Lorne Michaels to let him run the show after Michaels retires. Flattering? Hardly.
You can watch the full clip above.
The episode closed on a much softer note, with Jost handing his wife a bouquet of flowers and the couple sharing a kiss during the show’s final moments.
Johansson’s SNL journey this season has been anything but quiet. Back in December, she was unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight during the holiday episode, when a backstage camera caught her reacting in real-time to that roast beef zinger.
“Costco has removed the roast beef sandwich from its menu. I’ve been eating roast beef every night since my wife had the kid,” Jost said at the time, clearly dreading the reveal.
Her reaction was pure shock. Speaking to InStyle in March, Johansson admitted, “I just can’t believe that they went there. I was like — it was so gross. It was really gross. And, like, old-school gross.”
Though she knew Che had something planned, she had no idea how far he’d take it.
“I was like, ‘I mean, it’s a vagina joke, how bad could it be?’ And then as soon as the Costco photo came up, I was like, ‘No! No, Michael,’” she said.
Describing the setup as “a full To Catch a Predator-style reveal,” she added, “All of a sudden, it was like a whole bunch of people holding up lights, and a guy with a video camera. They were waiting for me to react. I felt insane. I was like, ‘I think I’m going to faint.’”
When SNL later announced Johansson as the host of the season finale, she hinted to Vanity Fair that she was already plotting a little “retaliation.”
“I feel like it’s almost my responsibility to come up with some way to burn Michael back. Retaliation, I’d say, should be expected. Others on the show could support this desire. Know what I mean?” she teased.
Looks like she made good on that promise—and gave fans the perfect cherry on top of a very spicy season.
Saturday Night Live returns for Season 51 this fall on NBC.